The third act of James Gunn’s “Superman” builds to a big speech, one in which David Corenswet’s Man of Steel asserts that he’s “as human as anyone else.” It’s a tricky monologue to pull off, one that lies at the heart of the blockbuster’s finale. New behind-the-scenes footage reveals that it took Gunn and Corenswet a minute to get on the same page about the material.
Gunn went on X Friday to share a clip of the speech’s filming from a new documentary about the making of the film included with the home release of “Superman.” After a few takes, the director and “Superman” star found themselves at an impasse over the material. While Gunn wanted the speech to be bigger and more emotional, Corenswet thought his character was healed by a conversation with Pa Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince) earlier in the movie. This difference in reads soon stopped shooting the scene dead in its tracks.
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“I felt like s–t about myself since the recording came out,” Corenswet says in the behind-the-scenes clip. “It’s just been like, ‘I don’t belong, I’m s–t, everything’s a lie, I’m not who I thought I was.’ When is, is this not the moment where I go, ‘I was wrong to feel that way.'”
“That’s exactly where the issue is, right? Because what (Pa Kent) didn’t tell you is it was wrong to feel that way,” Gunn responds, rising to meet Corenswet. “There are feelings, and there are thoughts. Your feelings about feeling bad are OK. It’s not wrong for you to feel that way. You should just, it’s not right or wrong anything, none of it is right or wrong. All of it is being vulnerable and being human, being a human being. And in this moment, for you to talk about how it’s OK to be vulnerable, you have to be vulnerable, which means showing Lex that your f–king feelings are hurt in a point when you really shouldn’t.”
“The sentence that James said to me at the end of that conversation perfectly clarified what the character was doing in the moment, and what I should be doing in that moment,” Corenswet later said. “I went out there, I did it, and it was right.”
The monologue in question serves as the finale for “Superman” just as much as any fight or physical conflict. In the scene, Superman bares his soul to Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), fighting back against the evil mastermind’s commentary that he’s a “piece of s–t alien.” At the same time, the speech feels like a vehicle for Gunn and Corenswet to address the growing perception that Superman’s powers and demeanor make him a boring, unrelatable character.
“That’s where you’ve always been wrong about me, Lex,” Corenswet’s Superman asserts in a version of the speech slightly different from the final film’s. “I’m as human as anyone else. I love, I get scared, I wake up every morning and, despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other, and I try to make the best choices I can. And every time you say that I don’t belong, it hurts my feelings. That’s being human! And that’s my greatest strength.”
The whole story of “Superman” builds to this speech, with Lex Luthor revealing footage from Kal-El’s Kryptonian parents revealing he was sent to Earth as a ruler rather than a savior. Before the film’s final act, Pa Kent tells his son to ignore this message, asserting that his actions are more important than his parents’ wishes. Corenswet believed this speech was all Superman needed to get over the insecurity Lex sowed. The screenwriter, however, had a different read.
“We’re doing this in front of everybody,” Gunn said in the clip. “He starts saying, ‘I just, I don’t know if I feel this!'”
“The whole crew is sitting around, waiting like, ‘C’mon, we gotta, let’s shoot, let’s get this done,'” Corenswet said. “So finally, I walked off set to talk to him in-person.”
“He came in, he came off-set and we get into this thing,” Gunn said.
Corenswet gave the monologue another run after receiving Gunn’s direction. He then delivered a performance that left several crew members teary-eyed backstage. In his tweet, Gunn called the day “one of my favorite moments on the set of #Superman,” saying he’s glad the scene could be captured on video.
“I got emotional a second ago because I really do think that what this movie is about is why do we love Superman so much,” Gunn said after the scene. “Is it because he can punch planets or pick up skyscrapers? I don’t think it is. I think it’s because of his innate goodness and his humanity — even though he’s an alien. And it’s OK that he’s being optimistic, it’s OK that he’s vulnerable and that’s what this scene was about.”
Gunn has spoken before about how interrogative Corenswet is as an actor, joking about the frequent questions his “Superman” star would ask to help locate the character. The pair both remark upon this quality in the clip, saying it helped them arrive at the best version of the scene.
“All the credit goes to James for saying that sentence, and for sticking with me in the conversation long enough to get to that sentence,” Corenswet said. “I didn’t make it easy for him.”
“There’s no anger in any of this at all. There’s no ego. There’s a reason why he’s asking these questions: because it makes it better,” Gunn said. “David wrote me that night, he texted me, he said, ‘That was my favorite day ever on set with a director,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I think that was my favorite day too.'”
You can watch the exchange in the video above.
The post James Gunn Shares Heated On-Set Debate With David Corenswet Over Key ‘Superman’ Scene: ‘Your F–king Feelings Are Hurt’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
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