|  Bluntly
Speaking | Brandon Routh
This summer
Superman Returns comes to theaters as directed by X-Men
director Bryan Singer, and snazzied up with CGI and special effects.
Though Singer wanted to stay true to the Donner films. And, he
has, down to his casting of the farm-boyish Brandon Routh.
Viola, the new Superman,
Brandon Routh, is unveiled. And he’s a looker. In fact he is the
spitting image of the graphic images we all now and love. It’s crazy
obvious, this guy was born to play superman.
Brandon
is new to Hollywood, and he is already all the buzz. His eyes
are brown, not blue, as he appears in Superman
Returns, those are contacts. He’s a tall handsome
man, who fills out his tights finely.
Brandon
sat down and talked about his star-making role, and stepping in
the footsteps of the beloved Christopher Reeve.
----
Emily: What was the
best part of making this film?
Brandon:
The best part there’s so many best parts I don’t know.
The best part for me now is people seeing it and now that we’re
finally finished and getting to see the final product. And for
being everything that I wanted it to be and intended for it to
be. I’m so proud of the film and Bryan and Kate and Kevin
and everybody. It’s a pretty amazing thing and I’m
so excited to be part of it. The worst thing as always it’s
probably going to be the physical aspect of being in the harness
and flight. Making the flight happen. Some days it was great.
Some days it wasn't’t fun you know depending on how early
in the morning I was up and in the harness and if I had to work
out at 4AM in the morning. All those things.
Emily:
Have people pointed out a resemblance to Christopher Reeve before
this movie?
Brandon: Yeah my first
manager actually talked about my resemblance. I was a big fan of Chris
and it was probably one of the main reasons he decided to work with me.
Since then people have commented every now and then.
Emily: Did you read
the Superman comics?
Brandon:
I did not read the Superman comics. I was a big fan of the films
as a kid. You know I think I’ve told this story many times
about the first time I saw the movie wearing the Superman costume
or pajamas with a little cape my mom still has. I was so excited
to see the film at age five or six that I gave myself a migraine.
I had the little silver bowl next to the couch in case I had an
upset stomach through half the movie. I was always throwing things
up in the air and seeing how they would fly. Making parachutes
out of things and seeing how things would fly and my parents were
like ‘this kid is crazy.” I didn’t read the
comics, but I was a big fan of the films.
Emily: Have you been
recognized while you have been out?
Brandon: There have
been some yeah. In Monaco, there was a guy who had on a Superman shirt
that I signed for him. He said he was a big fan. You know some people
are quite nervous when they meet me, which is interesting because they
haven’t seen the film. It shows the power that Superman has great
power the character has all around the world.
Emily: What favorite
hobby are you going to miss doing without people recognizing you?
Brandon:
Well you know I actually like to go I wouldn’t call it a
hobby, but I actually kind of like walking around stores. Like
the grocery store in the evening for some reason. It’s soothing.
Emily: You just go
in and walk around the isle?
Brandon: Yeah you
know I go with my girlfriend like places like Whole Food where you can
read about the products and all that stuff. Knowledge. You’re learning
about health. I don’t know why. It’s just interesting.
Emily: You’ll
just need to start wearing a pair of glasses and nobody would recognize
you.
Brandon: I’ve
tried that it doesn’t work!
Emily:
Did you try to mimic Christopher Reeve at all?
Brandon: Well the
film you know is written to be the vague sequel to the first two films.
Inheritably in the script there are many homages in the character and
especially written from that character so there are similarities because
of that. The only thing that was done really only to mimic Chris’s
performances pushing the glasses up with the forefinger. I did that sometimes
and sometimes Bryan would love a shot and I didn’t do it you know
he’d tell me to do it because it fit in a certain shot or sometimes
I adjusted the glasses like that. Certainly all of my performance was
influenced by Chris. Chris was my superman so when I read the script I
envisioned the script. He was in my head all the time. My Clark is really
everything that comes from him is all about excitement about being around
when he first sees Lois again you know meets Jason and Richard. It’s
all about him being so excited and where the goofiness and clumsiness
comes in. You know there’s a certain amount that’s always
going to seem like Chris and all the other people who have come before
because that’s kind of where we see as a collective audience. We
don’t want to vary too much from that.
Emily: Have you seen
the Imax 3D version of Superman Returns? I missed it...
Brandon: Oh it’s
fantastic. I’ve never seen anything on 3D so that was just fantastic.
I was just blown away in the plane sequence where you see the pen and
recorder floating and the mailbox standing there. It was just stunning.
I’m going to have to see more because I only saw four minutes of
it. I’m definitely going to have to see it in Imax somewhere.
Emily: What is it
like seeing yourself as Superman on the screen?
Brandon: It’s
weird. We basically shot the film in chronicle order for Superman anyway.
So I think I actually feel that way about it. I feel more confident in
the end of film. I think the character is actually making that journey
in the film. Even though he’s only been gone for five years he’s
still kind of getting back in the swing of things. So I actually feel
that emotionally when I’m watching it. It’s still weird for
me to watch because I’m Superman because it’s weird. It’s
much easier for me to watch Clark. I enjoy watching Clark and it was great
fun to be able to play him.
Emily: Can you talk
about wearing the suit and what kind of dieting you had to do?
Brandon:
Well I did a lot of things. I lifted weights obviously. I did
Rope Yoga which is a mix between Pilate's and Yoga and then my
first trainer Gudni Gunnarsson created. It’s a great core
building routine so that was put in place so that I could sustain
myself with the wires and the harness for extended periods of
time. So we did that early on. Also with weights and especially
training my body to get in shape. We got my body in shape to be
in shape. I mean I was in shape I was an athlete before that.
I did certain things, but never to this extent. By the time we
got into Australia, two months into my training we starting hitting
the weights really really hard and building more mass and I put
on 22 pounds for the film. It was fantastic to see my body change
in five months time. I had a little extra time when we went into
Sydney because we didn’t start filming Superman right away
so it was pretty fantastic. I’ve dropped a little bit now
because I’m not working out as heavy definitely now. To
actually do it again, if and when we go again because it’s
such a powerful feeling to.
Emily: Did you have
to maintain a certain size for the suit?
Brandon: Yeah I had
to and there were a couple of times where we got over zealous in our workout
and I started to got you know I had to back down because you start to
life a lot and you how much more can I do, but you have to maintain the
limit you know.
Emily: Can you describe
the first day you were on set and wearing the costume?
Brandon: Well I think
I probably did some mental relaxation and take some deep breaths in my
dressing room before I went out. The first scene that we shot if I remember
correctly is actually not in the film anymore, but it’s in the Daily
Planet. Some of the crew had seen me in passing for costume test and we’d
done small things like this. But, this was the full crew and actually
there was all of the people in the Daily Planet, all of the extras and
they couldn’t look and turn around. We didn’t want anyone
taking pictures or shots. A photo hadn’t been released yet and so
everybody had to keep their backs turn. These 100 extras you’re
in the Daily Planet so that was kind of cool. Just to know the first time
it was on camera, it was really powerful. That was kind of the final piece
that I needed to be secured in the role was to actually have some footage
you know in the camera and to know that day was marked and I had become
the character.
Emily: What did Bryan
Singer do for you as the director?
Brandon:
He’s gentle. We had a lot of great conversations We didn’t
really rehearse which we didn’t end up needing to do because
we had so many in-depth conversations about the character and
how he felt about certain situations. Being open to how he felt
about the character was always so important so he always had great
insight and he was coming from a different place than I was. It
was awesome because there was more layers in there you know as
well as Dan and Mike and other people being open to people’s
ideas and pieces of information. You know very creatively if a
line wasn’t working for me, we’d talk about it and
change it, alter it or if it wasn’t quite working the right
way we’d figure it out. You know it’s a creative process
and if I can’t be creative and know that he’s able
to be creative on the day we’re actually filming then you
know it kind of shuts everything down.
Emily: Can you talk
about working with Kate? Did you envision her as Lois Lane?
Brandon: I was open
and didn’t have anything envisioned. She was cast because she really
stood out when she tested with me. It was a very simple test. But we did
two of the most important scenes in the film and she was just great. She
got to me and to do that in an audition is so powerful because you know
I didn’t have a script. She didn’t have a script. She created
this character. The history of the character was so important because
we hadn’t played these characters in the film two films that we’re
kind of being part of. We both had to create this history between the
characters. We’d come together not in a happy time. So captivating
and so strong. The difference in how she creates the characters is important.
She’s not nice and cheery to Clark necessarily which is what they
use to have. But, you know she’s got big things happening in her
life. She’s got a kid. She’s got all of this stuff happening.
She doesn’t have time to deal with him in the same way anymore.
So she was fantastic and so easy and great to work with. She’s the
professional. She’s the one who even though we’re both young,
she has the experience and never once did I feel like I was acting with
Kate Bosworth. She was very collaborative and just amazing.
Emily: Did you get to keep the suit?
No, I actually don’t
have a suit, but I did keep the curl. The fake curl. The fake curl that
they made and never used.
Emily: How many sequels are you signed for?
Brandon: You know
we’ll do as many as everyone wants to get together and do.
Emily: Do you have another project coming up?
Brandon:
I actually have a short film that’s going to be playing at Cina
Vegas. It premieres on Friday and I’m going to be there Monday to
see it. It’s a 35 mm short film called Denial. It’s about
a choice one man has to make between the woman of his dreams and his sanity.
It’s quite different from Superman, but awfully exciting and I’m
really excited about it. Courtney produced that film and a friend of ours
Joel Kelly wrote and directed it.
---
Nice
guy. I am glad. He needed to be to be our Superman.
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