We’re still a couple of days away from most of the world getting to see Superman, but based on the critics’ early reaction to the first movie of the new DCU under James Gunn and the response from fans at early screenings, the movie is looking like a big win for Gunn and star David Corenswet. According to the new Clark Kent, the two got along well during production, though the director apparently had to tell his star to occasionally back off, sometimes using very strong language.
Speaking with GQ, Corenswet says he was very committed to trying to make James Gunn’s vision for Superman come true. To that end, it seems the actor was constantly asking questions in order to better understand what Gunn was doing. However, it would sometimes drive the director crazy. Corenswet said…
He said a very nice thing: ‘You’re a filmmaker, and so you want to be involved in the filmmaking and you want to help make the film as good as possible.’ Then he said, ‘I think you’re also like a kid sticking his finger in light sockets and sometimes I gotta slap you on the wrist and say stop fucking doing that.’
While David Corenswet is known as an actor, he’s also worked as a writer and director himself. So it’s understandable why he would have a lot of questions working with James Gunn. Not only does he want to give the performance his director is looking for, but the more he learns about how and why Gunn is making the choices he is, the better a filmmaker he might be down the road.
Gunn admits that sometimes Corenswet was asking so many questions that they would get overwhelming, but he says that part of the reason the two worked so well together was that when the director would ultimately have to tell his actor to just shut up, Corenswet wasn’t bothered by it. Gunn explained…
Sometimes his questions are great, and I totally see where they make him better, and because they make him better, they make the movie better. But every once in a while, it’s just one question too many, and it’s like, Oh, my God, just, David, stop, stop, for a minute. And the beautiful thing about me and David is that he knows that about himself and he knows where my limits are. And when I say, ‘David, shut the fuck up,’ David totally gets it and does not take that personally.
If the Superman box office ends up as strong as the reviews, then there’s a good chance David Corenswet and James Gunn will be working together again, possibly in a lot of upcoming DC movies. Maybe previous experience will mean fewer questions from Corenswet in the future. Or perhaps the new Man of Steel is going to be told to shut the heck up a lot.