Screen Tests Reveal Superman: Legacy Details
DC’s first power couple is slowly coming to life once again. According to The Hollywood Reporter, James Gunn, the current co-CEO of DC Studios and the writer-director of Superman: Legacy, is holding auditions for the lead roles in the film, Superman and Lois Lane. The last round of screen tests was on “the weekend of June 17” and featured three actors for each role; Nicholas Hoult, Tom Brittney, and David Corenswet auditioned for Superman, while Rachel Brosnahan, Phoebe Dynevor, and Emma Mackey tried out for Lois. Moreover, each actor was paired with another so they could test together: Hoult tested with Brosnahan, Brittney with Dynevor, and Corenswet with Mackey.
The paired auditions, in which the men played the character in his Clark Kent persona, were held on Saturday; on Sunday, the men all tested as Superman, with only Mackey returning to play Lois, and while THR’s sources say this doesn’t mean she has the part or is even favored, it certainly looks like she’s the frontrunner. Once the two leads are cast, Gunn will turn his attention to other characters, including Lex Luthor, for whom the shortlist includes both Alexander and Bill Skarsgård and possibly Nicholas Hoult again. Also needing to be cast are the members of The Authority, who will be making their debut in Superman: Legacy; the film will find Superman in a world of already-established superheroes.
I can’t say much about the actors because I’ve only seen two of them – Nicholas Hoult and Rachel Brosnahan – in anything, and neither is my pick for the roles. Nicholas Hoult is completely wrong for Superman, and I don’t like him for Lex Luthor either. I do like Brosnahan, and I think she’d make a fine Lois Lane, but Emma Mackey has such an interesting look, and I want to see what her Lois would be like. As for the other Superman actors, I think David Corenswet has the better look for Superman, although Tom Brittney is pretty close. I’m glad Gunn isn’t thinking outside the box with this; he’s mostly going for actors who look like Superman. (Something tells me Nicholas Hoult was forced in by the studio.) Either of the Skarsgårds would make an interesting Lex Luthor. Bill is creepy-looking, and he played refined evil well in John Wick: Chapter 4; Alexander is a little more traditional, seemingly normal but malevolent below the surface. I like them both, although either of the 6’4 brothers will necessitate the equally tall Corenswet as their nemesis, lest their Lex Luthor tower over the Man of Steel.
I have to say, though, I don’t care for the idea of Superman entering a world already populated with superheroes, especially ones like The Authority. They’re supposed to be the ultra-violent alternatives to guys like Superman, and inverting that dynamic doesn’t feel right. I also wanted them to have a movie to themselves that introduced them to cinema, not start as background characters in a Superman movie. To be fair, this isn’t confirmed, and Gunn has said that these reports often come with some misinformation. But it fits with some of the things he announced, like Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Between Superman entering a world where The Authority and possibly other superheroes are already established and starting Batman off with Damien Wayne’s Robin, too much of the DCU feels like it’s jumping the gun (one “n”), fast-forwarding through all the preliminary world-building to get to what Gunn thinks is the good stuff, which is one of the mistakes the DCEU made. I was hopeful for a while and even defended Gunn against accusations that his preference for off-beat characters made him the wrong guy to run DC Studios, but I’ve been losing confidence in him lately, and this doesn’t help.
