Yesterday we got our first look at Henry Cavil as Superman, even though Man of Steel isn’t due to hit the theaters until 2013. Here he is — and do please click to embiggen.
My instant reaction was: Great Superman, iffy costume. But I wanted to take a full day to let it soak in before making up my mind. And after 24 hours, my take is: Great Superman, iffy costume.
Cavil really looks like old-school Supes, the hypermasculine comic book character of the ’30s and ’40s, and that’s a big plus. And his pose amid the twisted steel demonstrates the title perfectly. The darker colors are an appropriate decision, too. With Zack Snyder (300, Sucker Punch, Watchmen) directing, Christopher Reeve and primary colors just wouldn’t, well, suit.
That said, what’s with the all texture? Did Superman’s mom make his suit out of actual shark skin? Ever since X-Men and Spider-Man, Hollywood has gone overboard, trying to make live-action superheroes look like oversized action figures. Something more than ’70s Spandex would be nice — but too much really is too much.
But it’s the casting that has me really excited. Look at this list of who’s who:
The film also stars three-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams as Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane, and Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne as her editor-in-chief, Perry White. Clark Kent’s adoptive parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent are Oscar nominee Diane Lane and Academy Award winner Kevin Coster [sic].
Lane and Coster as Ma and Pa Kent? Fantastic! That much better casting than Sally Fields as the new Aunt May in next year’s totally-unnecessary Spider-Man reboot. Amy Adams will give Lois the spunk Kate Bosworth lacked in 2006′s Superman Returns, and Fishburne as Perry White is an inspired choice.
But it gets even better. Read on:
Battling against the superhero are two other surviving Kryptonians, the villainous General Zod, played by Oscar nominee Michael Shannon, and Faora, Zod’s evil partner, played by Antje Traue. There is also Superman’s native Krypton, Lara Lor-Van, Superman’s mother, played by Julia Ormond, and Superman’s father, Jor-El, portrayed by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe.
Orman? Crowe? Sign me up! Harry Lennix — who I first got to know as Aaron in Julie Taymor’s wonderfully over-the-top production of Shakespeare’s Titus — has a role as a U.S. military man. Perhaps most encouraging, is that Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan is one of the producers.
To me, Chris Reeve will always be the movie Superman. But Man of Steel looks to have all the right pieces in place for a new and daring take on the original superhero franchise.
I can’t wait. How about you?
Categories: Uncategorized
Stephen – I very much agree. This fellow looks much more like SuperMAN than Brandon Routh did. Routh looked like a high school senior basketball center dressed up for a Halloween party.
That being said, I also wonder about the scaly costume. I don’t see the point in that.
I don’t hold any grudges against Routh. He did what he was told to do: To play Chris Reeves, 25 years late, in a unnecessary sequel to Superman II. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it was ill-conceived — and ill-cast, in the case of Kate Bosworth. But as an homage to the spirit of the first Donner Superman, it hit some nice notes.
But, yes — this new one looks like it might well be MAN of Steel, to steal your capitalization.
There were a number of puns in your response, Stephen, which I will leave for others to ponder. There were a number of comments about this new fellow’s hair, as well, not having the stray curl in front and being too Mitt Romney on the sides, though personally I think it’s good.
Are there nipples on the Superman suit? That’s always your first sign that a superhero movie’s going to royally Schumacher.
Yeah, Schumacher did everything but a close-up of the bat-taint.
ROFLMFAO You made me shoot Bacardi and Diet Pepsi out of my nose with that one (and thanks a lot for making me waste my booze!
)
Mattingly & Moore, baby! Do a nose shooter with cheap bourbon and who cares!
I’d like to know where THIS Superman stands on the question of his citizenship. =0[.]o=
Well, this is a Zack Snyder film, and Snyder has been right of wing when it comes to heroes and themes in his films.
So my guess is that he’ll be as American as DC comics allows him to be, yet I’m sure that Snyder will give us some patriotism with our action.
I love the casting. I love the director. I love the producers. And yes, I LOVE the suit! 2 years is a long time to wait
Now I have to see it and wallow in the awesome
Apropos of not much, I’d rather watch a movie depicting the round the world voyage of the Imperial Russian Baltic Fleet to it’s destruction at the Battle of Tsushima. Obedience to death. Think Midway meets The Unforgiven meets Chronicles of Riddick.
I am thoroughly tired of comic book flicks. (They’re %&*^ing comic books!) You don’t see me jumping up and down demanding a Jeb Stuart and the Haunted Tank movie, do you? Well, DO YOU?! I got my fix with Kelly’s Heroes; Oddball was the tanker’s tanker and a small part of the reason I herded tanks during the baby-killer days. (can I get a %*#( You, Ayers, Fonda and Dorn?) (I won’t mention what I think of so-called ‘romantic comedies’…)
And after all that, I’ll probably watch the stupid movie in order to appease she who must be appeased. But in the words of what’s his name in Johnny Dangerously… Once!
A ‘Jeb Stuart and the Haunted Tank’ movie would actually be be pretty cool, if done right. Not that it would, of course.
Farggin’ bastagiz!
Never mind Superman, how is this guy going to play Clark Kent? Christopher Reeve was a great Supes, but his Clark was a cartoon.
To me, Terence Stamp will always be the one, the only and undivisible General Zod.
Kneel before Zod.
Kneel before Zod.
Now available as a board game!
Who knew that Ma Kent was so good at knitting Spandex?
Yeah, same here. I guess they never got the bit where the costume was made out of baby blankets.
But wow, how many lefty losers can they stack onto a movie set without a ‘tiff’, intervention or some other ego breakdown?
To be honest, the expression on the face makes me think more of a super-villain than a super-hero. Scaly suit? I assume it’s supposed to make you think of armor (like Dragonscale maybe). Doesn’t jive with my vision of Superman though.
This pic doesn’t answer the most important question: Does Superman still wear his underpants on the outside?
And I suppose we’re supposed to be outraged about Fishburne. Me, I can’t wait to hear him bellow, “Great Caesar’s ghost!”
“Julie Taymor’s wonderfully over-the-top production of Shakespeare’s Titus”
By “wonderfully over-the-top” you mean “thematically incoherent.” As a director, Julie Taymor is an out-of-control set designer. She throws as much crap on the screen as possible just to see what sticks.
Let’s be honest. Titus Andronicus is awful. The play itself is just a mess, and a dementedly bloody one at that. So Taymor’s movie is the one and only time I’ve ever enjoyed her work — the director and the material were perfectly matched.
I still watch it now and then, and it’s even more awfully glorious in Blu-Ray.
I wonder if Amy Adams is going to use an inexplicable fake British accent like she did when playing Amelia Earhart in NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM?
That cape is going to snag on something.
No capes!
This may or may not be the most important subject on PJM in some time. I’ll wait for the pictures of Lois Lane before deciding. (Think Valerie Perrine in Slaughterhouse Five.)
Er – you mean “Costner”?
Oh, good grief, another one. I am so tired of movies and TV shows shot in the dark. Turn on the lights!
Kevin Costner playing Kevin Costner playing Pa (Kevin Costner) Kent. Sorry Amy Adams is in this. I have enjoyed her performances in the past. I might watch the DVD if a rerun of I Love Lucy isn’t on.
Why does Superman need a cape? Surely, he doesn’t get chilly. You’d think it would get in the way.
BTW, It’s Kevin Costner, not “Coster.”
That typo appeared in the original, but I added a [sic] to it.
And maybe Edna Mode was right: No Capes!
Ha – I’d like to say that the best parts of *that* movie were all Edna Mode… but it’s impossible to pick out the best parts of that movie.
I think the patterns on the costume are to make it cgi friendly. If textures are too smooth in CGI everything looks like Shrek – so they add this texturing to complicate the image and make it look more realistic.
I was hoping for Brainiac.
12/31/2012 is a long time to wait.
Zod again! Superman’s been around for over 70 years and has had 100′s, if not 1000′s of “super-villians”. And who do we get in the movies? Lex Luthor then Zod, then Lex Luthor again, then Zod, again. Not to mention Ma and Pa Kent, again. Anyone else see a lack of imagination? The cartoon shows have\had more imagination then the last few movies.
Three things sell this newspaper: Tragedy, sex, and Superman. These people have had enough tragedy, and we all know you can’t write worth a damn about sex.
-Perry White
Is that the Earth-2 version of the Superman logo on the costume?
And what’s with the Super-Goose-Bumps? Maybe he should switch to an insulated cape.
Superman is the only one allowed a cape because his invulnerable body would withstand the jet engines, trains and whatnot that the capes get caught in…
Amy Adams as Lois Lane? Yes, please!