James Gunn Wants To Bring 'Color And Joy' Back To ‘Superman': 'In Some Ways, It's Lighter'
On the red carpet of Monday's world premiere, the writer and director told Deadline how he took a 'lighter' approach to the DC Comics superhero that gets back to 'the color and the joy' of his origins.
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'In some ways, it's lighter. But there's a lot of heavy stuff in the movie as well,' explained Gunn, following Zack Snyder's grittier take on the role in Man of Steel (2013), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017). 'But the character himself is lighter.'
The DC Studios boss called Clark Kent 'that rarity of rarities,' explaining that 'he's from a non-dysfunctional family, he has parents who love him, he's growing up in a loving household with support and emotional presence from his parents, and he's the result of that. And I think that he's a pretty well-adjusted guy because of that. However, he has his flaws as well.'
Gunn added, 'But I loved the color and the joy of the comic books I loved growing up, and I wanted to imbue this film with that feeling.'
Since taking over DC Studios with Peter Safran in 2022, Gunn has been hard at work directing Superman, which kicks off his new DCU franchise with the 'Gods and Monsters' phase.
In theaters July 11, Superman stars David Corenswet in the titular role. In addition to Rachel Brosnahan as Lois, the cast also includes Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor and María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer, as well as Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Sean Gunn, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Isabel Merced and Nathan Fillion as some familiar DC faces.
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