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Indian Express
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Superman got ghosted by the world, and Donald Trump might be the reason: Why James Gun thinks ‘The Man of Steel is not everyone's hero'
James Gunn's DC reboot with David Corenswet may have hit home with American audiences, but globally, the director feels the film's been caught in the crossfire of anti-U.S. vibes. Despite decent international numbers and the emotional reinvention of Superman working in its favour, the movie's still underperforming abroad, and that's clearly bothering Gunn. Domestically, it raked in a solid $253 million, but the overseas buzz just isn't matching up. 'Superman is not a known commodity in some places. He's not as big as Batman in some countries, and that affects things,' Gunn told Rolling Stone, responding to why the film isn't quite landing with global audiences like it did in the U.S. Also read: Is the new Superman movie 'too woke' or just true to its origins? Globally, Superman made around $173 million, according to The numbers have been dropping since, and James Gunn seems to think it's the 'anti-American' wave dragging the film down. 'We have a certain amount of anti-American sentiment around the world right now. It isn't really helping us,' he told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. Also read: Superman: James Gunn's idea of an India-coded country is regressive and riddled with stereotypes; the Man of Steel wouldn't stand for it The film stars Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, and has received glowing reviews from critics. But let's be honest, without fan-favourite Henry Cavill, some slowdown was inevitable. Still, Gunn gambled with a fresh face in David Corenswet and expected the world to instantly buy in. Didn't exactly pan out. And his recent statement has the internet asking, did Trump's global PR mess play a part? Since his return as the 47th president, he's withdrawn the U.S. from treaties and made trade and tariff moves that were scrutinised globally. Pew Research's latest says global sentiment towards the U.S. has dropped badly in Trump's second term, but whether that's affecting moviegoers is still up for debate. That said, Gunn is still hopeful. It's day 12 of Superman in theatres, already up against Fantastic Four, and he's still keeping the faith. 'We're doing better domestically, but international numbers are starting to rise too. Weekday numbers have been solid. Word of mouth is working,' he said. 'There are countries where it's actually performing well, like Brazil and the U.K.'
Indian Express
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Superman star Rachel Brosnahan says a ‘witch' helped her lift a 10-year ‘travel curse' ahead of movie promotion: ‘I made her sign an NDA'
New Superman star Rachel Brosnahan recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and opened up about the bizarre lengths she had to go to get the global press tour right. Starring David Corenswet as the new Man of Steel in James Gunn's DC reboot, Superman is currently holding strong at number one on box office, raking in over $250 million worldwide. A lot of that buzz, of course, comes from the cast's tireless promo blitz across the globe, but according to Rachel, none of it would've happened if a witch hadn't stepped in to remove her decade-long travel curse. Also read: Superman: James Gunn's idea of an India-coded country is regressive and riddled with stereotypes; the Man of Steel wouldn't stand for it Rachel Brosnahan on how a witch broke her travel curse Jimmy kicked things off by congratulating her on the film's success and pointed out how she travelled all over Asia, South America to promote it. Then he casually asked if she's good at travelling. Rachel laughed and said it felt amazing to meet fans worldwide, but honestly, it was nothing short of a miracle. 'I've been suffering from a travel curse for the past 10 years,' she revealed. She explained that while she always somehow made it to places, 'it's never not stressful, like as humanly stressful as it gets.' She even shared how Peter Safran, co-head of DC Studios, once refused to board a plane with her. 'He just said, 'I'm not getting on a plane with you,' and he didn't,' she said. Rachel said no one ever believes her until they actually travel with her. 'Someone always ends up late, or something crazy happens. Then they look at me and say, 'Ma'am, I'm so sorry, I've just never seen this before,'' she said with a laugh. She recalled being given 36 hours to promote the film in New Mexico. 'It was a beautiful day in May, sunny, gorgeous air, and suddenly, as I'm driving on this two-lane highway to the airport, a literal apocalyptic snowstorm hits. Full whiteout,' she said. 'I made it by the skin of my teeth. They probably shouldn't have let me on the plane, but I got there.' Also read: Is the new Superman movie 'too woke' or just true to its origins? And it didn't stop there. When the rest of the cast flew out to the Paris Olympics, Rachel was still stuck at LAX for eight hours because her luggage had disappeared. 'Everyone was like, 'We just took off!' And I was sitting there like, of course I'm not going anywhere.' Jimmy then asked how she finally got rid of this curse, and Rachel explained how panicked she was ahead of the Superman promo tour. So, she asked around, friends, family, if anyone knew any energy healers or past life readers. 'I ended up calling a witch,' she said. 'I brought her to my house. She brought a wishing well, a wand, and she even signed an NDA,' Rachel deadpanned. The witch asked about her traumas, her life, all of it, and apparently, that's how the curse was lifted. When Jimmy asked if it really worked, Rachel nodded and said, 'I'm happy to report it did.' In the film, Rachel plays Lois Lane, a reporter at the Daily Planet and love interest to Corenswet's Superman.
Indian Express
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Superman: James Gunn's idea of an India-coded country is regressive and riddled with stereotypes; the Man of Steel wouldn't stand for it
By now, Quentin Tarantino's hot take on Superman has resurfaced online enough times for it to have seeped into the cultural consciousness. Via one of his onscreen mouthpieces, Tarantino theorised that Superman truly was an alien living among us. The blue suit with the large 'S' wasn't a costume for him; it was the attire of his people. The real costume was the suit and tie he wore as Clark Kent. 'Clark Kent is how Superman views us,' Tarantino said. 'And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak… he's unsure of himself… he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race.' The same theory, funnily enough, could be applied to James Gunn. In his new Superman movie, the filmmaker offers a similar outsider's perspective on earthly matters. Positioned as a quasi-apology for Zack Snyder's Man of Steel — the most expensive emo music video ever filmed — Gunn's Superman harkens back to the goofy cartoons of the 1980s. It's bright, kid-friendly, and energetically performed. It's also surprisingly contemporary. Not only does this Superman live in the DC Universe's equivalent of 2025, he also finds himself at the centre of a divided world. The film's opening titles inform us that 'metahumans' like him first arrived on Earth 3,000 years ago. Three years ago, Kal-El 'came out' as Superman, and three minutes ago, he suffered his first loss on the battlefield. Also read – F1: Brad Pitt takes a page out of Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan playbook, and tears it to shreds Played by David Corenswet, Superman was already attracting heat for his unilateral decision to intervene in a clash between the Eastern European-inspired country of Boravia, and the very India-coded Jahranpur. It is unclear where exactly these fictional nations are located on the planet, although the third act appears to suggest that they are separated only by a fence of some kind. While the Boravians are fair-skinned and blue-eyed, their adversaries look like they're from the Subcontinent. It seems as if Gunn is commenting on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflicts; it could only have been more obvious had Vladimir Putin himself sauntered into frame and pointed fingers at Benjamin Netanyahu. This isn't the first time that Gunn has offered simplistic commentary through his colourful superhero movies. The Suicide Squad was a pretty bold critique of American foreign policy, particularly the Iraq War. Superman alludes to this in its finest scene. The 10-minute scene involves zero action and no visual effects; no monsters are being slayed, no dimensions are being hopped. The scene is as much about the rigours of journalism as it is about a new couple having their first argument. It's framed around a simple conversation between Clark and his girlfriend, the intrepid reporter Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan. They agree to put their personal equation to the side for a few minutes, during which Lois interviews 'Superman' about his interference in the Boravia-Jahranpur crisis. Superman tells her that the Boravians were about to annihilate the less-resourceful Jahranpurians; he simply couldn't wait for the American government to give him the green light. Plus, he tells her, he doesn't represent America. 'I represent me!' But Lois grills him about the repercussions of his actions; Boravia is an ally, whereas Jahranpur has a rocky history with America. 'People were going to die,' Clark yells, losing his patience. It is the only time in the movie that he views human beings as inferior to himself. He cannot understand why random protocols should be followed when innocent lives are at stake. Armed to the teeth, the Boravians are the clear aggressors, while the Jahranpurians are shown to be rag-wearing cave-dwellers of some sort. Even by superhero movie standards, which aren't as low as you'd think, this is a rather racist view of the third-world. Gunn's intentions might be pure, but his expression is flawed. There is also the rather unfortunate parallel that one can draw between Superman and Donald Trump, especially the Nobel-hungry version of POTUS that we've been seeing recently, the same version that intervened to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan earlier this year. Gunn couldn't have predicted this, of course. But perhaps this is the universe's way of reminding him that he shares a similar outlook to that of the POTUS about this part of the world. 'They've been fighting for thousands of years,' Trump remarked (incorrectly and ignorantly) on more than one occasion. Read more – Sinners: Ryan Coogler compares Marvel to vampires as he delivers one of the best movies of the year Superman is a fun movie, but was it necessary to portray the Jahranpurians as so stereotypically backward? Was it necessary to shoot those scenes with a yellow tint, as if we're in a Tony Scott movie from 2004? The white saviour trope doesn't really apply here, though, seeing as that's Superman's thing. He's still quite young in the movie, around 33. He grew up listening to Dashboard Confessional probably, witnessing the evolution of technology before his eyes. He probably witnessed Lux Luthor's rise from an ambitious start-up bro to a full-blown technocrat villain. Superman has always been an empath, but perhaps being a millennial made him a bigger one. And he's right; he doesn't represent America. He doesn't discriminate. Superman's greatest challenge — Gunn isn't interested in exploring this, by the way — isn't who to save, but who not to. Even he can't be everywhere at once. But every nation, not just America, can learn something from him. After all, we used to be a country that welcomed the Dalai Lama in the 1950s and granted him refuge; now, we're a country that lets a fleeing mass murderer onto our land when her countryfolk kick her out. Post Credits Scene is a column in which we dissect new releases every week, with particular focus on context, craft, and characters. Because there's always something to fixate about once the dust has settled. Rohan Naahar is an assistant editor at Indian Express online. He covers pop-culture across formats and mediums. He is a 'Rotten Tomatoes-approved' critic and a member of the Film Critics Guild of India. He previously worked with the Hindustan Times, where he wrote hundreds of film and television reviews, produced videos, and interviewed the biggest names in Indian and international cinema. At the Express, he writes a column titled Post Credits Scene, and has hosted a podcast called Movie Police. You can find him on X at @RohanNaahar, and write to him at He is also on LinkedIn and Instagram. ... Read More
