14 DAY TRIAL // Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel,” the Superman reboot, might be flawed but it is, without a doubt, a solid new start for the beloved superhero. Before Henry Cavill donned the S suit, Brandon Routh wore it in the 2006 “Superman Returns,” directed by Bryan Singer, considered by many fans and critics one of the worst Superman movies ever.
In a new interview with Empire magazine, Singer takes a long hard look at the Superman franchise, what it became in Snyder’s hands, and how he would have made it differently. He also explains why he chose Routh over Cavill, thus confirming an older rumor that the latter had been in talks for Superman for years before he actually landed the part.
As Singer puts it, it’s not that he didn’t think Cavill was a good fit for the role, but he was simply looking for someone who bore a bit more resemblance to Christopher Reeve’s Superman. After all, his movie was a direct continuation of the originals with him as lead, so Routh made more sense at that time.
As for Snyder’s Superman, Singer stresses that we’re talking about two different takes on the same character.
“I am in awe of the world building and the scope of that picture. It's tough for me. I'm not a critic and it starts to get into a weird thing where one director is talking about another director. I know how hard it is to make a movie, especially one of these movies and especially a Superman movie, and there was so much I was impressed with in that movie,” he tells Empire.
“There were things I might have done a little differently just because of the way I view the character. Don't misinterpret that as me not liking something,” Singer continues.
He can’t explain the negative buzz around his “Superman Returns” because he doesn’t understand half of it himself, but he agrees he could have done certain things differently.
“It wasn't what it needed to be, I guess. I think I could lop the first quarter off and start the movie a bit more aggressively and maybe find a way to start the movie with the jet disaster sequence or something. I could have grabbed the audience a little more quickly. I don't know what would have helped. Probably nothing. If I could go again, I would do an origin. I would reboot it,” Singer says.
Not that he’d ever get the chance. After some time when there was a lot of buzz around a potential sequel, interest died down and both Singer and the studio moved away from Superman.
Still, the director says, he had already planned the sequel, which – get this – he would have probably called “Man of Steel” and would have featured the villain Darkseid.