As Superman: Legacy gears ever closer to casting its Kal-El, we’re being drip-fed information on how exactly James Gunn will be characterizing the original DC superhero in his upcoming reboot. The director has previously outlined the key qualities he’s looking for in his mystery leading man, but a new interview offers a hint at how Gunn himself will be inspired by the one and only Christopher Reeve in his script work and direction.
While discussing his five favorite comic book movies of all time with GQ, Gunn of course chose 1978’s Superman: The Movie. In his explanation for this pick, the filmmaker stressed his affection for one element of Reeve’s portrayal that is often overlooked:
“The thing they don’t talk about much when they talk about Christopher Reeve… There’s this playfulness about Superman. When he’s saving a cat, he’s got this wry smile. And that is one of the best parts of the movie… He enjoys doing what he’s doing. He enjoys helping human beings.”
DC Comics writer Tom Taylor was impressed with this viewpoint, tweeting that he believes Gunn “gets it.” Gunn himself then liked the tweet, thereby doubling down on his comments about the importance of Supes’ “playfulness.”
Seeing as Gunn loves this quality of Reeve’s performance so much, it seems like a safe bet that he will bring this element of the character back for his take. In doing so, he’ll certainly be differentiating the DCU’s Superman from the last one, as it’s fair to say that no one in the history of the internet has ever described Henry Cavill’s portrayal of the hero as “playful.” Moody, messianic, mustached… all those apply. But playful? Nah.
The same goes for Brandon Routh’s mopey underwear model in Superman Returns. Even the popular small-screen Supermen of the 21st century, Tom Welling and Tyler Hoechlin, can’t really be described as playful either, so Gunn — if he’s indeed able to recapture what he loves about Richard Donner’s film — may genuinely be on course to deliver a Man of Steel the likes of which we haven’t seen for decades. Color me red, blue, and intrigued.