It was a bit of a surprise when relatively unknown actor David Corenswet was first cast as Superman, having appeared in a wide range of smaller roles in things like Twister, Pearl and The Politician. But James Gunn brought him into the spotlight, giving him the biggest superhero role there is. How did he land that part?
Well, now we have a glimpse of that. David Corenswet’s original audition tape, at least one of them, has been officially released so we can get a sense of what casting was seeing during that process. Here it is, where he’s performing part of the famed “Lois versus Clark” interview sequence, albeit with a number of lines changed, and no explosive Super-Anger:
That scene is able to elicit a range of emotions from charm to arrogance to surprise to getting his feelings hurt. It’s only three minutes, where the full scene was eleven, and obviously escalated quite a bit from here. But you can get a sense of why he was chosen.
It’s funny seeing him audition here in the sense that he looks so…small. You’re not going to go ham on bulking up for a mere audition, most likely, but after he was cast, we know that Corenswet put on a full 40 pounds of muscle, getting up to 238 pounds at one point in order to get the physicality he needed for the part, previously occupied by the famously ripped Henry Cavill.
There are many fun facts about the Superman audition process, one being that Nicholas Hoult also auditioned for the part before being cast as Lex Luthor. He’s previously talked about walking into the audition space and seeing Corenswet and thinking “wow, that’s Superman.” But the rest is history with him becoming Lex.
I’m curious if we’ll see a Milly Alcock Supergirl audition tape or an Aaron Pierre Green Lantern audition tape in the future. I mean, I’d watch an endless number of these for any role, as I find them fascinating. There also may be more from Corenswet that could be released, and we know he did “chemistry” tests opposite Rachel Brosnahan herself, which obvious blossomed into significant on-screen chemistry in the final product. Release one of those, James Gunn!
We know that Gunn is now writing a Superman sequel that he says will be part of a four-film saga. That’s supposed to come out after Supergirl and The Batman Part II as the third DC project from now. No doubt Corenswet will be up to the task again.
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