Actor HENRY CAVIll talks about his experience of playing Superman for the second time in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and what all preparations he went through for this one
How do you approach playing a character that is not human and can do anythingIJ
Mostly with a lot of imagination. During preparations, the idea behind playing Clark Kent aka Superman doesn’t really change from movie to movie. But with Batman v Superman, it was working doubly hard in the gym because I knew I was going up against Ben Affleck and Batman, and I had to make sure that I was a fair match.
What was that experience likeIJ
It was quite strenuous, but, I’ve to say, some of the funniest moments are when you see a superhero trip over a piece of the set.
Not on purpose, I hopeIJ
Not on purpose, no. My character is actually very cool in the movie, but in real life I’m not that cool.
In the context of fan expectations about the source material, was it challenging to stay true to your interpretation all the way through from beginning to endIJ
When it comes to playing the character, you try and stay as true to source material as possible, but when you are making movies, it won’t necessarily stay straight down that line. So, ultimately, it’s following the director Zack Snyder’s vision.
You are now the cinematic Superman. Playing this character for the second time around, what do you consider the difference between this Superman and other iterations of the character that came before youIJ
The baseline of the character is the same because he is the symbol of hope. He is an ideal to strive towards. However, with the passing of decades, popular culture and opinion changes as well, so this character is very much drawn from the baseline of Superman in the comic books — as every Superman rendition has been — but this is Superman in our modern age.
Other than working out, how much preparation did you do for these rolesIJ
It is a balance of things. It is going through material like the comic books. It’s costume fittings. It’s having Zack walk us through, piece-by-piece, what his vision is for the movie so we know whatever contributions we make are going to be in line with his vision.