BvS Damage Control: Henry Cavill Is No Longer Superman
In a recent interview with our friends at Entertainment Weekly, Batman V Superman executive producer Wesley Coller, along with director Zack Snyder, shocked fans with the announcement that actor Henry Cavill would no longer be playing Superman in any future DC films. This response came after a question regarding Superman’s critically loathed portrayal in the recently released, and heavily frowned-upon instigator of the new DC Cinematic Universe, Batman V Superman: Dawn of justice.
The interviewer’s question was innocent enough:
“It seems a lot of people had problems with the way Superman was handled in the film. He appeared sad, incognizant of his own actions and devoid of the characteristic, uplifting positivity that most attribute to Superman. In fact, having seen the film myself, I can honestly tell you he was just as angst-ridden as Batman. Are we ever going to see a happier, more effective, less self-scrutinizing Superman in future DC films? Guys, seriously. Will Superman ever smile again?” (laughs)
Zack Snyder’s response? Something completely unexpected (you’re going to want to read the whole thing).
“Superman is very difficult to write. He’s basically an unstoppable force with an impenetrable moral base. This is something that, to me, just isn’t dramatically engaging. It was very important that we show Superman’s physical weaknesses (kryptonite) as well as his psychological weaknesses.”
Snyder continued, “He needs these things, these limitations, to be more relatable. I realize this isn’t the ideal Superman, but Batman V Superman (the film) doesn’t inhabit an ideal world. A problem we had, sort of an ongoing debate, was getting Henry (Cavill) to properly express these conflicts, these chinks in Superman’s armor. Henry and I had a lot of discussions about Superman, about how he should behave and how he would react to a darker, more cynical world. Henry was all about the happier, more confident, inspiring Superman, but that just didn’t fit with the template we created. Most of his scenes burned up a good number of takes because his version of Superman just wasn’t aligning with ours. What we ended up with, his scenes that actually made it into the film, they suffer because of this misalignment. And when all was said and done, he wasn’t happy with his performance, and we weren’t happy, so both parties left the table knowing that a new Superman was needed.”
This is completely unbelievable. I mean, yes, I wasn’t happy how they handled Superman, but I really thought Cavill would be allowed to open up in future films. Well, I guess…
