With just days to go before the worldwide launch of the first teaser trailer, TheWrap visited the Cleveland set of “Superman” this past June, where director James Gunn was battling the elements to bring his vision of DC’s Boy Scout to life. Between takes, Gunn sat with a bunch of reporters and revealed his approach to the Man of Steel — one that focuses solely on Superman’s story without getting bogged down in larger universe-building.
“Zero,” Gunn emphatically stated when asked how much of the movie is dedicated to setting up other characters or future DC projects. “I mean, maybe two little things, two moments, but basically if something’s there just to set up something else, f–k it.”
For Gunn, this philosophy extends beyond just this film. “Everything needs to stand by itself. I don’t want somebody to have to go see this movie and be relying on anything else,” Gunn said. “If this sets up stuff in ‘Peacemaker,’ which it does, then that’s great. But that is never, ever, ever, with me, going to be something that I’m going to sacrifice even a moment or a beat in a story for, especially a movie.”
Gunn added: “With TV, you’ve got a little bit more leniency to be able to do that. But in a movie, every beat has to be in there for the movie itself.”
The film starts with Superman already established in his world, with existing relationships with both Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. “We just start in the middle of the action,” Gunn said. “Superman’s already existing. Lois and Clark already know each other. Lex hates Superman’s guts from the beginning, although they don’t know each other personally.”
Gunn’s vision for the film draws from various influences while maintaining its own identity. “All previous DC media influenced me,” Gunn said. “I think that obviously the original Donner movie influenced me, but there’s also a lot of things that this isn’t, like I’m not just making a Donner type movie. It’s very different from that.” Gunn specifically cited “All-Star Superman” as a major comic book influence, noting its Silver Age feel and science fiction approach.
For the action sequences, particularly the aerial scenes, Gunn and his team are taking inspiration from “Top Gun: Maverick.” They’re using drones to capture Superman’s flight scenes. “We shoot a lot of our action with actual drones flying in and around Superman and the people that he’s flying with, Engineer, whoever else, that he’s fighting up in the air.” Gunn said. “We got these really small, crazy drones now. We’ve got some of the best flyers in the world here who are working with it.”
The tone of the film sets it apart from Gunn’s previous superhero outings. “It’s humorous, but it certainly is not as comic or as much a comedy as either ‘Suicide Squad’ or ‘Guardians,’” Gunn said. “There’s plenty of humor in it. People like Rachel (Brosnahan) are so funny and David (Corenswet) is very funny as well, so there’s humor in it, but it’s trying to create something that is grounded, but also it’s an incredibly fanciful world, it’s fantasy, it’s taking from other things like ‘Game of Thrones,’ where it’s this universe where superheroes actually exist.”
One of the most debated aspects of the production was Superman’s DCU costume – specifically whether to include the classic trunks. Gunn, who was “on the no trunks team for a long time,” changed his mind after a conversation with star Corenswet.
“David said something to me that really affected me,” Gunn said. “Superman wants kids to not be afraid of him. He’s an alien. He’s this incredibly powerful, could be considered scary individual and he wants people to like him. He wants to be a symbol of hope and positivity. So he dresses like a professional wrestler, he dresses in a way that makes people unafraid of him, that shows that.”
The film’s score, composed by John Murphy, will include nods to John Williams’ classic Superman theme while creating something new. “It’s not a soundtrack, so it’s not about the songs,” Gunn noted. “It’s much, much more of a score film.”
Gunn also opened about the initial casting process and how he found both of his leads. Both Corenswet and Brosnahan’s audition tapes arrived on the first day. “I saw both of those and I went, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to be okay,’” Gunn said. Their chemistry test proved decisive: “We had this 15-minute-long scene that they have to act together and talk and discuss and just communicate. And I mixed and matched all the different couples and it was simple magic when the two of them came up.”
Gunn also noted that the film explores a unique take on the Clark Kent/Superman dynamic. “People said all sorts of different things. They said, ‘Clark’s the real one.’ They said, ‘Superman’s the real one and Clark’s the secret identity.’ But I don’t believe either of those things,” Gunn said. “I don’t think anybody knows Superman unless they know both of him. And when they know both of him, they know the real guy. And that means not too many people.”
The film underwent some changes during production, including moving away from its original “Legacy” title following a “pre-mortem” meeting where department heads discuss potential issues before filming begins. “I thought maybe the title was they had a looking back feeling about it. And this isn’t about looking back, this is about looking forward,” Gunn said.
“Superman” opens in theaters on July 11, 2025.