MAN OF STEEL SYDNEY PREMIERE
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s….you know the rest. Playing host to undoubtedly one of the most anticipated films of the year, Sydney’s Event Cinemas rolled out the black carpet for director Zack Snyder, and stars Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe as they flew into town for the Australian premiere of ‘Man of Steel’. The new Superman adventure has proven a worldwide success since its opening in other regions over the last weeks as it has already achieved over $400 million dollars globally, signalling a new reign for the son of Krypton. Hush Hush Biz entertainment reporter Peter Gray shared the excitement in shooting some quick questions with the director Snyder , and the man of steel himself Henry Cavill, and along with Russell Crowe.
Director Zack Snyder was first to face the masses, speaking of his love for Australia (which originated from his work on ‘Legends of the Guardians’ in 2010), the connection he hopes people feel to the character and the visual aspect he chose when filming.
You’ve proven that you know the comic book genre with ‘Watchmen’, what was it about Superman that you wanted to take on?
I guess with ‘Watchmen’ we kinda took it apart, and it felt cool to sorta fix it and create it…(with ‘Man of Steel) it was to make it real, in the real world, and I think that was the challenge and the fun.
And the film has had such a massive reception; does it feel a little bit easier to do a press tour or an event like this knowing your film has achieved such success?
It is and it isn’t, I mean I really have a lot of respect and a lot of love for Australia and as you know I’ve done movies here, worked with so many Australian actors so it’s really an honour and a joy to open the movie here. So really to me I just hope that Australian audiences love it too.
In the titular role little known British actor Henry Cavill has leaped into public consciousness where he is likely to stay following the films immediate success. Having already secured his next film role – replacing Tom Cruise in a Guy Ritchie film no less – he spoke of both the hardships and rewards of playing Superman and how he’ll handle his new found fame prominence.
What were the challenges of filming this role? You hear all the classic stories about the tight suits and the fake flying, what were the challenges for you in filming this role?
The challenges were getting in the right kind of shape…that was the real daily grind. Going to work and doing a 13/14 hour day of acting is one thing and not exactly easy, but training at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning after a long day previously and then going on to a long day was exhausting! Very rewarding, but exhausting.
And now that you are ‘Superman’ are you prepared for what’s coming after this?
I don’t think you can be prepared to be honest. It’s just one of those things where you just have to enjoy it, and I’m trying to enjoy this moment as much as I possibly can. It is work but I am enjoying it…and see what happens afterwards.
Perhaps someone Cavill can talk with on the aftermath of overnight success is his co-star Russell Crowe. The Oscar winning actor, who went from home-grown projects to Hollywood ventures, stars as Jor-El, Superman’s father, a role made famous by the late Marlon Brando in the original ‘Superman’ films – something that wasn’t much of an issue for Mr Crowe.
How did you feel about taking on a role that was played by someone as iconic as Marlon Brando?
Well man, I didn’t even really think about it cause I never saw those films. I’m a huge Brando fan, you know ‘On the Waterfront’, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’…you know he’s one of my favourite actors but I never got the feeling he was thoroughly committed to being Jor-El in those films. Possibly cause of the way he talked about them in the press, it was all about money and how much he was earning and blah, blah, blah…so it never really touched me the idea of watching those films. And they’d say on the ads “you’ll believe a man can fly” and you see the ads and think ‘no you don’t’…whereas in this carnation, you really believe a man can fly! You know the first director to ever go ‘well if Superman flies – he doesn’t just float along with the butterflies…he goes supersonic’. There’s a great sequence in the film where he learns how to fly, where he realises he can fly…but you see if you’re travelling at supersonic speeds, one tincy, wincy little mistake is gonna hurt. You know it’s pretty funny, it’s a funny perspective.
‘Man of Steel’ is playing in Australian cinemas from June 27th in 2D and 3D formats.
