At an ultra-exclusive Warner Brothers event, Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth made a brief appearance at Kitson, a trendy store in Beverly Hills, to promote the unveiling of all-new Superman Returns apparel which not only includes clothing and accessories, but the dolls that are modeled after the stars as well. Kitson is launching a charity auction of 23 sets of the new Superman and Lois Lane dolls, designed and donated by Mattel and autographed by Routh and Bosworth.
SHH: How do you deal with the fans? What is their reaction to you?
Kate Bosworth: What's great about the fans for Superman is that they're so excited and loyal and I think it brings a lot of people back to their childhood in a way. It's a magical thing and I went to Blockbuster the other day to get some films and one of the people that work there said 'Oh I'm so excited for the movie.' It's neat to see people coming up to you and saying their excited for the film coming out. That's nice.
SHH: How did you embody Lois Lane? Did you draw on other Lois Lanes for experience?
Bosworth: I purposely didn't watch, I've seen the Superman films before but I saw them a long time ago when I was a kid. I purposely didn't watch them before I made the film because I didn't want to. I could see myself watching that and sort of being nervous and comparing myself to other Lois Lanes and I couldn't deal with the pressure. Bryan and I decided we wanted to start it fresh and be conscious of other performances. I didn't watch it before then. I watched it after when we finished which was a great experience. It was in the can and there's nothing I could have changed and it was fun to watch. Margot Kidder gave such a great performance.
SHH: Can you talk about your reaction as to seeing yourself as a doll and what that process was like?
Bosworth: I've never had a doll before made after me. It's very cool and exciting. The eyes are different colors as well. They paid attention to detail that way. It's neat to have a doll made after you and it's something I'll always have, that's for sure.
SHH: What part of the Superman history inspired you to do this film?
Bosworth: Probably the films. I took it from the script. I took a lot of classic Lois Lane characteristics, the spunk, her feistiness, the independence, the drive, but it was all there in the script. It was an incredible script and working with Bryan it was it was sort of like making... I tried to like do it like any other film because if I thought about being the hugeness of this film, I think it would have freaked me out. I sort of like approached it like I would have any other character. I read the script, I thought about what she was feeling, what her past experiences may have been, where she's at now.
SHH: Growing up or doing research for the movie, did you go back to the Superman comics at all?
Bosworth: I hate doing this to you because I want so badly to say that I read every single comic book, but I wasn't a huge fan. It wasn't my thing. I have a whole different appreciation for them now after making the film. They're incredible pieces of art to be honest. They're fun, but they are incredibly artistic.
SHH: What was it like putting on the Superman costume for the first time?
Brandon Routh: I hadn't worked out for the film yet and I kinda would have liked to have done it alone in my own room.
SHH: How many people were there?
Routh: About 10 people watching and taking notes. It was a little bit nerve-wracking.
SHH: Did you work out?
Routh: After that, yes. The first two to three months I was working out about 2 ½ - 3 hours a day. Lifting weights, doing yoga. That was the bulk of it. Eating healthy but well.
SHH: What was your diet?
Routh: A lot of vegetables. Protein in moderation not necessarily heavy protein but just lots of vegetables fruit and cutting out excess sugar.
SHH: How was Kate to work with?
Routh: Kate is fantastic.
SHH: Is she a good kisser?
Routh: I can't tell you that. After the film you can ask me that.
SHH: Have you had any weird encounters with Superman fans?
Routh: No, the coolest things are when people have tattoos and they want me to take pictures by their shoulder which is kind of interesting.
SHH: At the conventions what kinds of questions are they asking? Just mostly about taking over the character?
Routh: Yeah a lot about giving reverence to Chris and everyone who's come before and what's different about the character and what's the flying like? What's the suit like? All those general questions that everybody wants to know.
SHH: How did embody such a classic character?
Routh: It was very exciting and challenging. I learned a lot from it.
SHH: Where did you draw your inspiration?
Routh: It's from my envision of the character and how I see Superman and how I want out of Superman. But, also it's everyone who's come before me. It's George, it's Kirk Allen, it's Christopher Reeve. The cartoons, the image, how society views Superman, how everybody feels about it. All of that wrapped up into my interpretation of it.
SHH: Any unique takes that you put on him?
Routh: I don't know. The only thing that I can think of that sticks out to me is my approach really to Clark is that he's a spy for Superman which is kid of fun. He's just really excited about everything he does. He's not necessarily clumsy for the sake of being clumsy, but he gets really excited.
SHH: What can fans expect from this film?
Routh: They can expect a lot of action and a lot of flying. There are many references to the past films and comic story lines and characters in it and other actors that have been in other things which is really kind of neat. They'll get a kick out of that that the general public won't see. There's a lot of new things to see that they won't expect which is a really great story and relationships and some deep emotions, but yet they won't feel like it's a drama piece. There's a really, really scary Lex Luthor in it from Kevin which is fantastic.
SHH: Out of all of the Superman films which one and which character do you think you're closet to?
Routh: I have to say it's probably Chris's performance because he was my Superman and so in my head that's what I see. You know, probably most in the beginning of the film when I thought about Superman flying or reading the script, in my head it was probably actually me envisioning him in a way as I was playing it back in my head.
SHH: What are you working on next? Have you signed your next film?
Routh: Not yet. I have a lot of cool opportunities, but you know everyone wants to see the film so I'm excited for directors and writers to see the film so they can understand the hype that's out there. The thing I'm looking for is kind of a nice comedy/drama thing.
SHH: Can you talk about the casting of Kate Bosworth and why Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane?
Bryan Singer: I first became aware of Kate through “Beyond The Sea,” Kevin’s [Spacey, playing Lex Luthor] film, the one Kevin Spacey directed and I then, because of that I met her, brought her in and her chemistry with Brandon was, uh, extremely good, very appropriate for the role.
SHH: Can you talk about the casting of Hugh Laurie [as Perry White] and then Frank Langella coming in?
Singer: Well Hugh Laurie for me was obvious for me since I produce a show called “House M.D” and I cast him in the pilot, I have a relationship with him since I cast him before with success and I felt that would be great. Then the show got picked up for another year- good news for me, but bad news- it was a high class problem so to speak. I also knew Frank Langella through a mutual friend and have been a fan of his for a long time, ever since I saw Dracula on stage and I thought “wow, what an opportunity” I went for it and Frank turned out to be perfect for it. And we’ve been filming ever since [laughs].
SHH: Can you talk about casting Brandon [Routh, playing Superman] and where that came from?
Singer: The role of Superman to me was always to be an unknown so that was a lot of going through a lot of tapes and materials that had been collected previously, along with new material and combining all those tapes and all that material, going out there and starting meetings with unknown. With Brandon, I had seen a tape of him that intrigued me so I was at the “Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf” on Sunset and figured, he’s either physically going to be the guy or not going to be the guy, so…
SHH: We were told that when he stood up-
Singer: [visibly excited] Yeah, Yeah, it was very funny we were sitting there and I was like hey, “you want to get coffee?” I walked in and I figured I’ll know in 20 seconds if it’s a no go or he’s just not Superman. I walked in the room and 20 seconds later, I’m thinking, “it’s still working for me” and I talked to him for a moment and asked “Do you want to go outside?” since there were tables- and I was actually going to Australia for a scout so I was 2 hours from my flight. I had to get picked up from the coffee shop to make it to the airport. It was a good feeling because I started to feel good about him just sitting there and then after 10-15 minutes of us just sitting there, I went to get us some coffee and I got the coffee on myself, I don’t remember, and I went to him and I asked him, “Do you want to go outside?” and he stood up, and up and up, and I went, “Woah!” [laughs].
