In the words of a song borrowed by a previous Zack Snyder film, the times they are a-changin’.
The Dark Knight Trilogy is over, Robert Downey Jr. might not be Iron Man for much longer, and Superman, the Big Blue Boy Scout himself, finally seems to have grown up.
Say what you want about the Christopher Reeve films, they certainly weren’t lacking for camp or innocent charm. Closer in tone to Adam West‘s Batman than Christian Bale‘s, Superman I – IV were, to different extents, a whole lot of fantastic fun, but hardly worthy of serious critical analysis. You might believe a man could fly, but you’d be hard pressed to squeeze out a thesis on them as integral works of cinema (the flying part aside).
One of the primary criticisms of Bryan Singer‘s 2007 follow-up, Superman Returns, was that it didn’t do anything new with the franchise, but was content instead simply to act as a love letter for what had come before.
Snyder’s upcoming Man of Steel promises a gritty, moody take on the character, complete with serious daddy issues and a stunning orchestral score than eschews the iconic John Williams melody in favor of a more complex tribal affair. Stepping to the cape (sans those beloved briefs) is thirty-year old British actor Henry Cavill, taking over from Returns‘ Brandon Routh and, of course, Reeve, who played the role for almost a decade.
Cavill, like Routh and Reeve before him, is something of an unknown quantity: despite holding a main cast role in Showtime’s The Tudors alongside Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and starring as Theseus in Tarsem Singh‘s Immortals back in 2011, you’d probably be hard pressed to recognize him out and about.
As such, here are 5 things you probably don’t know about Mr. Cavill, Man of Steel:
5. He’s the Shortest On-Screen Superman Since 1997
One of the overwhelming impressions you’d imagine you might have when coming across Superman during your day-to-day life as a citizen of Metropolis is that he’s tall. The Silver Age incarnation of the character was apparently 6’6″ (heck, Batman was 6’4″) and while none of his on-screen incarnations have quite scaled those heights, they’ve tended to be a pretty lofty bunch.
Both Reeve and Routh top out at somewhere between 6’3″ and 6’4″, as does Smallville star Tom Welling, though Lois & Clark‘s Dean Cain apparently stands at about the 6′ mark. George Reeves and the little-known Kirk Alyn, the first actor to portray Superman, were 6’1″ and it seems that Henry Cavill is in the same ballpark, making him the shortest on-screen Superman since Lois & Clark finished back in 1997.
Though this may sound like a criticism, we at AP2HYC realize that, in real-world terms, 6’1″ is plenty tall. It’s more about the presence an actor can bring to the role than sheer physicality, though, by the look of the trailer, Cavill is definitely bringing both.
4. He Used to be the Unluckiest Man in Hollywood
Back in 2005, Empire Magazine wrote an article much to this effect. There’s certainly a case to be made for it: he was first set to play The Man of Tomorrow back in 2003 when McG was signed on to direct Superman: Flyby, just one in a long line of failed installments. The next year, he missed out on playing doomed Head Boy Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and, in 2005, he was director Martin Campbell‘s first choice for Bond in Casino Royale, though the producers overruled him and Daniel Craig nabbed it instead.
Playing Superman has previously proven detrimental to an actor’s career, enough so that there’s a whole Hollywood curse deal surrounding it, but Cavill’s future already seems assured. He’s been rumored to replace Tom Cruise in Warner Bros. adaptation of ’60s spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and, if Man of Steel proves a success, one would assume Cavill would be first choice for any sequels. From zero franchises to two in the space of a couple of years? Maybe it’s a good thing Cavill got his run of bad luck out of the way early. Fingers crossed the film will reflect his new good fortune.
3. His Favorite Actor is Russell Crowe
One would assume it’s something of a strategic decision as an actor in the notoriously politcal tinseltown to make a declaration of your favorite fellow thesp. Henry Cavill, however, may have limited his exposure by giving the name of one of his current costars, controversial Australian Oscar-winner Russell Crowe.
Crowe would seem to be a natural fit for Superman’s erstwhile father Jor-El, previously played by Marlon Brando. He is, after all, a hugely charismatic individual who possesses the necessary age and gravitas to convincingly play an elder of the planet Krypton. With Jor-El rumored to have a hugely expanded role in the new film – Brando only appeared in short flashbacks or as an automated projection in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude – it makes sense he may have made something of an impression on newcomer Cavill
With Michael Shannon providing an opposing authority figure in the form of Zod and Superman’s adoptive father Jonathan Kent, played by Kevin Costner, hovering somewhere in the middle, all we can say is: let the daddy issues commence!
2. He Used to be Chunky
People in glass houses probably shouldn’t be throwing about words like “chunky”, but it’s interesting to hear when the buff, attractive people who greet us from the covers of magazines turn out not to have been gifted with some alien genetic advantage, but in fact had to work to become so pretty.
By his own admission, it seems that Mr. Cavill wasn’t always quite so ripped as he is now: in a recent interview, he revealed that during his teenage years at boarding school he picked up the unflattering sobriquet “Fat Cavill”. While we can’t imagining anyone picking on the immaculately coiffured god who seems ready to soar into action in Man of Steel, it’s strangely comforting to know that Cavill, at least, isn’t entirely a different species.
1. He Could Have Been Edward
This entry could arguably have been merged with No. 4, but, loathe though I am to admit it, the Twilight books have been a major cultural force in the last couple years and it’s interesting to imagine a world in which the character of Edward, the series’ vampire love interest, wasn’t defined by his hair-do and a whole generation of tweens and lonely older women spent their days ogling a different set of abs.
Despite being author Stephanie Meyer‘s first choice, Cavill was apparently too old by the time the first film came around and so lost out to Robert Pattinson, whom, as aforementioned bad luck would have it, had also beaten him to the role of Cedric Diggory three years before. We at AP2HYC would like to suggest some sort of hand-to-hand combat between the two to settle what we’re sure is a long-standing feud.
Winner gets Amy Adams‘ Lois as a love interest; loser gets stuck with Bella.
So, that’s it with our list. How many of it did you already know? What do you think of our choices? Should we have gone for the fact that Henry Cavill used to own a parrot or that if he hadn’t become an actor he would probably have become an archaeologist? What do you think of his casting?
Any thoughts, any at all: sound off in the comments section.
