Director Zack Snyder discusses some of the more recent interpretations of the Superman suit seen in Action Comics #1 and on the television show, Smallville.
Snyder: “When they try to dress him up, put him in jeans and a T-shirt or a leather jacket with an S on it, I go: ‘What? Guys, it’s O.K. It’s Superman. He’s the king daddy. You should all be bowing down to him.' [Man of Steel will] respect the S. ”
Snyder continues to discuss his interpretation of Superman - an approach he says really looks at the history of the character and seeks to embrace all the intrinsic aspects of a character that possesses a rich back history.
Snyder: “He’s a really cool mythological contradiction. He’s incredibly familiar Americana and alien, exotic, bizarroland, but beautifully woven together. All of us, in a weird way, are that same kind of contradiction — no one’s that simple. If you follow him back logically and try to understand him you end up at a sci-fi solution."
Screenwriter David S. Goyer admits that growing up, he used to imagine he was a different superhero.
Goyer: “I used to imagine that I was Batman but not Superman. If he really were an alien when the world finds out that he exists, that in itself would be the biggest event in human history. That would change the world forever. There’s a scene in the movie where a younger Clark basically says to Jonathan Kent, ‘Why do I have to listen you? You’re not my dad.’ Which is exactly what my stepson said to me.”
Producer Christopher Nolan talks about the primary element that factored into Snyder being selected as the film's director.
Nolan: “[Zack has an] innate aptitude for dealing with superheroes as real characters. That was what a new approach to Superman required. He understands the power of iconic images, but he also understand the people behind them."
Nolan acknowledges that Zack's take on Watchmen is essentially a polar opposite of what's trying to be accomplished in Man of Steel.
Nolan: “It’s ironic but it’s a very productive irony. You’re dealing with a filmmaker who has deconstructed this mythology and now has to reconstruct it. That’s a fascinating challenge for him."
As far as using Man of Steel as a launching point for a larger franchise (and as many fans hope, a DC Cinematic Universe) Snyder says that's not the film's main goal.
Snyder: “This movie needs to come out,” before any bigger questions could be addressed. “If you start thinking, like, I need to set up a giant franchise for the studio because they’re out of ‘Harry Potters,’ you can’t do that. You’d just stay in your house and curl up in a fetal position waiting for ‘em to take you to the insane asylum."
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