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Hangin' With Archives
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Flying High with the “Super”Brandon RouthBy: Lynn Barker
We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we met Brandon recently in L.A.’s Century City. Would the actor already be an ego-manic? After all, he’s playing a major superhero for gosh sakes. Nope. So far, Mr. Routh is just a very tall, adorable, friendly hunk with brown hair and big brown puppy-dog eyes (he wore blue contacts in the film). No super suit or super stylist for this hottie. Brandon chose dark wash jeans and a simple gray tee for our interview and we found him to be amazingly candid about his life, his role, the fact that he gets a real kick out of going to the grocery store with his girlfriend Courtney (a filmmaker) and that he didn’t get a “Supe” suit as a souvenir but did score a fake Superman curl! As we start chatting, we note that Brandon’s voice sounds almost exactly like Christopher Reeve’s pleasant tones. Pull up a big Kryptonite crystal and have a sit…. On entering the room and sitting down, Brandon checks out a little blank notepad on the table and pulls a hotel pen out of his pocket. Brandon: I love how I haven’t written any notes, but I still have a pen. AGW: Hey, just leave an autograph. So, what was the best part of making Superman Returns for you? Brandon: There’s so many best parts, The best part for me is, now that we’re finally finished, getting to see the final product. And it being everything that I wanted it to be and intended for it to be. I’m so proud of the film and Bryan [Singer, the director] and Kate [Bosworth] and Kevin [Spacey] and everybody. It’s a pretty amazing thing and I’m so excited to be part of it. AGW: And the worst bummer about playing the role? Brandon: The worst thing as always is probably the physical aspect of being in the harness and flight. Making the flight happen. Some days it was great. Some days it wasn’t fun depending on how early in the morning I was up and in the harness and if I had to work out at 4AM in the morning. All those things. AGW: Kate, your Lois Lane, said you were very patient. I can’t believe you didn’t have a melt down. Brandon: People ask about the pressure of playing this character and what I decided very early on was that I would just not listen to it and kind of believe there wasn’t any because there was no way that I could continue and portray this character if I were to be worried or have too much apprehension so I kind of took strength in the character of Superman. I lived in that as much as I could in my own personal life so that I could not worry about things. You know worry doesn’t really get you anywhere except maybe a frown. AGW: Have people pointed out a resemblance to Christopher Reeve before this movie? Brandon: Yeah my first manager actually talked about my resemblance. I was a big fan of Chris and it was probably one of the main reasons [my manager] decided to work with me. Since then people have commented every now and then. AGW: Did you try to mimic Christopher Reeve at all?
AGW: There was certainly a certain charming, bumbling style. Brandon: It’s all about his excitement when he first sees Lois again. It’s all about him being so excited and that’s where the goofiness and clumsiness comes in. You know there’s a certain amount that’s always going to seem like Chris and all the other people who have come before because that’s kind of what we see as a collective audience. We don’t want to vary too much from that. AGW: Did you read the Superman comics growing up? Brandon: I did not read the Superman comics but the first time I saw the [1978 Superman] movie [I was] wearing the Superman costume or pajamas with a little cape my mom still has. I was so excited to see the film at age five or six that I gave myself a migraine. I had the little silver bowl next to the couch in case I had an upset stomach through half the movie. I was always throwing things up in the air and seeing how they would fly, making parachutes out of things and my parents were like ‘this kid is crazy.” I didn’t read the comics, but I was a big fan of the films. AGW: Have you been recognized a lot yet while you have been out? Brandon: In Monaco, there was a guy who had on a Superman shirt that I signed for him. He said he was a big fan. You know some people are quite nervous when they meet me which is interesting because they haven’t seen the film. It shows the great power that Superman the character has all around the world. AGW: What favorite activity are you going to miss doing without people recognizing you? Brandon: I actually kind of like walking around stores. Like the grocery store in the evening for some reason. It’s soothing. AGW: You just go in and walk around the aisles? Brandon: Yeah you know I go with my girlfriend like places like Whole Foods where you can read about the products and all that stuff. Knowledge. You’re learning about health. I don’t know why. It’s just interesting. AGW: Hey, just slip on a pair of Clark Kent glasses and nobody would recognize you. Brandon: [laughs] I’ve tried that. It doesn’t work. AGW: Have you seen the Imax 3D version of the film? Brandon: Oh it’s fantastic. I’ve never seen anything in 3D so that was just fantastic. I was just blown away in the plane sequence where you see the pen and recorder floating [toward you] and the mailbox standing there. It was just stunning. I’m going to have to see more because I only saw four minutes of it. I’m definitely going to have to see it in Imax somewhere. AGW: Being such a fan, what is it like seeing yourself as Superman on the screen? Brandon: It’s weird. We basically shot the film in order. So I think I actually feel more confident in the end of film. I think the character is actually making that journey in the film. Even though he’s only been gone for five years he’s still kind of getting back into the swing of things. So, I actually feel that emotionally when I’m watching it. It’s still weird for me to watch myself as Superman. It’s much easier for me to watch Clark. I enjoy watching Clark and it was great fun to be able to play him. AGW: Can you talk about wearing the suit and what kind of dieting or training you had to do? Brandon: Well I did a lot of things. I lifted weights obviously. I did Rope Yoga which is a mix between Pilates and Yoga that my first trainer Gudni Gunnarsson created. It’s a great core building routine so that was put in place so that I could sustain myself with the wires and the harness for extended periods of time. I mean I was in shape. I was an athlete before that. I did certain things, but never to this extent. By the time we got into Australia, two months into my training we starting hitting the weights really really hard and building more mass so I put on 22 pounds for the film. It was fantastic to see my body change in five months time. It’s such a powerful feeling. Brandon: Well I think I probably did some mental relaxation and took some deep breaths in my dressing room before I went out. The first scene that we shot, if I remember correctly, is actually not in the film anymore, but it’s in the Daily Planet. Some of the crew had seen me in passing for costume tests but this was the full crew. All of the 100 extras [were there] and they couldn’t look and turn around. We didn’t want anyone taking pictures or shots because a photo hadn’t been released yet and so everybody had to keep their backs turned. Just to know the first time it was on camera, it was really powerful. Kind of the final piece that I needed to be secure in the role was to actually have some footage in the camera and to know that day was marked and I had become the character. AGW: What was director Bryan Singer like to work with? Brandon: He’s gentle. We had a lot of great conversations. We didn’t really rehearse because we had so many in-depth conversations about the character. Dan and Mike [the writers] were open to people’s ideas. If a line wasn’t working for me, we’d talk about it and change it. If it wasn’t quite working the right way we’d figure it out. AGW: You’re about to do the talk show circuit for the first time. Are you excited? Brandon: I’m excited. You know I’ve pretty much grown up with all of them. It will be fun for my parents I think to see a lot of the stuff. My grandma will get to see me on ’Regis and Kelly’. Proud moment for her. I use to work out with Rege at the NY Reebok sport’s club. He didn’t know me, but he was there. AGW: Can you talk about working with Kate Bosworth? Did you envision her as Lois Lane? Brandon: You know I was open and didn’t have anything envisioned. She was cast because she really stood out when she tested with me. We did two of the most important scenes in the film and she was just great. She got to me and to do that in an audition is so powerful because you know I didn’t have a script. She didn’t have a script. She created this character. AGW: Was it just weird winging it? Brandon: Well, we hadn’t played these characters in the two films that we’re kind of [continuing]. We both had to create this history between the characters. We’d come together not in a happy time. So captivating and so strong. Lois is not nice and cheery to Clark necessarily which is what they used to have. But, you know she’s got big things happening in her life. She’s got a kid. She’s got all of this stuff happening. She doesn’t have time to deal with him in the same way anymore. So Kate was fantastic. Even though we’re both young, she’s the one who has the experience and never once did I feel like I was acting with Kate Bosworth. She was very collaborative and just amazing. AGW: How many sequels are you signed for? Brandon: You know we’ll do as many as everyone wants to get together and do. AGW: What did your girlfriend think of you in the tights? Brandon: She’s great. We all grew up with Superman so she was a fan before so it was pretty cool for her to see me like that. AGW: Do you have another project coming up in addition to this film? Brandon: I actually have a short film that’s going to be playing at Cina Vegas. It’s a 35 mm short film called Denial. It’s about a choice one man has to make between the woman of his dreams and his sanity. It’s quite different from ‘Superman’, but awfully exciting and I’m really excited about it. Courtney [his girlfriend] produced that film and a friend of ours Joel Kelly wrote and directed it. AGW: Okay, the important question. Did you get to keep the suit? Brandon: No, I actually don’t have a suit, but I did keep the curl. The fake curl. The fake curl that they made and never used.
pictures on this page courtesy of and copyright Warner Brothers, 2006 |
 
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That
tight Superman red and blue suit is tough to fill. There are legends of
a “Superman Curse” since 1950’s TV “Supe”
George Reeves supposedly committed suicide and popular 1970 and ‘80’s
Man of Steel Christopher Reeve had an accident that paralyzed him. None
of this misfortune has dampened the spirit of Reeve look-alike Brandon
Routh who plays the super hero in the new film Superman Returns.
A smalltown boy, this hot young actor was a devoted childhood fan wearing
Superman p.j.s and a little cape sitting in front of his TV watching Chris
Reeve save Lois Lane and the planet. He couldn’t wait to take on
the challenge of playing his hero. It was a long road for the young actor.
He first tired out for the part when there was a different script and
another director. His persistence paid off. 
Brandon:
Well, the film is written to be the vague sequel to the first two films.
Inherently, in the script, there are many homages in the character and
it is especially written from that character so there are similarities
because of that. The only thing that was done really to mimic Chris’s
performances was [Clark] pushing the glasses up with the forefinger. Certainly,
all of my performance was influenced by Chris. Chris was my Superman so
when I read the script, he was in my head all the time. My Clark is really
everything that comes from him.
AGW:
Can you describe the first day you were on set and wearing the costume?