Brandon Routh
"Superman Returns" - The Interview
By Tim Nasson, Wild About Movies publisher
June 24, 2006
Brandon Routh, (rhymes with mouth), is a strapping six foot, three inch, dark haired, hulk of a man. Well, actually, he is not really a man. Nor a boy. At twenty-six, Routh wasn’t even born when the first “Superman” movie, starring the late Christopher Reeve, was released. And he was a mere baby, less than a year old, when “Superman II” flew into theaters.
“I am signed on for two ‘Superman’ sequels,” proclaims the confident actor, planning ahead, who, surprisingly, before “Superman Returns,” had never even been on the set of a movie, let alone in a movie.
“The first bit of professional acting I ever did in front of the camera that anyone saw was on MTV’s ‘Undressed,’” he says. “And that was seven years ago.”
Additionally, in 2001, Routh appeared in an episode of “The Gilmore Girls.” And in the “Gay/December Romance” episode of “Will & Grace” in 2004.
As an English major at The University of Iowa, Routh wanted to be a novelist or graphic designer. “I needed to make money. I was a poor college student. So, I went to NYC for a modeling gig. I found a manager who told me to move to LA for modeling and for acting. So, I went to LA, intending to go for only three months, initially. The rest is history. I ended up staying in LA.”
It’s taken a while for Hollywood to find Routh. But he is not complaining.
Acting in “Superman Returns,” replete with “Superman” costume, and Clark Kent glasses, was something that came naturally to Routh.
“This is all a dream come true to me,” smiles Routh. “But, the funniest thing is, three years ago, I was dressed as Clark Kent for Halloween, and this Halloween kids might be dressing up as me.” The photo, with Routh dressed in a white unbuttoned, button-up shirt, revealing a “Superman” T-shirt underneath, wearing a pair of Clark Kent glasses has made the rounds on the internet as of late. (See photo, near bottom of page).
“People have said for about ten years, at least, that I have an uncanny resemblance to Christopher Reeve. And I guess I took their word, and used that to my advantage. I see the resemblance. But the question was, could I act? Thankfully, Warner Bros. and Bryan [Singer] thought so, and gave me the chance.” Singer seems to have a keen eye for not only choosing the films he directs carefully, but also its stars.
“What a lot of people don’t understand,” explains Routh, “is that this new ‘Superman’ movie took a long time to get off the ground, so to speak. I signed on for the role of ‘Superman’ in late 2004, and here it is mid-2006, and the movie is just being released. It took a lot of planning and prep work.”
The movie was shot entirely in Sydney, Australia. “The street scenes, the scenes where you see the outdoors, were the streets of Sydney. And believe it or not,” says Routh, “while there were a lot of special effects and green-screen shots, there weren’t as many as you may imagine. There were a lot more non-special effect scenes than I ever thought there would be.”
Routh grew up in a household that encouraged his artistic endeavors, but in a small town, kind of like “Smallville.”
“Well, actually,” says Routh, laughing, commenting on the size of his town, “the town I grew up in, Norwalk, Iowa, was small, but there seemed to be a few more residents in Norwalk than there are in the town of ‘Smallville.’”
Routh spent the majority of his adolescent years performing at the regional theater company Norwalk Theater of Performing Arts. “I loved being in plays as a kid and teenager, and my parents really supported my efforts. But I don’t think they or anyone ever dreamed of seeing my face on the ‘Superman’ poster. It’s like winning the lottery. You never expect to win. But even though I have finished filming the first ‘Superman,’” – yes, a second and third are in the works, and unless this one bombs, which is highly unlikely, as it is the summer’s best movie, the second in planned trilogy will be in theaters just in time for Summer 2008 – “the fact that I am now a movie star hasn’t yet set in. Yes, I made a movie, but the general public, all the ‘Superman’ fanatics, who will ultimately decide if the movie is a hit or miss, haven’t yet seen it. Only the movie critics like you have. I still have butterflies in my stomach. And wonder how it is all going to turn out.”
Routh lived in Australia for over a year to prepare for his role as “The Man of Steel” and, while filming, and enjoyed every minute of it. “I had never been to Australia, and had always wanted to go for a vacation. The fact that I was able to live there for such an extended period of time and get to know the place, and have time to explore it, was an added bonus to signing on to the film.”
And, yes, he will be back in Australia, two more times, at least, for the sequels.
“But next time it will be so much easier,” proclaims Routh. “We learned a lot of things the first time, which will make making the sequels a lot easier. They will be a piece of cake.”
Bryan Singer, the openly gay director of “Superman Returns” and the one responsible for making the first two “X-Men” films the box office smashes that they were, is signed on for the two “Superman” sequels, as well.
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