Singer Looking for Luthor's Gal
Superman director Bryan Singer is looking to cast a female counterpart to Lex Luthor.
Superman movie director Bryan Singer recently talked with reporters at the Australian 2005 Tropfest Short Film Festival and revealed that not all of the casting for his film is complete.
Here's a transcript of the brief interview Singer conducted with Superman Homepage Webmaster Steve Younis.
Steve: Everything set? You start filming next month is it?
A: No, in two weeks.
Steve: Two weeks. Is all the cast set?
A: Yeah, all but one.
Steve: Who is that?
A: A female. A female accomplice for Lex Luthor. I don't have her cast yet.
Steve: Now why set this as a sequel to a 25 year old film, you know Superman 1 and 2?
A: Um, because I'm a huge fan of the original film. I think that kids under the age of 18 know "Smallville", I think over that age they know the series and the original film, and I think somewhere in there I didn't want to tread over that.
Steve: Sure. Now this is set supposedly 6 years... Superman's been missing for 6 years. That's the basis? That he's been away for 6 years, is that right?
A: Four and a half... Between four and five years, yeah.
Steve: Now, has he been away, as in space? Away from earth?
A: I can't tell you that.
Steve: Okay. Because I was wondering how you'd face the whole "Clark Kent missing"?
A: Yeah. They're both on vaca... they're both doing some soul searching. [laughs]
Steve: Now Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth... Lois Lane and Clark Kent... I believe the chemistry between them is why you cast Kate?
A: Yeah, I read Kate with Brandon, and they were really terrific together. And she was great. I met her through Kevin Spacey's film "Beyond the Sea".
Steve: Okay. I thought Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was excellent casting. He's perfect for the role.
A: Oh yeah. I'm looking forward to that. I mean we haven't worked together in 10 years so it'll be fun.
Steve: Fantastic. Now Clark Kent - Bumbling fool or confident?
A: He's playing the role of a bumbling fool, but he's not, that's just a role.
Steve: Okay, fantastic. Now the costume? Classic?
A: Classic.
Steve: Classic. With hinting as far as like the Spider-man costume?
A: It'll be contemporary but classic in its design.
Steve: Now why choose Superman over X-Men 3?
A: Just the timing. The availability of Superman. My fanship for Superman.
Steve: Excellent. Thank you for talking to us.
A: Okay.
Steve: Enjoy the night.
Other reporters got in these questions:
Q: How much bigger can Superman get? What can you bring that's new?
A: Well, it's gonna be a whole new... a lot you've seen before in a larger way, and then a lot of things you haven't seen before. There's things we can do now that they couldn't do in 1978 when Richard Donner made his classic Superman film. With that era it was "You'll believe a man can fly", here it's "You'll believe a lot more is possible".
[He then talks about how he's never seen a film festival quite as colossal as Tropfest, gives advice to young movie makers and talks briefly about his own company]
Q: Why shoot here in Australia?
A: Well we can consolidate facilities here at Fox Sydney. It's good economically for us. And I personally have never shot here before. I've lived and shot in Toronto, in Vancouver, in the United States, I've spent a lot of time in Europe, but Australia's not a place I've lived for a long amount of time. So a combination of things.
To see a video of the interview, click here.