"The hardest thing was the first day I actually flew on film, you know, riding the wires." Routh shook his head and sipped on bottled water. "Nobody was quite sure how it would look. It had been tested with other people, but everyone has their own, uh, unique style of flying. And putting the costume on for the first time was, well, scary. But once it's on, it's really powerful. That was a relief. It wasn't goofy."
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Old-fashioned value
'Superman Retruns' Offers A Traditional, Invulnerable Man Of Steel. But On Screen And Off, It's A Different Place For His Kind Of Heroics.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday January 19, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
Comic book convention -- An article in Sunday Calendar about the coming movie "Superman Returns" said the San Diego Comic-Con was held in August. It was in July.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday January 22, 2006 Home Edition Sunday Calendar Part E Page 2 Calendar Desk 0 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
Comic book convention -- An article last Sunday about the coming movie "Superman Returns" said that the San Diego Comic-Con was held in August. It was in July.
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Goofy is always a deep concern when it comes to men in tights. So is typecasting. The first live-action Superman on screen was Kirk Alyn, but the first man to truly define the role was George Reeves, another Iowa native. The actor became famously bitter about the power the role exerted on his career. He often said he despised the costume he wore for "The Adventures of Superman," and he sourly noted that many children would try to "test" his invulnerability by kicking or punching him.
Singer has become a student of Superman history. He knows the sad tales associated with something that, on paper, is so uplifting. He speaks with reverence about the character. But he also understands that the past must still fly in the present. "One of the things that pulled me to this was to do something that answers to a bigger legacy," he said. "And this film is a much more funny and romantic movie than any I've made before..."
Viewers of "Superman Returns" won't know it when they walk into the theaters next summer, but for the scenes at the Daily Planet newsroom, Singer had Dyas and his people make up a phone list and job description for every single extra in the background -- dozens of people. "Bryan wanted all of them to have a character, whether they were a sportswriter or a comic strip artist or a news reporter."
Singer, asked about the puzzling attention to phantom details, shrugged and said that this movie will live or die by its marriage of the heroic unreal to its real-world setting. Superman has been wearing the cape for a half-century, but it can still fit -- and the ideal can still make everyone look to the skies.
"Things have moved on, people have moved on," Singer said. "Lois Lane has moved on. Superman is the same, but the world is changed. And that's what makes the movie interesting."
Contact Geoff Boucher at calendar.letters@
latimes.com.
