Meet David Corenswet, cinema’s new Superman

In true Clark Kent form, the new Superman would like to correct the record.

David Corenswet gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly in 2019 where he said his “pie in the sky ambition” was to play Superman. At that point, the role was not on the market. And Corenswet, a Juilliard graduate and Philadelphia native, was just making a name for himself in the industry, with plum breakout roles in two Ryan Murphy Netflix series: The Politician and Hollywood. Tall, dark, and you know, handsome, people had told him that he looked like Superman for a long time. He did not, he told The Associated Press in a recent interview, think that he was going to get the chance to play him.

But a few years later, he was actually cast to lead James Gunn’s Superman, which will begin a new, hopefully high-flying, era for the DC universe of films when it hits theatres on July 11. And that once innocent quote took on a life of its own. Many headlines and stories misinterpreted the phrase and wrote that he said it was his dream role, as though he’d manifested it into existence.

“I said it was my pie in the sky ambition, which I meant to mean that there was no (expletive) way it was ever going to happen,” Corenswet, 31, said. “I sort of was thinking of it as, ‘Oh, who wouldn’t love to get to play an iconic role like that? Wouldn’t it be amazing and impossible if we lived in a universe where that could even be considered?’”

Interesting and charismatic

Right around the time when Gunn was starting to think about casting his new Superman movie, he decided to watch his friend Ti West’s movie Pearl. In that darkly comedic horror, Corenswet stood out to him as an interesting and charismatic presence. He played a projectionist at a local movie theatre who catches Pearl’s attention (and, later, faces her wrath). West had nice things to say about him too.

“David was one of the very first auditions that I got,” Gunn said. “Instantly, it was a relief because he had a playful charm about him that was not evident in Pearl. He had a sense of humour. That made me go, ‘Ooh, this might be a really good match.’”

That was just the beginning of the long casting process. Even Nicholas Hoult, who was ultimately cast as Lex Luthor, was up for the part. And though it was “extensive,” Corenswet said it was one of the most “satisfying audition processes” he’s ever gone through – not because he booked the role, but because he felt he got the opportunity to show them what he had to offer.

Gunn laughed that Corenswet actually has a lot of Superman in him.

“Superman is a square and David is a square,” Gunn said. “He listens to American Songbook. Like Dean Martin and Cole Porter. That’s what he listens to on his iPad. That’s weird. But oh, so Superman.”

Gunn has promised that the film is “a personal journey for Superman that’s entirely new.” He’s a character who is “pretty damn good, but flawed.” And anyone who has seen the trailer knows there will be romance with Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane – but there’s even a different spin on that.“He’s in love with her,” Gunn said. “She’s the one that needs the convincing in the relationship. It’s not him. You really see where he needs her in his life.”

The movie is the start of a new era for DC films, and will raise Corenswet’s profile immeasurably. He’s been in big movies before, including Twisters. But being Superman is different.

“The thing that it changed about my life immediately was that I had this amazing mission that I got to go on of playing the part and getting to be a piece of making this awesome film,” he said.

“I expect some things will change when the film comes out,” he said. “But you know, one still has to wake up and eat breakfast.”