David Corenswet and James Gunn formed a one-of-a-kind relationship as the director and star of “Superman,” some of which they detailed in the actor’s recent GQ cover story. Gunn auditioned some 400 actors to play his Man of Steel. Corenswet showed up on the first day of Gunn’s search.
“I think in a lot of ways, James and I are made for each other,” Corenswet told the publication. “James has this habit of, as you’re working on the scene, he’ll sit back by the monitors on the God mic and he’ll yell directions at you, which is not how directors generally work. You usually do the scene, they say cut, and then they come and say very privately and quietly, ‘I loved that moment where you did this. What if we tried something else in the next one?’”
Corenswet said Gunn’s yelling “is something that would throw lots of actors off, and understandably so.” But not him.
“The second that happened, I went, OK, this is going to be great because I have no idea what I’m doing. I desperately need a director,” the actor admitted. “I need a director who knows what they want and is willing to say it out loud without too much politeness and without beating around the bush. If I’m no good, tell me I’m no good, and then let’s work together to make me good.”
Corenswet said this push and pull came to define his relationship with Gunn, especially when it came to the amount of questions the actor asked during production.
“After we finished shooting, we were hanging out and [James] affectionately — I think — described me,” Corenswet said. “He said a very nice thing: ‘You’re a filmmaker, and so you want to be involved in the filmmaking and you want to help make the film as good as possible.’ Then he said, ‘I think you’re also like a kid sticking his finger in light sockets and sometimes I gotta slap you on the wrist and say stop fucking doing that.’”
Gunn had this to say about Corenswet: “Sometimes his questions are great, and I totally see where they make him better, and because they make him better, they make the movie better. But every once in a while, it’s just one question too many, and it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, just, David, stop, stop, for a minute.’ And the beautiful thing about me and David is that he knows that about himself and he knows where my limits are. And when I say, ‘David, shut the fuck up,’ David totally gets it and does not take that personally.”
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“We have a really, to me, beautiful relationship in that way because I’m used to being very sensitive with actors, and you have to be by default, because many actors are incredibly sensitive because they’re putting their emotions on the line onscreen,” Gunn summarized. “But with David, he’s not that way. He’s not sensitive like that.”
Head over to GQ’s website to read Corenswet’s cover story in its entirety.
From Variety US