Rising star and new dad David Corenswet wants to be a Superman you can count on

NEW YORK – Even before he became the linchpin of a new superhero universe, David Corenswet took great pride in being reliable.

It is a reputation the American has cultivated since he was a child actor, when he once delivered his lines so efficiently during a commercial shoot that the crew got to go home early.

“I want people to feel that every day my name is on the call sheet is going to be a better day – a little bit of an easier day, and maybe a more fulfilling day,” he said.

Now, Corenswet’s reliability will be put to its ultimate test. The 32-year-old is playing the iconic title character in James Gunn’s Superman reboot, which is showing in cinemas and has earned US$220 million (S$282 million) at the global box office.

If this latest iteration is the foundation for the American film-maker and DC Studios head’s ambitious, years-long plan to revitalise DC, then Corenswet is its cornerstone, and his take on the character could not be more different from the moody brute Henry Cavill played in the Superman films of 2013 to 2017.

Buoyant and good-natured, Corenswet’s version sees the best in everyone, winces at bad language (he’s more likely to exclaim, “Golly!” or “What the hey, dude!”), and is so devoted to doing the right thing that in one chaotic action scene, he even swoops in to save a poor squirrel from being crushed.

But this is no boring Boy Scout. Corenswet brings plenty of charm and humour to his portrayal and, during tetchy tete-a-tetes between Superman and his girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), shows just how troubled the character can become when his unsolicited do-gooding has real-world repercussions.

“Oftentimes Superman, in media, has been just this perfect blank slate without a personality,” Gunn said. “And that’s not David’s Superman at all.”

The 1.93m-tall Juilliard School graduate’s first major leading role came in American writer-director-producer Ryan Murphy’s period drama Hollywood (2020), a TV series set during the golden age of the film industry – fitting, since Corenswet’s own tastes run more to TCM than TikTok.

“He’s very much like Superman,” Gunn, 58, said, “in that he seems very earnest and odd, more like an alien than you would think.”

Though people might expect a rising actor on the brink of a breakthrough to live in Los Angeles or New York, Corenswet has instead moved back to the outskirts of Philadelphia, where he grew up.

He initially relocated to start a family with his wife, actress Julia Best Warner (their daughter was born in 2024), but he hopes that continuing to live away from the spotlight will keep him grounded in the months ahead.

“I don’t really like going out,” he said. “I like being at home, I like the inside of hotel rooms, I like the woods.”

And if he starts getting recognised on grocery runs? “We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Maybe I’ll get some Groucho Marx glasses and a moustache to walk around in.”

Gunn, who has spent the past few weeks watching fans fall for Corenswet during their press tour, foresees an unavoidable rise in fame for his leading man.

“I think he’s the biggest movie star in the world,” Gunn said. “I just don’t think people know it yet.”

Other people in Corenswet’s orbit have long had a similar hunch.

His manager was an assistant on Cavill’s team when that British actor booked the Superman role in Man Of Steel (2013), and he sensed the same potential in Corenswet early on. Whenever he introduced the young actor to industry figures, he would tease that Corenswet was the guy to cast if Superman was ever rebooted.

“I never got my hopes up at all,” Corenswet said, “but there was always a glimmer in my rep’s eyes.”

That turned into something more than a glimmer when Gunn took over DC Studios in 2022 and announced that Superman would be his next major project.

Still, years of expectations added immense pressure to Corenswet’s audition.

He said: “I said to my wife, ‘There’s something sad about this. As long as they weren’t remaking Superman, it was always fun to fantasise about, but now I’m going to audition and I’m not going to get it.’”

At that time, Gunn was not much more optimistic about finding his lead. He recalled how arduous the casting search for his Marvel-Disney superhero movie Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014) had been, with hundreds of actors auditioning to play Star-Lord until, after many months, Chris Pratt finally convinced the doubtful writer-director.

Gunn warned his DC Studios co-chief, Peter Safran, that he would not move forward with Superman at all unless they could find the right man to embody him.

“And I wasn’t sure if that person existed,” Gunn said.

Gunn’s script scared Corenswet a little simply because it was so different from anything he had seen before: In the first 10 minutes alone, there is a caped super-dog and a quartet of robotic assistants. But also, what if the movie turned out so well that no one could think of him as anything but Superman?

“To that,” Corenswet said, “I always refer to the great Christopher Reeve, who said in an interview something along the lines of, ‘If this is the only part I get to play for the rest of my life, it’ll be a great honour to have such an impactful and rich character be your sole partner.’”

Ultimately, Corenswet and his wife decided to go for it.

“David, at the end of the day, was the only one who worked,” Gunn said. “There were other very good actors. But Superman was David.”

Almost everything changed over the next year as Corenswet trained six days a week to put on muscle, and then, as he began to shoot Superman, his first child was born.

“I went to work and I played Superman.” he said. “And then I came home and got spat up on and changed diapers and woke up at two in the morning and tried to take the best care of my wife that I could.”

Now, when people warn Corenswet that things are about to get heady, he is sceptical. Family life still grounds him.

“All I can think about is I’m still going to be changing diapers,” he said. “I’m still going to be making breakfast, I’m still going to be frustrated when my insurance company bills me the wrong amount, or the car breaks down and I’ve got to figure that out.

“But mostly, what I’m thinking about is just being back at home with my kid.” NYTIMES