“Work on Your Shoulders…And Your Vulnerability”: How David Corenswet Became Superman

In a profile of David Corneswet for Time, Superman writer/director James Gunn said he’d offered him the title role under the condition that he “treated everyone with kindness and respect.” Gunn was referring to past set experiences he had with Chris Pratt and John Cena, and he wanted Cornenswet to do the same. The Philadelphia native might raise a few eyebrows as the new Man of Steel, given his lack of major blockbuster experience – Affairs of State, Lady in the Lake, Twisters, and the self-produced web comedy series Moe & Jerryweather are all must-watch material – but this type of casting is very James Gunn. Before Guardians, Chris Pratt was a goofy, lovable slacker on Parks and Recreation. In 2006, Gunn tapped Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place regular Nathan Fillion for his zombie flick Slither and then again for the mini-series PG Porn and the action-hero film Super. The two collaborate once more on Superman with Fillion portraying Guy Gardner, aka The Green Lantern.  

Gunn has an eye for overlooked talent. It also does not hurt that Cornenswet appears as if he was carved straight from the Superman comics, even further transforming his body for the Man of Steel role – and we’re all for someone not needing a ton of experience in similar roles to be given an opportunity. Better yet, Cornenswet is crushing it as Superman in promotional material, making good on Gunn’s ask. So, as we draw closer to the July 11 theatrical release, let’s take look at what inspired Cornenswet to take on the role, what it was like working with Gunn, and what’s Superman’s relationship status with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) by highlighting insight from an interview shared by Warner Bros. in the film’s production notes.

Prior to Gunn’s film, who was Superman to you?

This may sound strange, but the main thing the character was to me was the thing that made me the happiest: when strangers or friends would call me it. I didn’t grow up watching the Donner movies, the Christopher Reeve movies. I knew who Christopher Reeve was, and I knew that he played Superman, but we didn’t grow up watching the films. I didn’t grow up reading the comic books. I knew who Superman was as a character, but I was never particularly connected to him. So, I think my first connection to the character was when somebody would say I was like him.

What was it like to work with James Gunn?

I was astonished at how much fun James has doing all of the different things he has to do. Seeing Guardians of the Galaxy especially, you get the sense that this director loves not so much action scenes, but the scenes where there’s a lot happening, and loves an explosion even if it’s just to get some more colors on screen, and loves putting his characters in kind of crazy, wacky situations that they have to get out of. And I didn’t realize until the first time I met him in person at the screen test that he loves a dialogue scene. I came from the theater so I love talking about text and what each word means and what each punctuation mark means, and I can piss people off doing that…

I really worried that James was going to be like, “I don’t care about that punctuation,” or “I don’t care,” you know? But he’ll have any conversation with you until the bitter end. To have a director who is so known for spectacle and for heart as well, to realize that he also is interested in incredibly complex dialogue in esoteric arguments about what it means to have power in a situation where you’re talking to the person you love? There was nothing that was off the table. There was nothing that was not of interest to him.

How did you prepare for the role?

All I could do initially was go to the gym because the actors had gone on strike, and so there were no conversations to be had with James or Peter [Safran] or the costume department or anybody. And we actually hadn’t even had a discussion about what James wanted me to look like physically. I knew that eventually I would do some stunt training and fight training and whatnot, but the only thing that James said was when he called me to tell me I had gotten the role, he said, “You’re in good shape, David, but I want to get you a trainer. I want you to work on your shoulders and your vulnerability,” which I thought was a good line. Most of the training was to put on weight; you eat a lot, and you lift heavy weights as intensely as you can, basically. So, most of what I did was think about what to eat, eat it, digest it, go to the gym, lift for two and a half hours a day, go home, sleep, and then repeat that cycle. It was definitely at a level of intensity that I’d never pushed myself to before.

Tell us what’s happening in Superman’s life right now? Is he dating Lois Lane?

Superman is already an established superhero at this point. I think he’s sort of just gone international. He was keeping it local for a while, but he’s just recently intervened in a potential conflict overseas, and he got a lot of flak for that in the news. Of course, the Daily Planet wrote a glowing piece courtesy of Clark Kent. But Lois Lane—they are dating, it’s sort of new—is a little more critical of his actions and a little more skeptical of his motivations. So, he’s kind of established as Superman, and he’s expanding his territory and hoping to do more good around the world. And at the same time, he’s being met on the home front by Lois, who’s calling him on his bullshit a little bit and making him think twice about some things. And on the global front, Lex Luthor doesn’t like the idea of Superman being in charge of world affairs.

What was your reaction to putting on the Superman suit for the first time?

You want to hear the disappointing answer? It was underwhelming. You know why? Because the first time you put on one of these suits, it’s in two pieces, and the S isn’t sewn in right, and the cape isn’t really the cape, and they haven’t figured it all out. These suits take so much designing and building and rebuilding and fitting, and then they have to be refit and redesigned when you start realizing what kind of movements you need to be able to do in them and how the fabric stretches over time and all this. I don’t pretend to understand it, although I tried to pay attention in my costume fittings, but the costume department did an incredible job designing this suit from scratch. Then every time one of my castmates saw me for the first time in the suit, that was pretty cool because for them it’s just the suit for the first time, or the first time I saw a glimpse in the monitor after we had shot something and I saw a little bit of playback of me in the suit, on camera, I thought, “That looks pretty freaking cool.”

What most excites you for audiences to experience when they see Superman in theaters?

The film is aspirational, and I think what James has created is not so much a movie adaptation of a comic book character as it is the feeling of a great comic book playing out on a huge screen with real actors and great effects, and you just get to see it instead of on a little page in front of you, on the biggest screens there are. That’s what I think is going to excite fans the most. And that’s going to be hopefully for a new generation of kids who maybe aren’t going to the comic shops and reading comics. Hopefully, this will be the thing that then sends them to the comic shop to read the print versions of these stories, like James did as a kid.

Superman is released into theaters July 11, 2025.

Featured image: Caption: DAVID CORENSWET as Superman in DC Studios’ and Warner Bros. Pictures’ “SUPERMAN,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Jessica Miglio.