Superman is getting ready to hit the big screen once again, but this time in a new iteration with a whole new cast from top to bottom. And, while the attention largely goes towards the heroes and villains of these tales, Director James Gunn is building a world that gives amazing weight to other familiar members of the Superman universe. Among those are the staff of the Daily Planet.
CGM had the opportunity to sit down with some of the Daily Planet’s finest to talk about the movie and their role in a much larger world. Wendell Pierce, playing Daily Planet Editor Perry White, Skyler Gisondo, taking on the role of Jimmy Olson and Mikaela Hoover, bringing the role of Cat Grant to the big screen for the very first time, all had a lot to say about the humanity in James Gunn’s Superman.
The first question I have for all of you is, in the Superman world of metahumans, how important is it to have the regular people to actually ground the story to help the storytelling?
Skylar Gisondo: Well, a lot of people are saying we are the real superheroes, I think, of the movie in a way, right? Not actually, but kind of, sort of, in a way. But yeah, it is funny in a movie like this, it’s such an epic movie. And then in the middle of it, we are just normal people. It’s awesome to get to be in the middle of this movie.
That was what really struck me about the script the first time I read it. The way Gunn managed to balance the amount of humanity in this movie, in the middle of all this incredible action, and really high-octane stuff, is that you have these very human stories happening as well.
How do you take characters who’ve been played a number of times in a popular franchise like Superman and manage to breathe your own voice and sensibility into it?
Wendell Pierce: Well, I think that’s important for any role that you do, is you bring who you are to it. And especially when it’s iconic roles that have been played before. You know, it’s like playing…one of the great Shakespearean roles, you know? That throughout every generation, there’s someone who plays Richard III, Othello and Macbeth and all. And, you know, you take someone like Perry White, and there has been a plethora of different Perry Whites from disparate parts of life, and you try to bring your uniqueness to it. What you bring to it will be the thing that distinguishes your portrayal of Perry White.
But in doing that, I wanted to also bring something that would tie us all together, that common ground. And something, an iconic image, and that was Perry White with that cigar stogie in his mouth. You know, you see that first from the comics all the way through television and films. So I wanted to make sure that that came along to give this fraternity of men a common denominator, which was the imagery of Perry White smoking on his cigar, trying to figure out, you know, how we can get the scoop.
I love that. Now, The Daily Planet crew at large actually gets to get a little bit more involved in this story without obviously giving anything away than is usually typical in the Superman movies. What was it like to take all these characters out of the office?
Mikaela Hoover: We had a blast. Being on the T-Craft was so much fun. When we got on the T-Craft, it was all of our first time inside of it. And we had no idea what was going to happen. We weren’t told anything. So all of those reactions are in real time, which was really special. And scary at the same time.
Skylar, Jimmy Olson as a character, seems a little bit different from the Jimmy Olsons we typically have seen on film. What was it like to get to play a kind of refreshed version of the character?
Skylar Gisondo: Coming into it, my first instinct was to look at all of the other performances and kind of study all of the material. And the second I started to go down that path, I kind of just started panicking because the weight of the responsibility started to set in. And James, in a way that was just so supportive, he was the biggest advocate of like, “You are Jimmy, I’m casting you for a reason. I want you to kind of bring your own version to it. And trust that I’ll kind of bring you back if you ever go off the rails.”
And it was as high as the stakes could have felt; it kind of felt like we were just messing around, finding the character, trying things, not being afraid to be wrong. And yeah, a James Gunn set is like a lot of fun. It feels very loose in the best way.
That’s fantastic. Wendell, so you’ve spent a lot of time with Mikaela and Skylar on set, obviously. If they were your employees in real life, how did they do for you?
Wendell Pierce: Oh, they were great. They were absolutely wonderful. Mikaela, you could not get a more charming woman who would be able to charm anyone she’s interviewing into telling it all. And she would really get, especially as an entertainment reporter, get the real scoop on that.
And the earnestness and honesty and charm in his own way, Jimmy, Skylar, he has, where he makes you feel like you’re the center of the world when he’s talking to you. And that charm and those blue eyes and those angel kisses or freckles on his face would make anyone just let down their guard and be as earnest and open as possible.
So they are the perfect journalists to have in my to have in my newsroom. And so in real life, I would hire them in a minute. I actually own a talk radio station in New Orleans, WBOK, 1230 AM. And I look forward to having them both on my news talk radio station in New Orleans.
Skylar Gisondo: You can’t see, but we’re both blushing beet red right now. This is why he’s the boss.
That sounds like a really glowing employee review, for sure.
Mikaela Hoover: We love him.
Skylar Gisondo: We love our boss.
Wendell Pierce: Yes, indeed.
Mikaela, your character has really only been seen in TV adaptations of Superman and Supergirl. What’s it like to be the first person to bring Cat Grant to the big screen?
Mikaela Hoover: Absolutely iconic. I feel so grateful and honoured. It was truly a dream. I feel so close to Cat. Our personalities are very similar. Researching the comics and seeing who she is and bringing a lot of flair of who I am to her, just, it was the dream.
That’s wonderful. I’m looking forward to Superman and seeing you guys in it. Thank you so much again for your time. And I hope you guys have a great 4th of July next week, because I think you’re going to have a pretty good 11th.
Skylar Gisondo: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks, man. You too.
Wendell Pierce: I appreciate it. Thank you all so much.
Mikaela Hoover: Thank you.
James Gunn’s Superman breaks into theatres on July 11 and looks to make a huge impact on the box office. We expect a story full of the spectacular in the form of some of the most iconic heroes in comics, grounded in a world of amazing people like the ones we got to talk to about the movie.
