Henry Cavill at the 'Man of Steel' NYC premiere. Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images.
After several years of production, "Man of Steel," the long-awaited big screen reboot of Superman, is finally hitting theaters, ready to stake its claim in summer movie history, beginning with tonight's New York City premiere. So how does everyone, you know, feel about it?
"This film shows the soul of Superman – you finally get to see it in live-action," said the Last Son of Krypton himself, Henry Cavill, while walking the premiere's black carpet. "Who the character is and why he is."
He may have soul, but Superman also has the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. So which of Superman's powers would the new Man of Steel himself want to have?
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"Flight!" said Cavill, without hesitation. "X-Ray vision isn't as great as it sounds – you have to control it, it's not as sexy as you might think. Flight is great – you don't have to deal with security issues at airports."
"Superman was the first superhero, the red, white and blue guy," said Kevin Costner, who plays Superman's father on Earth, Jonathan Kent. "I'm happy to be a part of this. Zack has made a classic."
Zack, of course, is director Zack Snyder, whose previously helmed "300" (2006) and "Watchmen" (2009). "It's awesome ... but nerve-wrecking," said Snyder at the premiere. "I'm so excited ... it's been almost three years, and it's fun with a premiere because you can roll it out and finally let it have a life of its own."
Snyder and producers Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder (Zack's wife), and Christopher Nolan gathered quite an ensemble for "Man of Steel," and for most of the cast members, it was a no-brainer when it came to saying "Yes" and signing on for this trip to Krypton and beyond. Here's how Snyder describes how the conversation usually went: "'Wanna be in a Superman movie?' 'Yeah, that sounds awesome!'"
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"What's great is it's an action-adventure fantasy, but also really small and intimate," said Laurence Fishburne, who cites former "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley as his main inspiration for his role as Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White. "It's built on relationships – to his two sets of parents, to Lois Lane, to his community, to the world."
Creating a film that shows "the soul of Superman" was certainly no easy task, at least according to screenwriter and comic book movie veteran David S. Goyer, who had a hand in writing all three films in Nolan's "The Dark Knight" trilogy.
"Batman was a big deal, but this one is harder – Batman's a human being, you could be him if you had the money and trained long enough, but it's hard to make Superman human," said Goyer. "We tried to
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