Superman Director Reveals How David Corenswet Reminded Him of Christopher Reeve

Superman director James Gunn just gave star David Corenswet the highest possible praise — comparing him to Christopher Reeve. During a Q&A with reporters after the Superman teaser trailer dropped on Thursday morning, Gunn said that Corenswet has the same thoughtful work ethic that Reeve was known for. He credited Corenswet with absolute dedication to the craft of acting.

“The thing that connects him so much to Christopher Reeve is, he has a lot of deep training,” Gunn said of Corenswet. “Like, I’ve never worked in my entire life with such a rigorous actor. He challenged me on a daily basis to really get the most out of his character, get the most out of his story. Everything he does in the movie is utterly true. You don’t ever have a moment, even watching dailies, where you go, ‘David did something that feels stupid, that doesn’t feel real, that feels like he’s faking and he’s phoning it in,’ never. He’s always completely present.”

Gunn then reiterated a story where his anxiety about casting Clark Kent and Lois Lane dissolved on the first day of the process. He said: “It was sort of miraculous — the funniest thing is, I got both Rachel [Brosnahan] and David’s self tapes on our very first day of casting. So the thing I was the most worried about was casting Superman at the beginning of the process, and after the first day I was like, ‘I think that guy is pretty good.’”

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Gunn and DC Studios worked hard to hype up the Superman teaser trailer all week, starting with the release of a motion poster on Monday, then a 30-second teaser on Wednesday. The 2-minute trailer finally debuted on Thursday morning, giving us our first look at Corenswet’s Superman in action. Even with all that buildup, Gunn still held some surprises in reserve, as the first thing we saw this version of Superman do was call for Krypto.

The trailer introduced us to many other fan-favorite characters as well, including the Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi). We also got a good look at Nicholas Hoult playing Lex Luthor, and plenty of shots of Brosnahan as Lois Lane. With all that, it’s hard to imagine there are many big reveals left for this movie, but with more than seven months to go until it hits theaters there must be something.

Superman opens on July 11, 2025. The DCU’s first title, Creature Commandos, is streaming now on Max.