Meet Superman!
You must, by now, be tired of hearing that you look like Superman...
It's kind of cool, actually. My first manager remarked that I looked like Christopher Reeve, and he was a huge fan of the character and also of Chris, and I think that was one of the main reasons he wanted to work with me in the first place.
Playing Superman is not like a 'part' -- there is the cape, the costume, and the larger than life thing. How did it feel the first time you got into costume?
The first time I was in the suit, versus the first time I did some work in it, was different -- it was a fitting, and there were people standing around and, I felt, judging me. That felt very awkward because, at that point, I hadn't really done any training for the role itself. I hadn't read the script and didn't have a concept of the character. I was just this guy in tights, and that felt awkward -- I felt a lot more comfortable wearing the suit for the first time for actual filming, because by then I had a sense of who I was inside it. I had grown into the character.
The first time I wore the costume for a shoot, we were shooting a scene in the Daily Planet. If you're only human, how do you imagine that you're superhuman? How do you play that grandness and that goodness? I wanted to be true to everything that has come before, but I also needed to embody the character in a way that would help the crew believe in the character, and feel excited about being a part of this film, that is what I was trying to do.