Superman Returns New Article 4/29

Superman Returns: Positively Lois Lane
A new story for the ace reporter.
by Steve Head


April 28, 2006 - Superman deals in certainties. "He's very clear in almost all his thoughts," says Brandon Routh, the new Man of Steel. "That's why it's easy for him to do things. He doesn't worry about saving things." He'll fly into action when a jumbo jet is in distress. He'll stop machine-gun toting bank robbers. No problem. However, in matters of the heart, Superman isn't invincible. He has one worry: "He has his love of Lois. It's something that he doesn't understand. It's hard for him." She's "the first person, the only person he's every truly loved."

"To me, she's a real person," says Kate Bosworth, the actress who brings Lois to life in Superman Returns. "She's not just somebody that you read in a comic book." She has "tortured feelings going on inside of her." What's more, Lois feels what many citizens of Metropolis now feel: abandoned, and maybe a little angry. Why? It was five years ago that Superman disappeared. And now, Lois has vented her concerns in a front-page feature for The Daily Planet entitled: Where Has He Gone?

"He sort of picked up and left for five years without saying goodbye," says Bosworth, "which I think would leave some pretty harsh feelings." She confesses Lois wrote the article because she "was very angry, so she put the question out there." In it, Lois makes the case that the world doesn't need Superman, someone to come down and take care of all our problems. People are "left with taking care of themselves," which, in Lois' opinion is "something people should learn to do anyway: not expect to be saved. They should be able to save themselves."


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Lois, Bosworth says, is feisty, strong-willed, and determined. "I think that those are qualities that you would definitely pick." But what's most important to Bosworth, and director Bryan Singer, is that her portrayal, at its essence, is an all new interpretation.

From day one, Singer advised Bosworth to refrain from viewing any of the prior Superman movies. "There was a decision between Bryan and I where we wanted [the portrayal] to just be with the background knowledge of the former films." They wanted to "just sort of start fresh." Bosworth was concerned that if she studied the movies, she might "take too much from that," and "it would be boring for people to see a replication of somebody's past work." She did, however, thumb through comic books left on the set. "I think the funniest thing for me, especially with reading the Superman ones, was how large the chests are of the women. I looked at Brian and said, 'Oh, I can see why you chose me! It's just so obvious!'" she laughs.

Lois' "new look" is actually a more classic look, says Bosworth. "The wardrobe has a vintage feel. I felt like I was looking at a Look Book from the 1940s or vintage Chanel; vintage Christine Roth; very strong and classic and beautiful." Costume designer Louise Mingenbach says, they wanted to go with "a timeless feel," something that wouldn't reflect Lois' look from the 1970s. "What's going on in fashion is there's so much looking back and inspiration from vintage and past decades that you can do that, and she can look modern at the same time." For Lois' hairstyle, Bosworth says, "I was up for almost anything. They could dye it. They could put extensions in." And they tried different looks. But in the end, the final decision was: "A good wig. So, that's what we did. And it's fantastic."


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What really sets this Lois apart is: She's a mom. She has a son, and he's everything to her. "It's all about your child," says Bosworth. "She's had to focus her attention on her baby. She's still got that fire and spunk and craziness, but she does have a child to think of, first and foremost."

But be not concerned, purists among you, for Lois is still a fast-talking reporter with lots of fire and drive - this you will see at the Daily Planet. Those scenes were among the most fun for Bosworth, because the Planet is where Lois "gets her jive." She's in her element, and the dialogue is "very rapid-fire." It's "very intense because we have to speak very quickly and know what you're saying."

"I think what she brings is real sincerity," says Routh of Bosworth's performance. "She's really feeling the relationship. She's got the relationship." She had the "back-story really working for us. We were both coming from a place that our past experiences are carrying us forward, and they're evident in our present."


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This intrinsic chemistry inspired Singer to cast Bosworth. "I felt she could carry the maturity and experience of a woman who'd been a reporter for a period of time, and also had a child of 4 or 5 years of age," says Singer. "The ability to carry that off impressed me tremendously." The significance of Clark Kent and Lois' relationship also presented a new challenge. As his X-Men movies were ensemble pieces, Superman Returns is about one man and one woman. "Although there was romance in X-Men, this is a love story. For all its modernism, and scope, and action and contemporary nature in regards to the plot and in terms of Superman returning, to me it's a very 1940's love story about what happens when old boyfriends come back into your life."

"The love story is very relatable to everyone," says Routh. "You lose love. You get it back. The journey you take to get the person you love back. Giving up things. Finding the positives in the negatives. All these are human things. I trust that's evident in the film."