Man Of Steel flies into cinemas this Friday and to get you in the mood (as if you needed it anyway) we’ve compiled an extensive list of trivia about one of most anticipated movies in years.
Before Zack Snyder got the directing gig for Man Of Steel, a whole bunch of other directors were also considered including Darren Aronofsky, Duncan Jones, Benn Affleck, Tony Scott and Matt Reeves.
According to Zack Snyder, the filmmakers outfitted Henry Cavill in the Superman costume to see how well he fit the role. Despite the outfit bearing a lighter blue color and red trunks, no one laughed at Cavill. Snyder knew then that Cavill was right for the role.
Christopher Nolan (Inception, Dark Knight Trilogy) was brought on as a creative consultant and was never going to direct the movie. According to Emma Thomas (Nolan’s wife / producer) once David S. Goyer and co got the right screen play it was Zack Snyder’s picture.
Ben Affleck turned down the gig (of course he’s no stranger to the character having played George Reeves in the rather superb Hollywoodland) saying “A lesson I've learned is to not look at movies based on budget, how much they'll spend on effects or where they will shoot. Story is what's important.”
Watch out for the Wayne Enterprises logo on a satellite that is destroyed. It’s Zack Snyder’s nod to the “DC Universe” and Synder himself has said it’s nothing to do with any potential Justice League movie. Synder was quoted in the LA times saying “Do the DC characters exist in the universe I created? The answer is yes. In my mind, we have this fantastic character of Superman. It’s not madness that there would be others. Now, that being said, does a ‘Justice League’ movie exist now? No. Whether or not I ever get to make that movie, I don’t know. What is real is that there’s a crack — a foot — in the door. That’s promising. The door is definitely open.”
Amy Adams has some Superman connections of her own, well one anyway. She played Jodi Melville in Smallville. It’s her third time auditioning for the role of Lois Lane. She previously read for Lois in Brett Ratners abandoned movie and then for Superman Returns
The idea that Superman's S-Shield means "hope" comes from Mark Waid's Superman: Birthright series: The S-Shield is the Kryptonian symbol for "hope" and Superman believes it may have begun as a coat of arms for the House of El.
It’s not the first time Henry Cavill has been connected with a Superman movie. Previously he was connected to another Supes movie which had the working title of Flyby. It never got the green light and instead Brandon Routh was cast in Superman Returns.
Henry Cavill had to get in serious shape for the worlds most recognisable super hero. Zack Synder worked with Gym Jones on 300 (and let’s be honest, those dudes were ripped) and from there on in, Gym Jones has worked on Snyder’s other movies, and Man Of Steel being no exception.
Cavill was thrilled with the results, because people can see that the physique is real and people can actually witness the effort he put in to bring the character to life. Subsequently, the actor had to throw all his old clothes out and his shoulders became much bigger and his waist shrunk substantially.
Keeping with Henry Cavill’s health and fitness regime, he started on a diet of 5000 calories (which is roughly 9 Big Macs a day) while bulking up, then went to 3500 calories a day to get in shape and finally settled at 2500 calories to get sorted for the shirtless scenes.
The main reason for Cavill bulking up and getting in serious shape was Zack Snyder had a preference for the bigger, more muscular Superman as drawn by artist Jim Lee.
Henry Cavill is the first British bloke and non-American to ever play the role of Clark Kent.
Superman’s old man, Jor-El has now been played by two Oscar winners, Marlon Brando and Russell Crowe
Amanda Seyfried auditioned for a role, but was turned down.
Viggo Mortenson was considered for the role of General Zod.
Dennis Quaid, Michael Biehn and Kurt Russell were considered for the role of Pa Kent.
Brandon Routh was contracted for further Superman roles after Superman returns and Bryan Singer had outlined a number of sequels, but Zack Synder insisted that his movie would have no ties to any previous cinematic incarnation of the character.
To distinguish the movie even more from the originals, the iconic Superman theme by John Williams is not being used. Instead Hans Zimmer has scored the movie. Zimmer was selected after working with Christopher Nolan.
Man Of Steel is released on June 14th (as if you didn’t know) and the June release sees the 75th anniversary of the character, as old Supes first appeared in Acton Comics #1 in 1938
This is the first live action Superman movie not to feature Jimmy Olsen.
In the movie, the majority of action scenes starring Henry Cavill, a real life cape isn’t used. Instead the cape is completely digitally generated.
The following cameras were all used on the shoot - Arriflex 235, Panavision C- and E-Series Lenses, Arriflex 435 ES, Panavision C- and E-Series Lenses, Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 and the Panavision C- and E-Series Lenses
Man Of Steel will be available (where possible) in a number of different surround formats. Dolby Digital, Datasat, SDDS, Dolby Surround 7.1 and Dolby Atmos.
The movie was shot in 17 different locations including Illinois, British Columbia, Chicago, California and Lone Pine.
7 Special and Visual Effects companies were used including Gentle Giant Studios and Weta Digital.
Man Of Steel is released in the Philippines on June 12th, Ireland, UK and USA on June 14th and if you’re in Japan you’ll have to wait until August 30th.
The movie is released in 2D, 3D and IMAX
The Man Of Steel soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer, is the first soundtrack in history to be encoded with DTS X Headphone technology, which creates an 11.1 surround sound field from any stereo headphones. It’s only available as a bonus if you buy the limited edition soundtrack on CD, which you can purchase by clicking here (and supporting the site at the same time)
