If you thought a preview shot of the Man of Steel flying in the trailer for the upcoming “Superman” movie looked bad, don’t worry — James Gunn does too.
The “Superman” writer, director and co-CEO of DC Studios shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Thursday that an unfinished shot of Kal-El flying through an arctic landscape “kind of stuck with him” in a teaser. In fact, the shot bothered him so much, it won’t appear in the final cut of the film.
The shot in question, featured at the end of a 30-second teaser released on January 26, follows Superman from behind as he flies through the Arctic — presumably to or from his fortress of solitude. As Superman approaches a rocky structure, the camera changes angles to cover his face as he does a barrel roll. What follows is a shot of Superman flying straight toward the camera — with actor David Corenswet’s face looking strangely static and deformed.
“The part of him flying, it was a photograph of his face and him flying. It was a photograph of a drone flying in front of a real background,” Gunn said. “So all the pieces were real, but they were incorporated in a fun way.”
You can see for yourself in the teaser below.
Gunn owned up to the mistake, saying he didn’t look as closely at the TV spot as he would have with a full trailer. The shot faced widespread criticism at the time of its release; however, it appears that even then, Superman’s flight had plenty of defenders.
Gunn spoke about the difficulty of depicting a hero with such “simplicity and elegance” as Superman. Gunn has directed flying superheroes before, including Star-Lord and Adam Warlock in his “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy. However, he has never depicted flying a character as gracefully as the Man of Steel.
While Gunn has since removed this shot from “Superman,” fans will have to wait until July 11 to see how the director handles the character’s flight in general.
