MAN OF STEEL Previewed in Empire Magazine

"After we read the script," she effuses, "we both looked at each other knowing they had really figured out a way to pull this off." - Empire's Ian Nathan on Deborah Snyder, Man of Steel producer

Walk into a Barnes & Noble or any other store with a good selection of imported magazines and you are likely to find the latest issue of Empire.  Published in the UK, it is one of the most popular and well-received movie publications on the market, and even carries the not-so-humble subtitle of "The World's Biggest Movie Magazine."  On the cover of their March issue just happens to be Henry Cavill as Superman, with Man of Steel headlining their 2013 superhero preview.  While the film's more specific details remain somewhat of a secret, their cover story by writer Ian Nathan shed some interesting light on how the film came about and on what we can expect to see this upcoming June.

People looking forward to Man of Steel will be amazed to hear the article's revelation about how the idea and direction for the 200-million dollar film came to fruition: a bout of writer's block.  in 2009, Dark Knight Trilogy collaborators David S. Goyer (story, writer) and director Christopher Nolan began to struggle with developing plot elements of The Dark Knight Rises.  While taking a week-long break, Goyer tried to clear his head by reading old Superman comics, and while doing so, came up with an idea for how to bring the iconic superhero back to the big screen.  Nolan was intrigued upon hearing it, and Warner Brothers (having struggled with Superman film concepts for the entire decade of the 90s and missing the mark on 2006's Superman Returns) greenlit the film for future production.

A few years later, Nolan, with wife and producing partner Emma Thomas, lunched with film director Zack Snyder and his own wife and producing partner, Deborah.  Nolan pitched to Snyder the idea of the film: to show Superman as an alien coming to grips with his purpose and identity, and how the world would react to his presence.  Zack was sold, but Deborah wasn't as initially convinced, perhaps knowing full well the troubled history of trying to return Superman to cinematic relevance.  However, it was the script they received later that changed her mind, as she recounts to Nathan in the quote atop this entry.

Other interesting tidbits from the cover story:

• Goyer claims that the film will have more action than any of the three Nolan-directed Batman films.
• How the film will portray the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane is still unknown, with director Snyder saying that revealing too much of the dynamic would give away "a bit of the DNA" of the film.  Goyer and Cavill also avoid saying much in this regard, other than praising Amy Adams' performance in the role.
• Deborah Snyder on Michael Shannon's villainous performance as General Zod: "The gravitas he brings is incredible."
• In preparation for the role, Cavill relied solely on Superman comics alone, avoiding past film and TV versions of the character in order to give a fresh, unswayed performance in the film.  "I didn't want someone else's representation to confuse me," Cavill tells Nathan.