Brandon Routh Will Get Superman Screentest
Nolan has acknowledged that Routh certainly looks the part, and will offer him a screentest. In discussing the prospect of casting him, he is worried about the general audience thinking the reboot has anything to with Superman Returns. There will be a difference in how they approach the characterization as well. Singer for example, kept Clark Kent similar to the Donner interpretation. Nolan wants to try something different and offer Clark up as the new “talent” and will be more competition than an undercover hero. That is right Byrnes fans, gone is the bumbling Mr. Kent.
Now this by no means says that Routh will get the gig.
Remember that they CHOSE Routh to begin with because he looked and portrayed the part a certain way. The Nolan Reboot will take a different approach to Superman – which the reboot needs – and will have Kent be a confident and talented journalist. This adds a completely different feel to the character while both the mild mannered reporter and Superman will be confident characters with a strong presence.
Bumbling gee-golly Kent was easy to dismiss as a connection to the Man of Steel, but while this new take on Kent will have him noticed a lot more, he has to get noticed for different things for those glasses to trick anyone.
Routh will have to audition as though he had never played Superman before, and hopefully if he can convince Nolan, he can convince viewers that this film is not tied in any way to Superman Returns.
As much as I want to see Routh as Superman, that connection to Superman Returns would be obvious and detracts from the point of Rebooting it. But if he gets picked and can convince me this isn’t the same Superman, I might be overly curious to see him try.