What is the ‘Superman curse’ and why has it made the role so hard to cast?
Superstition or something more?
James Gunn’s Superman has hit cinema screens and is racking up rave reviews, but a sinister curse surrounds the film’s production.
If there’s any industry in the world still plagued by superstition, it’s undoubtedly show business.
You may have heard of the curse of the Bond girl, but have you heard of Superman’s curse?
As the legend goes, anyone who plays the Man of Steel or is involved in the making of a Superman film or TV show is running a disproportionate risk of misfortune and even death.
So David Corenswet needs to hope his superpowers extend to the real world, if the spooky occurrences that have surrounded previous films are anything to go by.
What is the ‘Superman curse’?HBO’s documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story digs into the curse, which has even reportedly dissuaded actors from taking on the role in the past, including Paul Walker and Josh Hartnett, according to Variety.
The documentary goes into detail about the 1995 horse riding accident that left Reeve paralyzed from the neck down, indirectly leading to an infected pressure sore in 2004 that sent him into cardiac arrest and resulted in his death at the age of 52.
Christopher Reeve died at 52 after playing the man of steel (Picture: Warner Bros/Dc Comics/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)Margot Kidder, who played opposite Reeve as Lois Lane, died in 2018 ‘as a result of a self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose.’
George Reeves, who played Superman in a TV series, died of a gunshot wound in mysterious circumstances in the 1950s.
Despite all this grisly history, the documentary suggests that Superman’s curse is less about harm befalling its victims and more the curse of an actor becoming synonymous with a character.
Indeed, Kirk Alyn, for example, played the title role in the 1948 serial Superman. But after it ended, he couldn’t sustain a film career and left the industry.
George Reeves died in mysterious circumstances after playing the superhero (Picture: Everett/REX/Shutterstock)As the Daily Beast puts it: ‘Reeve and Reeves both faced the disappointment of being associated with a role from which the public couldn’t separate them, leading to professional frustration and, in the latter’s case, alcohol abuse and an apparent suicide.’
In many ways, Superman’s curse is the male equivalent of the Bond Girl Curse, in which actresses who played a Bond girl cannot escape their reputation as a sex symbol, inhibiting their ability to find future work.
Tanya Roberts, for example, has said that after starring in A View to Kill in 1985 across from Roger Moore, she was never offered another leading role, believing she was perpetually reduced to an accessory to a leading man rather than a leading woman.
The documentary explores how Reeve struggled to escape the iconic character (Picture: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)Superman’s curse is less overtly gendered but decidedly not dissimilar from the Bond Girl curse.
While the actors who play James Bond or Batman certainly never escape association with their iconic characters, they usually go on to have varied and successful careers. So why isn’t this true of the actors who play Superman?
Superman, like a Bond Girl, is less of a character than a symbol. While Batman or James Bond are complex characters, Superman represents something too amorphous and general to make room for much subtlety.
Though Reeve played other parts after Superman, he was never taken seriously (Picture: Louis Goldman/Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)Superman represents the ideal man, moral goodness, and devotion to law and order.
Superman actors, therefore, are subsumed by the sheer size of the symbol they represent in putting on that red cape, making it impossible for audiences to see them in any other role.
What has David Corenswet said about the role?The latest actor to don the famous red cape, Pearl star Corenswet, doesn’t seem to have fallen victim to the curse so far.
It’s the star’s biggest role of his career, so you would expect that he celebrated it with a lavish bash or an extensive night on the town, right?
‘Oh, I just played solitaire by myself and panicked quietly,’ David laughed while speaking to Metro on the red carpet at London’s Superman Fan Event.
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Previous Page Next Page‘No, I had the opportunity to tell about six or seven people who I was close to, and just kind of relished in this one hour where I had a big secret that nobody else knew about,’ he continued.
‘It’s a rare moment in life, so I tried to be present with it, and not be too overwhelmed.
‘I got to tell my wife and a couple of family members, and then just sat in a chair and waited for the news to break.’
Thankfully, once David’s not-so-secret identity had been exposed, he could rely on other actors who’ve slipped into Superman’s red Speedos for advice.
‘I was lucky enough to exchange letters with Tyler Hoechlin and Henry Cavill, two fellas who have played Superman before me,’ he explained.
Superman is in cinemas now.
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