Henry Cavill is not Method: I go to work, I do a job, I play a role & then I go home
Yay, Interview Magazine finally released their full interviews with Amy Adams and Henry Cavill, both of whom cover the new issue of Interview (I previewed the photoshoot here). You can read Amy’s individual interview here – I’m not going to include any quotes from it, but I enjoyed skimming it. She’s a sweetheart, and I get the feeling that there’s not one bitchy bone in her body. You can also read Henry’s full interview here – it’s incredibly long. I’m just going to do some highlights:
Superman as an outcast: “In this film, the world is not just accepting the fact that this being exists, so, as an actor, the question of how that made him feel was very important. How the character felt about the world around him, knowing that he was different from a very young age, was interesting to me, because people aren’t necessarily very good to him in this film. There are some good people in his journey, but generally, it’s people just taking advantage of the fact that he’s a head-down, quiet kind of chap, even though he’s quite big.”
Superman has to hold back: “I think it’s similar to how you see children running around and just exploding with emotion, but as adults, we learn how to feel an emotion but not necessarily let it all out. It’s a similar kind of awareness, except that he is always forced to make sure his emotions don’t take over. He can never really cry in a heaving, sobbing, emotional way, or beat his fists against the wall in anger, or laugh uncontrollably, or have passionate sex, or hold someone so tight you feel like you could squeeze them to death—because he will. So in many ways, it’s about how he learns to deal with the potential of his powers and keep them in check, but also how he winds up feeling entirely unfulfilled because of that. He is alone in so many ways. Yes, he’s got terrific parents, but he’s still so different from them, and growing up, it’s our family and friends that help us form our identity. But what makes Clark special is that although he’s always been very alone and never been able to truly express himself emotionally, he is still very loving and caring and makes very unselfish decisions—which is what makes him so remarkable as a character, because it would have been so easy for him to have gone the other way.”
Does Superman’s goodness make him boring? “As much as everyone says that Superman is good, a lot of other people might say that that’s why they find him boring … A lot of Batman fans might say that…. But he’s not just good—he chooses to be good, which is what makes him interesting to me. I really looked at it like everything was a choice. It also begs the question: What if he chose to not be good? Certainly, in all the Superman-Batman story lines, that’s a question that Batman always asks. In one of the books, Superman even says, ‘Hey, look, if I ever lose my mind, then these are the ways to stop me …’ So it’s not just about Superman being good. In fact, you see him do some things in the movie that make you go, ‘Oh, I wasn’t expecting that.’”
On-set romances? “I mean, there are these fantasies among people who watch movies where they’re like, ‘Oh, there’s a chemistry between them—something going on.’ And sometimes there is. But for me, it’s more like, I go to work, I do a job, I play a role, and then I go home. I don’t wear a cape at home. I’m not an invulnerable alien at home. I’m not in love with a woman called Lois Lane at home. I know there are a lot of people who like to get very involved in their characters, but I, personally, find it too involved. I just like to do it as a job—and it’s my job to make it look real.”
Books: “I didn’t read comics as a kid—though, obviously, I’ve read a lot since. [laughs] I read mostly historical fiction—lots of stuff set in ancient Rome and ancient Greece. I also liked sci-fi and fantasy: David Gemmell, Raymond E. Feist. It’s a nice escape from the world. As much as I do love real-life stories, they can often make you hurt in a way I’d rather not hurt. Well, if something really did happen, then you feel empathy for the person. For example, I read a book recently called Beyond the Bear by a chap called Dan Bigley [co-written with Debra McKinney], which is a wonderful story—a true story—about how this guy was a superman in a sense. [The book is about Bigley’s recovery after surviving an attack by a grizzly bear that nearly killed him.] I was reading it on a plane, and I had to put the book down and pull myself together every now and then. So I’d rather feel empathy for a character that’s fictional, so it doesn’t quite tie into personal experience as much.”
The full piece is interesting, but it’s sort of… humorless. That sounds harsh, I know, but I don’t really mean it in a bad way. Henry seems to be a very earnest, sensitive, empathetic soul. He’s not like, say, a George Clooney who has a shtick and loves to sit around and tell stories. Henry Cavill is not running for Prom King of Hollywood. He just seems like he’s sort of tired and nervous and very kind and professional. Vanilla? Sure. But I would definitely hit it. Mostly because of the way he speaks – as if he’s thought about it a lot – about how Superman could be a real beast in bed but he has to hold back lest his dong kill some poor woman. Henry KNOWS that power. At least that’s what I’m getting from this interview.
Photos courtesy of Interview.
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