Kate Bosworth

Interview By: Rick Mele
RickMele@TheCinemaSource.com

Having played a surfer girl, a small-town teen, and famous actress Sandra Dee in a variety of smaller independent movies, Kate Bosworth now steps into the shoes of plucky reporter Lois Lane for the upcoming summer blockbuster Superman Returns. The fifth and latest installment of the Superman series is helmed by director Bryan Singer of The Usual Suspects and superhero movie veteran from his work on the highly-successful X-Men franchise.

Bosworth takes over the reigns from the likes of Margot Kidder and Teri Hatcher in playing Superman's famous gal pal, teaming up once again with acting great Kevin Spacey (as Lex Luthor), after their roles opposite one another in Beyond the Sea.

When asked if during the filming of Beyond the Sea with Kevin, she thought they'd be working together again, Kate responded, 'I hoped so, because' I just adore him and we get along so well. We just have such a special relationship. I didn't know it would be so quickly [laughs], but it's been an absolute joy. I'm loving it.'

While Kate says the two never talked about the possibility of pairing up again onscreen while filming the Bobby Darin tribute, she explains, 'I think when you enjoy your experience with other people there's the thought you'll work with them again.'

'Obviously we hoped so, but I didn't even realize that he was in talks to play Lex Luthor for Superman. I don't even know if Bryan [Singer] had approached him. No, I certainly wasn't aware of it.'

This time around, however, Bosworth and Spacey won't be romantically linked; that task falls to another man (well, two others, to be exact): newcomer, destined for great things Brandon Routh in the title role and the always effective second man, James Marsden as fianc' Richard White. Commenting on Routh's portrayal of the famous comic book character, Bosworth had nothing but glowing praise for her newest co-star: 'I think he's done such a tremendous job. He plays it spot on, I think, and it's a really hard thing to do. I always say to people, you don't realize how tough this role is because there's so much subtlety involved. If you played it too obvious it'd be ridiculous, totally ridiculous. I think he just played it with such a quiet strength as Superman, and a really kind of sweet clumsy Clark Kent.'

Bosworth didn't have such favorable words about all the wire work she had to do with her co-star however, saying that the initial fun wore off rather quickly: 'It's fun the first time they hoist you up, and then the second time [laughs] is where it becomes the reality of how uncomfortable it all is' Hanging from wires in a harness is pretty uncomfortable.'

That said, Bosworth still tried to enjoy her time in the sky: 'It was incredible; I felt very lucky that I got to, you know, fly with Superman, and there's so few people who get to say that. So I felt very fortunate the whole time, although it was not the most comfortable situation I've been in.'

When asked how she handled getting thrown around during the action-packed airplane scene, Bosworth replied, 'That was probably the hardest sequence on me, actually, more so than the ship sequence at the end. The airplane sequence was really, really full on.'

'We did some work on first unit on that sequence and then they moved it all to the second unit. So I would work, get thrown around on second unit, and then I'd have to go work on first unit in the afternoon on a scene. So that was a lot of work for me actually.'

But besides just being a lot of work, filming the airplane scene required Bosworth to overcome one of her phobias: 'Flying is one of my biggest fears, so this is like playing my nightmare. This was not an easy sequence for me; that probably added to it as well. [Flying] is not something I enjoy doing, and unfortunately I have to do it a lot. [laughs] Playing that scene was really, really frightening for me.'

For an actress not exactly used to performing in summer blockbusters, the demands and expectations of such a large budget might seem like a big change of pace, but Bosworth took it all in stride: 'I, personally, approach my characters the same no matter what budget I'm on. It's just a different experience in terms of what you're making; obviously I was never hanging from wires and doing spectacular stunts in those type of films. It's just a completely different style. I love different things about both.'

Still, Bosworth admits that filming a blockbuster like Superman Returns can be daunting, 'It's probably just because I've been here more, but I feel more comfortable in independent films. Big budget films, they're intimidating. Anything where there's a lot of money involved is intimidating. That element can be very overwhelming. Fortunately, on this film, I never felt that when I was working because the people involved were so creative.'

This transition was eased in a large part due to Superman's director, who Kate gushes about, saying, 'I felt like I had a unique experience on this one namely because of Bryan Singer. I went in and met with him and he enforced to me how important the characters were, and how important the emotion and the story is to the film, rather than just making it a tremendous spectacle.'

And as for the visual effects' 'We all know that, hopefully, they're gonna look great, but I think what was mainly Brian's focus was the relationships between the characters, and the development that they have. Obviously, I think that many films look flash and exciting and cool, but I think what Bryan's done for this film which is really exciting is made comic book characters seem important and relatable and that you care for them.' And nowhere is this change more apparent than with Superman, 'I just saw a lot more emotion in him that perhaps we hadn't seen before, and I think we got to see the human side of Superman that wasn't really tapped into.' Kate continues, 'I think Bryan Singer is someone who comes from this real creative independent mentality' So he has a mentality of a fantastic filmmaker that's making a summer blockbuster. And I think what I love about it is that it does have those elements to it. It looks amazing, it's fun, entertaining, but it also has a real depth to it that I think people will really enjoy.'

And as for what Bosworth thinks about that age old question of why Lois is so unobservant about the Superman/Clark Kent connection' '[laughs] Oh come on, that's the fun of the film! I mean, my god, if we really wanted to be serious about that, I mean, it's ridiculous! It's part of Superman, it's how it's written, that's the fun, that's the magic, that's the way it is.' Here's hoping that magic continues in the box office.