Everything we do is story driven: James Gunn on green lighting 'Supergirl' as 2nd DC Studios project

New Delhi, Dec 12 (PTI) Filmmaker James Gunn says unlike Batman, Superman or any other DC superhero, Supergirl hasn’t been portrayed on the big screen in a major way and that's why he chose this character for the next movie from DC Studios.

Gunn and Peter Safran, the co-chairman and co-CEO of the DC Studios, have produced the upcoming movie "Supergirl", which introduces "House of the Dragon" star Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl, the cousin of famous superhero Superman.

The first teaser of the movie, directed by Craig Gillespie, was unveiled on Thursday evening. Gunn later participated in a virtual press conference with Alcock and Gillespie, fielding many queries of the press from around the world.

The "Superman" director said he liked the script penned by Ana Nogueira and felt the need to make the movie. "Supergirl" is adapted from the comic book miniseries "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" by Tom King and Bilquis Evely.

"The script by Ana Nogueira was the best script I'd read in a long time. And at the end of the day, everything we do at DC is story driven. And so I loved the script, but also, unlike other characters, Supergirl is not someone who we've seen in the big screen for a long time," he said, adding that he loved the comic book before he was appointed as the Co-CEO of DC Studios.

"When Peter and I first got the job at DC Studios, we were talking about what projects we would potentially do. And I said, 'Peter, did you read this great new graphic novel, Woman of Tomorrow, by Tom King?' And how good it was and how much I loved it and what an interesting take it was on the character of Supergirl." As he was thinking about bringing the story of "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow", the first name to pop up in Gunn's mind was that of Alcock's.

The Australian actor was called for a screen test and Gunn later sent a link of an article to let Alcock know that she has been finalised for the role.

"No one called me and was like, 'You got the job.' I just got a text from James Gunn. I was in my family home in Australia... I hadn't been home in two years and it was all weird. And then I got that article and I remember just being like, 'Whoa, what?' It was really exciting," Alcock said.

The actor also said that she felt confident about her prospects when she auditioned for the movie.

"As soon as I left the screen test, I was like, 'F**k, I've got it.' I just had an intuition that I was like, 'I think this is going to change my life'," the 25-year-old remembered.

The first time Alcock walked on the film's set, the actor said a crew member was so overwhelmed to see her in the costume that she broke down.

"I walked into the Fortress of Solitude, and it was such a huge set. And I remember doing a take and then Chantal, who's one of our producers, just gazed at me and then looked at me and just cried.

"And I was like, 'Oh my God, are you okay? What's going on?' And she was like, 'I've been trying to make this movie for five years. This is a really amazing moment to see you wear this suit.' And that was when I understood. I was like, 'okay, this is a lot of people's entire lives trying to put this story together.' So it made me really want to do her justice," she said.

According to the actor, Supergirl is a powerful young woman who doesn’t fit the usual “vulnerable female” stereotype.

"She doesn't adhere to that standard of her being a vulnerable woman navigating the galaxy because she's so... I'm scared of her. She's just who she is. She can really hold her own. So I think that the balance is actually between the audience's expectation of who this person is going to be and how they're going to have to behave.

"But thematically, the film looks at just the position of being a woman and having to, the standard of what you can and can't sacrifice."   "Supergirl", which will be released in theatres worldwide in June 2026, sees Kara travel through space, forming a bond with a young alien girl seeking justice for her father’s murder.

Gillespie, known for directing critically-acclaimed movies such as "Lars and the Real Girl", "I, Tonya" and "Cruella", said the world of "Supergirl" felt quite comfortable to him.

"Over my career, I've tended to be with very flawed characters and to be able to figure out the empathy and what is motivating them and seeing people as outsiders and being able to pull themselves up.

"And the character of Supergirl, as written... She's got a lot of demons, and she's got a lot of baggage, and she's not dealing with it at the beginning of the film. And it's a wonderful place for an actor to start, to be able to draw on that and be broken in that way and then figure it out. And so that's what really drew me to this." Asked about how he approached the action sequences of the film, the director said he tried to shoot them from an emotional perspective.

"There's always the emotional component of the action of like, 'where's she coming from emotionally? How angry and frustrated she is?' or 'how playful she is in these scenes?' And so that's part of the action sequence for me, and then musically what we're going to do to enhance that or contradict that.

"So I try to vary it within each sequence and go through that and just let the character's emotion dictate how aggressive the camera work is, how operatic it is, depending on what her groove is." "Supergirl" will also feature Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, and Jason Momoa in pivotal roles. It will be released in India by Warner Bros in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. PTI RB BK BK