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      Christopher Reeve to David Corenswet: The Actors Who Played Superman

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      Kal-El, Man of Steel, Last Son of Krypton: Superman has many names, and also many faces when it comes to live-action takes on the hero. With the release of “Superman,” David Corenswet joins the society of actors who have played arguably the most famous of all superheroes. But Superman, more so than a lot of his superpowered peers, often serves more as a symbol than a fully drawn character. Below is a rundown of some of the most prominent depictions of Superman in the last few decades and what these actors brought to their embodiments of the Man of Tomorrow.Superman I-IV (1978-87)The ArchetypeChristopher Reeve set the standard for Superman onscreen with his portrayal in the movie series from 1978-87.Alamy/Warner Bros., via HBOChristopher Reeve set the standard for a live-action Superman, creating a pop culture phenomenon on the big screen. Now the trend for those taking on the role is to find new angles on the hero, to modernize or subvert the character. Much of that can be attributed to Reeve’s portrayal, which was that of a quintessential comic book savior.His Superman is confident, upstanding and authoritative, and between his powers and his unimpeachable sense of justice, he’s downright unstoppable — as when he reverses the Earth’s rotation to go back in time to save a life. Whether he’s posed with his arms crossed in judgment of a foe or standing fists on waist and arms akimbo at the end of a battle, there’s a machismo power in his bearing. And his disarming smile and self-assured voice, which occasionally offers calm but firm scoldings to wrongdoers, paint him as a hero of the people. These early Superman movies were less about developing the character and more about reinforcing fans’ love for the original figure.Lois & Clark:The New Adventures of Superman (1993-97)Rom-Com SupermanDean Cain brought an aw-shucks quality to the character.Lorimer Productions, via Everett CollectionWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      This Math Tutor Keeps Popping Up in Wes Anderson Films

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      Michael Maggart spends most days running the online tutoring company he founded after a decade working as a math teacher. But every now and then, his high school friend Wes Anderson, the director, contacts him out of the blue, summons him to a film set and sends him to wardrobe.There’s Maggart playing a security guard in “The Phoenician Scheme,” Anderson’s latest film, which was released in May. Previously, he played a detective in Anderson’s 2023 film, “Asteroid City,” and a hotel concierge in Anderson’s second feature film, “Rushmore” (1998). His credits also include a series of AT&T commercials that Anderson directed, and Anderson’s 2023 short film, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”Maggart as a casino cashier, one of several roles he played in “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” (2023).Mike MaggartMaggart said he sometimes felt guilty about landing roles that an aspiring actor would covet, but “then I just kind of enjoy it.”Vincent Alban/The New York TimesMaggart, 55, who splits his time between Austin, Texas, and New York City, has no formal training or interest in pursuing a career in acting. He has no other acting credits and would never have appeared in movies at all if not for an old friend who happens to be a celebrated film director — one who likes him enough to put him on camera. For Maggart, this has meant hobnobbing, dining and running lines with A-list actors like Tom Hanks, Bill Murray and Benicio Del Toro.“I do feel a little guilty sometimes because, for example, the scene in ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ that I have is three lines,” he said. “And I’m sure that it would be quite a moment for the career of a young actor or any actor to get those three lines instead of me. But I only think of that briefly and then I just kind of enjoy it.”Maggart is not certain why Anderson keeps thinking of him for bit parts in his films. Anderson, 56, who did not respond to an interview request, described his old friend as a “crucial collaborator” in a video message for an event in Houston celebrating the 25th anniversary of “Rushmore.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Test Your Knowledge of French Novels Made Into Musicals and Movies

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      Welcome to Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s regular multiple-choice quiz about books that have gone on to find new life as movies, television shows, theatrical productions and more. This week’s challenge is focused on globally popular French novels that went on to become big-screen adventures — and more. Just tap or click your answers to the five questions below. And scroll down after you finish the last question for links to the books and some of their filmed versions. More

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      When Streaming Won’t Cut It and You Need the DVD

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      Streaming is dominant for movies and TV shows. But some fans still insist on physical media.Last month, a young man walked into Night Owl, a store in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn that sells Blu-rays, DVDs and even a few video cassettes of movies and television shows, and browsed for several minutes. Eventually he plucked a case from a shelf: A handsome Criterion Collection release of “The Royal Tenenbaums,” the first Wes Anderson movie he had ever seen.“I had a ton of DVDs growing up,” Noah Snyder, 27, said. But reading about the way contemporary conglomerates treat films and television programs on their streaming services had prodded him to acquire physical media again. Snyder cited the actress Cristin Milioti’s recent comments about “Made for Love,” her show that was not only canceled, but removed altogether from the HBO Max streaming platform.“The stuff the CEOs do, they’re bad decisions,” Snyder said. “I don’t want something I love to be taken away like that.”In the last decade or two, the story of physical copies of movies and television has been overwhelmingly one of decline. Blockbuster is essentially gone, streaming is ascendant, Netflix no longer sends DVDs through the mail, and Best Buy no longer stocks them in its stores. Many manufacturers have ceased making disc players. Retail sales of new physical products in home entertainment fell below $1 billion last year, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, an industry association.Jess Mills, left, and Aaron Hamel are the owners of Night Owl, a physical media store in Brooklyn.Ye Fan for The New York TimesYet amid the streaming deluge, there are signs — small, tenuous and anecdotal, but real — of a rebellion. Alex Holtz, a media and entertainment analyst at International Data Corporation, compared Blu-rays to vinyl albums. Holtz, an audiophile, gladly streams new music while on walks, but he buys records he loves. “We’re in a back-to-the-future moment,” he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How ‘Superman’ Star David Corenswet Won the Role

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      Even before he became the linchpin of a new superhero universe, David Corenswet took great pride in being reliable.“I don’t know whether I’m a good actor in the sense that I see people onscreen and think, that’s a good actor,” he said. But what he does know, and what he aspires to, is that people can count on him. It’s a reputation Corenswet has cultivated since he was a child actor, when he once delivered his lines so efficiently during a commercial shoot that the crew got to go home early.“I want people to feel that every day that my name is on the call sheet is going to be a better day — a little bit of an easier day, and maybe a more fulfilling day,” he said.Now, Corenswet’s reliability will be put to its ultimate test. The 32-year-old is playing the iconic title character in James Gunn’s “Superman” reboot, which arrives in theaters this weekend burdened by big expectations. It’s the first feature from the newly rebranded DC Studios, which previously managed some successes (“Wonder Woman,” “Man of Steel”) and a passel of bruising bombs (“Justice League,” “The Flash,” “Shazam: Fury of the Gods”) in its efforts to keep pace with Marvel’s highly lucrative cinematic universe.David Corenswet wasn’t immediately sold on the role of Superman: “When the easy conversation is so exciting, I want to have the hard conversation: Let’s talk about what could go wrong.”These days, though, even Marvel is facing headwinds: In a market saturated with comic-book content, audiences don’t always show up for cape-and-tights spectaculars the way they used to. Warner Bros. is betting that Gunn, who was hired to co-lead DC Studios after directing Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy, can restore the luster to its superhero shingle. But the future of the DC slate, including next year’s “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” hinges largely on just how high “Superman” can soar.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Can ‘Superman’ Fly Above Today’s Polarized Politics?

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      The director of the reboot, James Gunn, called the superhero from the planet Krypton “an immigrant,” thrusting the summer popcorn movie into an Earthbound culture war.He may be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But can he transcend our polarized politics?This, it turns out, may be too big a job even for Superman.The reboot of “Superman” that was released in theaters on Friday is already sparking intense discussions — and a fair bit of criticism — from right-leaning media figures, even before many have had a chance to see the film.Much of the commentary has centered around an interview that the movie’s director, James Gunn, gave to The Times of London in which he spoke about the hero’s journey from Krypton to Kansas to Metropolis.“I mean, Superman is the story of America,” Gunn said. “An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”America? Great. Kindness? Awesome. Those are points on which fans of the world’s most recognizable superhero seem to agree.But an immigrant? That characterization — of a guy who, yes, was born on another planet and then traveled to Earth — has entangled the new “Superman” in the very Earthbound culture wars of 2025, amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Rebekah Del Rio, Mournful Singer of ‘Mulholland Drive’ Fame, Dies at 57

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      Rebekah Del Rio, the virtuosic singer best known for her forlorn Spanish-language rendition of Roy Orbison’s “Crying” in David Lynch’s 2001 film “Mulholland Drive,” died on June 23 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 57.Her death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County medical examiner, who said the cause was under investigation. Ms. Del Rio disclosed in 2018 that a malignant tumor in her brain had been surgically removed. In her final months, she told friends that the cancer had returned.In a career marked by misfortune and tragedy, Ms. Del Rio, a self-taught vocalist, never made it beyond the music industry’s revolving door. But her transcendent vibrato found a home in a surreal corner of Hollywood occupied by Mr. Lynch.One day in the mid-1990s, Ms. Del Rio, a young country singer, arrived at Mr. Lynch’s Los Angeles home for an introductory meeting arranged by their mutual agent, Brian Loucks. The instructions Mr. Loucks gave her were simple: Show up on time, look cute and be ready to perform “Llorando,” her a cappella version of Mr. Orbison’s “Crying.”Dressed head to toe in light blue, she sang until Mr. Lynch cut her off halfway through. He ushered her into his home recording studio, where she recorded the song in a single take.“Ding dang, Rebekah Del Rio, that was aces!” she recalled him saying.That recording would be heard in a pivotal scene in “Mulholland Drive,” at a fictional nightclub called Club Silencio. Ms. Del Rio, who is introduced as “La Llorona de Los Angeles,” emerges onstage from behind a velvet curtain wearing a dark red minidress, with smudged mascara and a crystalline teardrop under her right eye.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How James Gunn Modeled Superman’s Dog Krypto After His Own Pet

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      For the furry sidekick, Krypto, in “Superman,” the director James Gunn found inspiration — and a physical model — in his own unruly pet.About three years ago, the director James Gunn was trying to figure out the arc of what would become his new blockbuster “Superman.” Then he adopted a dog.He named the scruffy rescue Ozu, after the Japanese filmmaker known for his serene works. At about 8 months old, Ozu the dog was not at all peaceful. After surviving a hoarding situation, Ozu was fearful of humans and intensely destructive. He chewed up furniture, shoes and even a $10,000 computer. He also ate one of Gunn’s wife’s tampons out of a wastebasket, necessitating a trip to the vet. Gunn realized that if Ozu had been superpowered, the damage would have been even worse.“It was where the movie came together for me,” he said in a video call.Gunn decided that his version of Superman would have not just a dog, but a bad dog who could fly. He wrote the opening sequence in which Superman (David Corenswet), defeated for the first time ever, calls out to the canine Krypto to help drag him to the Fortress of Solitude. Krypto — who, like Ozu, is poorly behaved — jumps all over his master, seemingly causing more pain before doing his duty.“The universe we normally see Superman living in in movies is usually this lone, serious superhero and then people and then that’s it,” Gunn said. “This Superman exists in a different sort of universe where there are flying dogs.”While Krypto has a long history in the comic books, he has never been featured in any of the live-action Superman movies.Jessica Miglio/DC and Warner Bros. But Ozu served as more than just inspiration. Gunn’s pup also became the physical model for Krypto, who is computer-generated so he can do things like soar through the sky and attack villains. Krypto is a little bigger than Ozu and has white fur instead of gray, but otherwise he’s a dead ringer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More