Brandon Routh first came on the scene as the Man of Steel in Superman Returns, but for the past two years the caped crusader has been keeping under the radar. Not giving up on his popcorn appeal, Routh plans to participate in an upcoming sequel, in the meantime focusing on independent film projects and Fear Itself, a new horror anthology on NBC. We caught up with Routh to chat about the new series, his upcoming movies and more.
Hollywood.com: What can you tell us about your episode of Fear Itself?
Brandon Routh: My episode, “Community,” deals with kind of the dark side of humanity and how people can be led – you know, people don’t, a lot of times, want to make decisions on their own or live life for themselves…So my character Bobby and his wife…we want to have a family, so we need to find a house. So we go to a planned community, and it’s not quite what we think it’s going to be at first. It turns into something much more…a little too planned.
HW: You got to work with American Psycho director Mary Harron. What was that like?
BR: It was a great pleasure, great honor to work with Mary. I was a big fan of American Psycho after my second viewing. The first time, I didn’t quite get it [laughs]. But years later, my movie-going experience and the way I look at movies changed. After being in movies and kind of growing up, I have a new and great feeling for that movie. And so, you know, when they said that she was directing the episode, I was like, “Yes, okay, I have to do it.” Then dealing with the subject matter that the film does, she wanted to really bring out the human elements of the script and not play on just the thrilling stuff or the horror aspect because it’s those human aspects and the relationship between the characters that really makes all that more powerful.
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HW: How carefully are you choosing projects since doing Superman?
BR: Still careful, still very carefully choosing. You know, it’s important how I present myself and this is a great opportunity to show America who Brandon Routh is outside of the cape and tights. Certainly that is pretty much all people know me from. And so it’s a great opportunity to play a real person, real emotion and I was excited to have a great opportunity to work with Mary Harron who is a fantastic film director who brought a great quality of cinematic feel to her episode. It’s a thrilling episode. I didn’t really want to do anything that was blood and guts only. Something like this which is very scary because it’s almost kind of real. It could happen.
HW: Would you consider a regular TV gig?
BR: Not right now, not at this time, no. I did television a little bit but certainly have never been on a series except for my year on soap opera, but my interest is definitely in film for the time being. Episodic stuff, there’s a lot of comedy stuff that would be fun to do. An episode of 30 Rock, something like that. Absolutely, I love doing comedy and there are some great shows out there but film is the thing for me. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: What are some of the films you have coming up?
BR: Lie to Me…My wife, Courtney Ford is in it…And I did a film called Life is Hot in Cracktown which is still finding a home, a film called Miss Nobody which is a great dark comedy with Leslie Bibb, Kathy Baker, and Missi Pyle which may be out later this year.
HW: These are all indie films?
BR: Yes, yeah.
HW: How are each of those characters different for you?
BR: Well, in Miss Nobody it is comedic, it is a comedic role kind of leading man type of thing. This certainly being a character who is not wounded but is in duress, a lot of duress for most of the episode. And Lie to Me is about an open relationship, a couple that’s in an open relationship so it’s an emotional relationship movie with I think themes of fear and a fear of commitment that a lot of people my age and older always are really dealing with. And there’s also a little bit of real levity and humor in that. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: Is Justice League going to come out before the next Superman?
BR: Oh, I think it seems as though that’s not happening, it’s on the back burner right now so it’s just Man of Steel now.
HW: When are you doing the next Superman? It’s taking a long time.
BR: I know, they’re busy writing a script and then I trust we’ll be starting next year, early next year. That’s my timeline anyway.
Fear Itself premieres June 5 on NBC.
