Rachel Brosnahan Slams Actors for Grumbling About Their Superhero Roles

I love hearing older theater actors discuss their experiences in superhero movies. John Malkovich recently explained that doing those films is a similar experience because “you imagine a bunch of stuff that isn’t there and do your little play.” Not everyone will have a similar approach, but it seems like a good way to handle the inherent silliness of it all. You’re wearing tights or worse, a muscle suit, and having to pretend a sky beam is threatening Big City, USA. But, to be fair, not every superhero movie turns out how people want.

Movies centered around capes and superpowers require a lot of time and energy. The shoots can be grueling, and then you still have to go on an insane press tour. You can do whatever mental gymnastics you want, but it can still be tiring. It can still take everything you have to make it through it, despite the potential financial windfall (that is not always guaranteed). So, imagine going through all of that and then the movie still sucks the salt off of Ike Perlmutter’s 79-year-old balls.

That happens! You put your whole Marvussy (or DCussy?) into a big budget tights and flights picture, and no one likes it. The cinema score is in the toilet, box office receipts are minimal, and only Armond White is defending your performance or movie. Such nightmares are possible, and happen all too often. The question is: do you roll with the negative reactions or pretend you never liked the experience to begin with? If you do the latter, Rachel Brosnahan ain’t got time for you.

Brosnahan will be starring as Lois Lane in James Gunn’s new Superman film. Did you know a new Superman movie is coming out?? You should, because the marketing is … aggressive. A lot is riding on the film, which seeks to kick off Gunn’s new DCU, but good lord, the Big Blue Boy Scout is everywhere, from dog treats to interstitials on commercial flights. I’ve seen the same clip of him saying “eyes up here” so many times that I’ve started to tilt my head up in response, like some sort of Stockholm syndrome.

I’m excited for the movies, and I hope it works, because I love Superman and James Gunn, and I don’t want Rachel Brosnahan to turn into one of the actors she complained about recently in an interview with Amanda Seyfried in Interview Magazine. “I don’t know why people say yes [to a project] only to then turn around and complain about it,” Brosnahan explained. “Look, I don’t want to shit on other actors, but there was a minute where it was cool to not like superhero movies and to look back on projects like this and pooh-pooh them. Do it or don’t do it, and then stand by it.”

I get where she’s coming from. It’s easy to throw a project under the bus instead of taking ownership, but I don’t think anyone is immune to signing onto a movie that seemed promising but ended up bad. Movies can be ruined by all sorts of outside factors beyond the actor’s control that could leave them feeling quite salty, and they could still return for sequels. Hell, Ernie Hudson has made a whole side career out of complaining about his treatment on Ghostbusters and continuing to return and cash those checks. Also, let’s not forget… most of the cast of Justice League.