Director James Gunn on “Superman” release, character’s immigrant story and how kindness shapes the film

The new “Superman” film has soared to the top of the box office. It made a $122 million domestically in its debut over the weekend.

James Gunn, the director of the movie, has worked on the film for the past three years. 

“Then the movie is released and you’re like, ‘is the public gonna like it? Are the critics gonna like it? And is it gonna make money?’ Fortunately with this one, it went well on all three of those,” Gunn told “CBS Mornings.”

The movie depicts Superman, while still powerful, as more human. An initial image shows him bloodied in the snow. Actor David Corenswet plays Superman in the film.

“As a child, the reason I liked Batman better than Superman was because Superman was just too strong at times,” Gunn explained. “I think that this is, we’re building a whole universe of characters and I didn’t want to have one guy who was so much stronger than anybody else that, you know, a guy with a bow and arrow didn’t matter.”

Gunn also dove into Superman’s relationship with Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan, saying Lane was more cynical and less idealistic than Superman.

“Lois is a journalist to her core and … what’s her high key value? It’s truth. What’s Superman’s key value? It’s life. … Those are two really important things, but they aren’t always, you know, they don’t always go together so well,” he said.

Gunn also delved into Superman’s status as an immigrant, its impact and the importance of kindness.

“For me, the center of it was about kindness in a world that isn’t kind. There’s no doubt that this story was created by the children of immigrants by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938.”

He used an example from the film where Superman shows compassion for the character, Lex Luthor, comparing it to everyday life, “No matter what our beliefs are, if Superman can show Lex Luthor kindness, the guy who wants nothing more than to kill him, why can’t we do it to a neighbor who has a different set of political beliefs than we do.”