On the Scene: Man of Steel World Premiere and After Party

I’ve been calling Man of Steel “the most important superhero movie of all times” but if you had told me that I would be attending the world premiere and after party, I would have laughed at you. But thanks to Nokia, at the very last minutes (like 2 pm) I was sponsored to go to both in return for tweeting using their new Lumia 925 phone. Seemed a fair trade off to me (and I’ll have more on Nokia in a bit.)

I’ll have a longer review of Man of Steel later on (I’m actually seeing it again tonight) but to the relief of everyone remotely related to Warner Bros and DC Entertainment, it was no Green Lantern. It was a rock ’em sock ’em reboot of Superman, eschewing the Daily Planet but establishing Kal-El/Clark’s alien Kryptonian heritage and mission for humanity. Henry Cavill was absolutely perfect and dreamy, and Amy Adams was smart and sweet. Michael Shannon made a fine tortured antagonist. I think Antje Traue as Faora-Ul will make anyone who wanted to see an incredibly kick-ass, super strong and deadly female character on screen wildly happy. The film has Christopher Nolan and David Goyer all over it in its sense of moody gravitas, and Zack Snyder used his considerable visual chops (heavily influenced by Frank Quitely, Alex Ross and Jack Kirby) to give us a harder, better, stronger, faster Superman. There were some flaws which I’ll discuss more in a longer review but the good news is this movie takes Superman in the direction he needed to go. A sequel has already been announced with Goyer and Snyder aboard and I have one word for you: Brainiac.

Man of Steel is the answer to the question mark over whether DC can move forward with a shared universe film slate of the kind Disney has excelled at. The Legendary/Nolan/Goyer brain trust has shown they can do two superheroes now…we’ll see where it goes from here.

The after-party was held in a warehouse-like area behind the 8th Avenue Post Office, done up with Superman logos and some Kryptonian qr codes. Between the humid pouring rain outside and the fog machines inside it was like being in the smoking post-doomsday scenario of countless superhero films, with the bonus surprise of shaved Brussels sprouts and Patron. Many of the stars from the red carpet were there, and DC personnel including Diane Nelson, John Rood, Jim Lee, Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns; as well as such comicksy folks as Paul Levitz, Scott Snyder and Brad Meltzer; the Legendary crew from Thomas Tull on down was also in attendance.

I will say using a new phone on the fly is kind of like suddenly having to do everything left-handed, so I didn’t snap as many pictures as I should have. Here’s a wee gallery:

DC co-publisher Jim Lee and wife Carla on the way to the premiere. The couple is expecting around the time of NYCC! Congrats!

For various reasons, I didn’t get to cover the Red Carpet, but there was a tropical storm going on out there. Yet somehow the stars remained only dewy and not damp. The miracle of show biz.

The after-party looked mysterious in the fog and mists.

A Superman exo-suit was on display. Although the shirtless hobo Clark Kent scene revealed that Henry Cavill does not need foundational garments, this suit avoided embarrassing questions about you know what by saying whoops, there it is.

I told you there was Tequila and red lights.

A band of drummers and a violinist performed some of Hans Zimmer’s score which I think is destined to be another classic from him.

I ran into Marv and Noelle Wolfman, two of my favorite people on earth. Marv was in attendance because the charcater created, Dr. Emil Hamilton (played by Richard Schiff), appears in the film. Marv’s penchant for creating scientists and cop characters over the years had served him very well in the superhero film world.

Marv had no shyness getting his picture taken with Cavill but I feared appearing next to someone so damned pretty.

Atmosphere

Michael Shannon posed for a few pictures. I also saw Amy Adams, Kevin Costner and Christopher Meloni posing, but I dunno, I really don’t feel comfortable asking people I don’t know who aren’t in cosplay to pose for pictures—and it seemed kind of uncool for the folks who were at their 90th movie premiere, like Costner. Cavill was very approachable and happy to be seen, as this is his big break.

I did keep bumping into someone I later realized was Joey Fatone. Oops.

Oh and courtesy of Jim Lee’s instagram, here’s the proof i was there and horribly underdressed.

Apparently the Post Office is going to get retrofitted into a new Penn Station since they tore down the beautiful one. Sigh. The original Penn Station is my planet Krypton.