Superman Returns

Geoff Boucher in The LA Times talks to Superman Returns director Bryan Singer (who also shares the scenplay credit) about refreshing a famous franchise.

Today's cynicism and expectations of darker hero tales are reflected in the plot of "Superman Returns." A huge crystalline spaceship (again a nod to the original franchise) crashes near a Kansas farm — but this time, instead of an infant, the passenger is a grown man. Superman has been gone from Earth for five years on a failed quest to learn more about his origins. And in his absence, his adopted world grew sour toward its hero. That's exemplified by Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), now a single mom engaged to a new man (played by James Marsden, a veteran of both "X-Men" movies) and riding high in her journalism career after an award-winning Daily Planet series critical of the missing Superman.

"In a sense, the movie is about what happens when an old romance returns unexpectedly and also the anger we all have toward people that let us down or leave us behind," Singer said. "This is about the obstacles that befall an idealistic man. It's about an old-fashioned hero in a modern world that isn't sure it wants him."

Superman Returns will be released this summer. The full list of writing credits are on IMDB.