Henry Cavill Confesses His Biggest Man of Steel Regret
Recently, Henry Cavill opened up and shared his biggest regret from filming Man of Steel. It isn't exactly the first thing you would expect. In fact, it wouldn't the hundredth thing you'd expect either.
When Man of Steel came out back in 2013, it was supposed to usher in a new wave of DC movies, resetting the Superman storyline in Zack Snyder-y fashion with a new origin story around one of the most iconic characters ever. And it also vaulted Henry Cavill from well-respected actor to superstardom in short order, giving him the cape, suit, and all the Kryptonian powers he could handle. From a box office perspective, the film had (mostly) the desired money-making effect the studio was looking for. That being said, critically it was something of a misstep and didn’t exactly act as the jump-off point DC was expecting. Henry Cavill, for his part, does have some regrets when it comes to Man of Steel though it isn’t exactly what you would expect considering the size and scope of the film.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter (via ScreenRant) Henry Cavill was asked about his biggest regret from Man of Steel. Rather than talking about the box office receipts, or critical reception, he got a bit more granular with his reflections on the movie. And it wasn’t even about the origin story or on-screen relationships with some of the film’s other leads. No, when Henry Cavill is looking back on Man of Steel he has the most trouble with what he did in one scene in particular. It wouldn’t be the first (or hundredth) thing you’d cite looking from the outside in. Check it out:
“There’s a scene at the end of Man of Steel, I’m talking to Martha. I would’ve smiled differently. Every time I see it, I’m like, ‘That’s an irritating smile.’ I just don’t like it. Why did I smile like that? That’s not how I smile. That I would have done it differently.”
Well, there you have it. Henry Cavill would redo the time he smiled a bit weirdly at Martha Kent, played by the great Diane Lane. What’s interesting about this comment from Cavill is that it does speak to his process as being decently self-reflective especially considering this isn’t something many would have ever really noticed. But if he is able to bring it up off-the-cuff as part of a larger conversation about the film then it is definitely something the actor has stewed about for some time now. And does the smile look a little weird considering what we’ve seen from Cavill since? Sure, it stands out once the laser pointer and microscope are directed towards it. But is it a major problem for the flick? Of course not.
For the hype around it at the time, Man of Steel still comes in as something of a disappointment where the DC Extended Universe (and probably Henry Cavill) is concerned. Though it earned almost $670 million at the box office, that was on a budget of around $250 million. For a film this size, that number would be seen as a bit *low*. And critics weren’t having it with the Rotten Tomatoes score sitting at a middling 56%. What followed was even worse with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice sputtering to 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. In terms of regrets, this would seem like the biggest one.
What is in store for Henry Cavill where Superman is concerned isn’t known at this point. Following the release of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of Justice, the Henry Cavill version of the character is in a bit of limbo where the studio is concerned. While they are building out other stories, the future for Cavill isn’t quite known with there seeming to be some reluctance to continue on with this version of Clark Kent. But we are going to get other Superman iterations from DC with Michael B. Jordan working on a movie and a J.J. Abram/ Ta-Nehisi Coates version coming as well. It might be that Henry Cavill won’t have much more to look back on where Superman is concerned.
