Cover JUNE 19: Rachel Brosnahan attends the ‘Superman’ World Tour - Manila stop on June 19, 2025 in Manila, Philippines (Photo: Getty Images / Ezra Acayan)
JUNE 19: Rachel Brosnahan attends the ‘Superman’ World Tour - Manila stop on June 19, 2025 in Manila, Philippines (Photo: Getty Images / Ezra Acayan)
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Rachel Brosnahan is the new Lois Lane. In this interview, she reveals how she first heard the exciting news
Rachel Brosnahan is no stranger to critically acclaimed roles: from call girl Rachel Posner in House of Cards to housewife-turned-comedian Miriam Maisel in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Yet, despite her impressive résumé, she was still just as thrilled when she first heard the news that she would be the new Lois Lane.
Brosnahan takes us back to the moment she first found out she’d be playing the role—in a public bathroom in downtown New York, surrounded by all the sounds you’d expect from a busy city.
“My phone rang, and it said ‘maybe James Gunn’. I was waiting on that call and so I was trying to figure out how to pick up the phone without James knowing I was in a public bathroom. I answered the phone as quickly as I could. And James just said, ‘How would you like to be Lois Lane?’ And I said, ‘Yeah!’”
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Above Peter Safran, James Gunn, Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet receive toy jeepneys as souvenirs (Photo: Getty Images / Ezra Acayan)
Peter Safran, James Gunn, Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet receive toy jeepneys as souvenirs (Photo: Getty Images / Ezra Acayan)
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Brosnahan admits she wasn’t a big comic book fan growing up, aside from the Archie series, but as a reader, she was always drawn to fiction and stories involving ‘people with powers’. “I think the draw’s kind of similar. They’re aspirational. They show us the power of courage and empathy and loyalty and give us hope that good will always win and is worth fighting for,” she says.
Her earliest experience with Superman came long before the latest version—it was the classic film with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, which she watched at the age of 12. “I was just blown away. They felt so ahead of their time. They created this world where anything was possible, and I remember just being so taken with the score and the way it was shot, and I just loved it. So this was very exciting,” the actress shares.
Even at a young age, she was in awe of what the character of Lois Lane represented, and this is what excited her most about the project: the chance to honour the source material while also exploring it through a fresh lens.
More from Tatler: Superman 2025 reflections: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, James Gunn and Peter Safran unveil their vision for the new ‘Man of Steel’
Above The official poster for James Gunn’s Superman 2025
The official poster for James Gunn’s Superman 2025
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“She [Kidder] was the perfect combination of all the different sides of Lois that you see in a lot of the comics. She is every bit the intrepid journalist, highly ambitious and courageous and hungry, determined to get a great story,” Brosnahan says. “He [Gunn] had mentioned before we read the script that it wasn’t the traditional origin story. One of the great joys of getting to do these properties, again, is the ability to pay homage to the source material and find a new lens with which to look at it,” she adds.
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For Brosnahan, Superman represents the idea that hope and courage can be second nature to humanity, if we choose to embrace them. “I guess what I love about that character is he represents just doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do, without a second thought,” she explains.
“I think there’s something important about saying that can be cool to be good, and that has always felt like something that’s at the heart of Superman,” she adds.
As for her character, Lois Lane, Brosnahan reflects on how she has always seen her as an everyday superhero. She appreciates that, in their version, Gunn emphasises the power of journalism. For her, characters like Lois—and many others in the story—show that while the world’s problems may feel overwhelming, small efforts from individuals can still make a meaningful difference.
“I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with a handful of journalists to try to get inside her head. Every actor's looking for their way into a character, and I just wanted to understand more about how her brain worked and what may have drawn her to this line of work,” she discloses.
“One reporter I talked to said that she was always bored with being a child and that she was drawn to intensity and the extremes of the human condition. So she was kind of an adrenaline junkie who also wanted to contribute to the world in some way, and I loved that idea for Lois. That helped me lock in,” she further explains.
Above James Gunn's 'Superman' 2025 is on cinemas this July 2025
For Brosnahan, this new version of Superman has lots of lessons in store for audiences of all ages.
“There’s big action, big adventure. There’s an epic love story. It’s a shot in the arm of hope, and it’s a movie that will show you that that is worth fighting for. And we could use a little bit more of all of that in the world right now,” she concludes.
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Credits
Interview: Warner bros PH
Jove holds a degree in Journalism and is currently pursuing graduate studies in Philosophy at the University of the Philippines–Diliman. She has flair for in-depth, interview-driven stories that explore politics and culture, shaped by her background in national broadsheets.
When she’s not on assignment, Jove spends her days painting, sipping lemonade, and walking her dog, Jupiter. She can often be seen in Escolta with a film camera in hand, browsing novelty shops in search of rare memorabilia. For leads, reach her at Jove@tatlerphilippines.com.
