Dogs Are Really Important to James Gunn’s SUPERMAN

Canines make up a big part of the upcoming Superman movie. First, Superman’s dog Krypto is coming to live-action. Then, we got a clip of Superman saving a dog. Finally, we’ve learned that a scene featuring a dog was cut from the film. Let’s dig into it and see what it means.

James Gunn adopted a terrier-like mixed-breed dog, named Ozu, while writing his script for Superman. The rescue dog’s rambunctious behavior, including destroying furniture and the computer, sparked the idea for Krypto. He thought, “What if Ozu had superpowers?” and decided to include Krypto in the film.

The super-dog’s look is based on Ozu’s physical form, with CGI used to recreate his movements and expressions. We’ve gotten a hint of that from the very first trailer when Krypto assaults a wounded Man of Steel.

Also, there’s a clip of him destroying the Fortress of Solitude.

But Krypto redeems himself by fighting off attackers in the Fortress of Solitude.

Lex Luthor kidnaps the dog in another clip. Watch it below.

He also risks his life saving a little dog from a Kaiju.

Finally, speaking with Jake’s Takes, Superman’s Engineer star María Gabriela de Faría and Eve Teschmacher actress Sara Sampaio revealed the studio cut a scene featuring Ultraman punching Krypto, saying “it did really bad in the test screening.”

Another actress agreed it crossed a line. “It’s not okay,” María Gabriela de Faría, “You can’t punch a dog. You can’t punch, I… Okay. No, I did not punch the dog. The dog attacked me first.” So, what does this all mean?

James Gunn loves animals. He told Collider his love of animals comes from his childhood dog. “Listen, I love animals,” he said. “I love animals more than I love movies, so being able to create animal characters that people fall in love with and then hopefully kind of see their own animals. I mean, Krypto’s a bad dog. He’s a terrible dog, and a lot of people have pretty naughty dogs. So, I think maybe that brings people a little bit closer with their pets. But I was raised, before I had brothers and sisters, I had a sister who was a dog. She was my best friend. Her name was Shawnee, and we were best friends until we were both 14. I feel like I’m partially imprinted on animals. I understand them in some ways more than I understand humans.”

He was named PETA’s 2023 Person of the Year. Why? According to the group, it’s “for using impressive and stunningly well-crafted CGI animals to inspire tens of millions of moviegoers—who flocked to theaters to see ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’—to have compassion for the millions of animals killed by experimenters in laboratories.”

So yes, dogs are really important to James Gunn. So they’re an important part of Superman.

(Via Screenrant)