Adam Rayner Explains Why Tyler Hoechlin Is The Perfect Superman - Exclusive
The minute Tyler Hoechlin stepped into National City on "Supergirl," fans knew one thing for certain: The actor kills playing both Clark Kent and Superman. The vast majority of the many actors who have taken on the role typically favor one-half of the whole superhero package. Hoechlin has it all, and no, it's not just his Super jawline. He seamlessly weaves through Clark's dual identity in "Superman & Lois," meshing them together just enough to connect the missing link while maintaining Clark's secret identity.
With Hoechlin's iteration of the Man of Steel, he lets a dash of Clark's charming nerdiness into Kal-El and a smidge of Supes' heroic bravery into his status as the former Daily Planet journalist. Hoechlin approached both roles in a way we haven't seen before, offering fans a fresh new iteration of Superman to look up to — whether he's fighting his brother Tal-Rho or putting his stern "dad face" on for his teenage boys.
During an exclusive interview with Hoechlin's onscreen brother Adam Rayner (Tal-Rho), the actor revealed what qualities make Tyler Hoechlin the perfect Superman and how his co-star's acting choices helped define Rayner's own character.
Tyler Hoechlin's fundamental decency
On his favorite things about Tyler Hoechlin's version of Superman and Clark and why he's so compelling in this role, Rayner said, "Well, I think he has a fundamental decency, a kind of all-American [wholesomeness]. He's effortlessly heroic. As someone who's tried to play nice guy lead roles before, it's sometimes difficult to be interesting." Hoechlin certainly adds a level of depth to Clark and Superman that puts an interesting twist on things.
"He somehow is always interesting despite being the good guy, despite being the nice guy, because he's able to be himself on purpose in that role, which is the key to making any character believable and interesting," he added. "Yeah, it's definitely the hardest part [of] the show. Playing villains and stuff is much easier than playing the hero. I think he does it with great skill and makes it look easy."
Riffing with a Super actor
We asked Rayner if Hoechlin's character and acting choices helped inform the direction that he took with Tal-Rho, and he said, "That's a good question. Well, the great thing about Tyler's performance as Superman is that it's easy with these incredibly powerful characters to play like nothing is a problem. Nothing ever affects you because you are so powerful and you're so strong, and you're so certain of everything. So anything that anyone ever does to you or says to you is no problem. It doesn't affect you. You're totally invulnerable." Both Hoechlin and the writers want none of that, honing in on the nuances.
"He allowed himself to be affected emotionally and physically. It wasn't when I punched him [that] it didn't hurt. He allowed himself to be hurt physically and emotionally in those scenes. He didn't try and play the tough guy, trying to play invulnerable the whole time, so it meant that when I made a choice, it felt like that choice mattered," Rayner added. "I'd worked with actors where that doesn't feel the case. Whatever you do, they've already decided what they're going to do. Tyler is in the moment, looking you in the eye and ready to respond truthfully to what you do. That was a joyful [experience]." There's a reason fans can't stop watching "Superman & Lois" — and the entire cast and crew are at the forefront of that reason.
Season 2 of "Superman & Lois" airs Tuesdays on The CW. Episodes are available to stream on the CW website and app the following day.