Dean Cain worries Superman is woke
The 58-year-old actor - who played the superhero in Lois + Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from 1993 to 1997 - admitted he has reservations about the filmmaker's new movie, which stars David Corenswet, and his vision for the character.
He told TMZ: "How woke is Hollywood going to make this character? How much is Disney going to change their Snow White? Why are they going to change these characters [to] exist for the times?"
James had previously compared his movie to "the story of America", with a central character who is "an immigrant that came from other places and populated the country."
Referencing the traditional Superman motto of "Truth, justice, and the American way" - which has evolved over the years and has most recently been "Truth, justice, and a better tomorrow", Dean said: "We know Superman is an immigrant — he's a freaking alien...
"The 'American way' is immigrant friendly, tremendously immigrant friendly. But there are rules.
"You can't come in saying, 'I want to get rid of all the rules in America, because I want it to be more like Somalia.' Well that doesn't work, because you had to leave Somalia to come here... There have to be limits, because we cant have everybody in the United States. We can't have everybody, society will fail. So there have to be limits."
Dean's comments came after James described Superman - which also stars Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor - as a tale of "basic human kindness".
He told the Sunday Times newspaper: "'I mean, Superman is the story of America. An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost ...
"It's about human kindness and obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them."
And the DC Studios CEO believes a story of positivity and goodness is much needed in the world.
He added: "This Superman does seem to come at a particular time when people are feeling a loss of hope in other people's goodness.
"I'm telling a story about a guy who is uniquely good, and that feels needed now because there is a meanness that has emerged due to cultural figures being mean online.
"And I include myself in this. It is ad infinitum, millions of people having tantrums online. How are we supposed to get anywhere as a culture?
"We don't know what's real, and that is a really difficult place for the human brain to be.
"If I could press a button to make the internet disappear I'd consider it. And, no, I don't make films to change the world, but if a few people could be just a bit nicer after this it would make me happy."
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