After sending shivers up our spine as the resentful Derek Hale in “Teen Wolf,” Tyler Hoechlin hopped to the other side of the fence to play one of the most revered heroes of all time, Superman, in the “Supergirl” TV series.
There are very few actors who are blessed with the opportunity to play the Man of Steel and pressure comes with that opportunity. Tyler, however, refuses to buckle under that pressure.
He explains, “I think there was a point when I knew it was gonna happen that I recognized that I could either allow myself to feel the pressure of it and give in to it, or just acknowledge that this is a character that people happen to know about but not allow that to really affect or manage the way that I approach the world.”
Before taking on the role, the actor sat down with show runners Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti, and together they discussed how we would portray it.
“We had a great meeting about what we thought made the character interesting and what we really wanted to focus on, and that’s what we did. So it was an interesting point in my life, and it’s like where I was as an actor, which was finally I think committing yourself to the idea of if you feel a certain way about a character, commit to it and go with your idea on it, ‘cause that way if people don’t like it, at least they didn’t like your idea as supposed to doing something that you think people want and then they still don’t like it. And then you have to sit there and say, ‘They still don’t like it and that’s not even what I wanted to do. I just did it because I thought it was good.’
“It’s a very free place to be in. You have your own idea, you commit to it. You go with it. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, you move on and do something else. So I try to avoid pressure that way,” fully bearded Tyler said in a media conference during the recently held Asia Pop Comic Con at the SMX Convention Center.
Portraying Superman might seem like a daunting task, but given Tyler’s physique and talent as an actor, getting into the character of either Clark Kent or Superman appears less demanding than expected.
“There’s a little less conflict in some situations, where certain characters might be playing that human side of you could have a good intention or bad intention, or you could be kind of split on it. Superman is just very, very straightforward. Always going to do the right thing and the good thing. That’s the thing — he is the best of us.
“And in a scenario where someone’s gonna make the right choice or the selfish choice, Superman’s usually not gonna be the one going back and forth with that debate in his head. He’s very straightforward. “This is the right thing to do and this is what I’m going to do.’ And that’s what I do. So it’s a little bit more…narrowly focused,” Tyler said.
Viewers are impressed by Tyler’s performance as Supergirl’s cousin, and fans are clamoring for him to star in his own series as the Man of Steel. Though it would be a treat for both him and the fans, Tyler chooses to level with the status quo.
“I don’t think about it. There are too many people who would all be making that decision. It’s very, very humbling and very nice to get support around that, but at this point I enjoy the chances I get to play the character when I do get to play it, so I’ll take it as it comes,” he said.
Here in the Philippines, Season 2 of “Supergirl” currently airs on WarnerTV. The series is also available for streaming on Hooq (Seasons 1 and 2) and on Netflix (Season 1 only).
