The Flash's Sasha Calle Had An Out Of Body Experience Seeing Supergirl On Screen
In Andy Muschietti's new superhero film "The Flash," the title hero (Ezra Miller) runs so fast, he passes into a time vortex. This is astonishing to the Flash, but also fortunate. As a child, Barry Allen experienced a personal tragedy, the death of his mother, and now sees a chance to alter the past and save his family. In so doing, naturally, the Flash unwittingly alters Earth's timeline in unexpected ways. For one, his old friend Bruce Wayne, previously resembling Ben Affleck, now looks and acts a lot like Michael Keaton from the 1989 "Batman" film. Also, instead of Superman landing on Earth, is was his cousin Supergirl (Sasha Calle).
Supergirl is not the bright-eyed savior as Super-People have been depicted in the past. This Supergirl was held captive in a Russian prison for year, sheltered from the sun that would give her superpowers. When finally freed, Supergirl is curt, aggressive, and eager to leap into action. She also requires some convincing that Earth is a planet worth saving; she doesn't think very highly of humanity. When she finally does charge into action, she's wearing the red cape and "S" logo. She flies through the air, punching bad guys, and shooting lasers from her eyes. She's a proper superhero.
The action scenes threw Calle for a loop when she finally saw them. While filming, she was so focused on staying in character, she didn't really realize the Supergirl she eventually saw on screen was still her.
In a recent video interview with Black Girl Nerds, Calle talked about the bizarre disconnect between playing Supergirl, and watching Supergirl. From her description, the entire experience was a little overwhelming.
Hundreds of people
Sasha Calle described the bizarre experience of trying to act in the middle of a production as massive as "The Flash." This is a high-profile superhero film that costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and the crew has to make sure everything is spot-on. As such, Calle was constantly surrounded by people making adjustments and tweaking the visual aspects of the movie. It doesn't sound terribly conducive to relaxing and being able to get into character. Calle explained:
"First of all, there are hundreds of people on set following you, making sure you're okay, making sure the outfit looks good, that your makeup is in check. You know, she's an alien. She's gotta look perfect. She's, you know, the sun, how it hits her, it's a thing. And I think I couldn't process it. I was just kind of focusing on the role."
After filming and keeping her head down, as it were, Calle lost sight of how the movie would read on the big screen. It took her director calling her aside to look at a take on a monitor that Calle realized that, wait a second, she was indeed Supergirl. In her words:
"[O]ne day Andy kind of was like, 'Take her off of the wires,' and he's like, 'Come look at the monitor.' And it was the scene where [Supergirl is] levitating in the sun and she's hovering and she's receiving energy from the yellow sun. And I turned into a five-year-old. It was like an out-of-body experience looking up at this superhero, at Kara Zor-El, Supergirl, and feeling deeply emotional and being like, 'Wow, I wish I would have had her when I was little.' So I'm deeply honored that I get to experience and fall in love with her."
Kara Zor-El
It's rare that an actor can play a superheroine and also be her own superheroine.
Sasha Calle, of course, still had a wonderful time tackling the physical and visual aspects of her character, and gave a great deal of thought to how she might pose in the Supergirl costume. Does one fly with both fists forward? Palms open or shut? One knee bent, or straight legs? These are important things to consider when one is a Super-Person. Calle also had to give a great deal of consideration to the way she lands on the ground. As all superhero fans know, the dramatic, three-point landing from a great height is one of the coolest things they can do.
Calle recalled her "landing" rehearsals and the voice of Florence Pugh in her head. When asked about cool superhero landings, she said:
"I think everyone does a different one. I remember seeing an interview with Florence Pugh talking about her landing as well — and that really beautiful moment she had with Scarlett Johansson in 'Black Widow' — it was so beautiful and iconic, how she makes fun of her!"
She also revealed the secret of acing a good Supergirl landing:
"When you're on wires and you're coming down, you can't look down at the floor. You gotta know that you're landing. It's not like 'my toes feel it.' You just gotta know. And that was hard for me. It took some practice and eventually, I would be able to land, and make it feel like I knew."
If you play a space alien who can fly, you're likely not going to be awkwardly looking at the ground as you touch down. In "The Flash," Calle not only made landing look natural. She made it look cool.
"The Flash" opens in theaters on June 16, 2023.