Learning To Fly For Superman & Lois Was A 'Brutal' Job For Jordan Elsass
While Superman has plenty of cool superpowers, flight seems to be one of the more memorable perks. Sure, the Man of Steel can shoot laser beams from his eyes and hear a pin drop 50 miles away, but it's flight that allows him to race around defeating villains — and it's the power that lead to the iconic "It's a bird, it's a plane" line in the opening of TV series "Adventures of Superman."
Although CW's "Superman & Lois" is a relatively lighthearted take on the titular characters, Jordan Elsass, who plays their son Jonathan, got to explore dear old dad's bird-like power in an alternate dimension during "Bizarros in a Bizarro World," the tenth episode of season 2. Even more exciting? He fought Anderson (Ian Bohen) mid-air, resulting in an exhilarating scene that Elsass called "brutal" to create in an interview with CBR.
Elsass and Bohen took flight in real life
As it turns out, flying (especially while fighting) is a lot less fun than it looks. To make the scene look as realistic as possible, relatively little CGI was used — though the process was much rougher on the actors. To film one particularly strenuous attack, Elsass told CBR that he and Bohen were strapped into harnesses, spun around, then would let go and punch each other. The shot was only filmed twice because it left the actors breathless and in pain, so "that [was] all we could do."
Unfortunately, Elsass's descent back to Earth wasn't much easier to create. The actor had to practice diving while hooked up to wires, a process that required laser-focus to maintain and then quickly adjust form. Fortunately though, it was relatively easy to stick the landing: Elsass just had to jump on the spot.
This isn't the first time that filming a Superman-related flight scene has caused problems. In fact, the illusion can be so challenging to create that the producers of Christopher Reeve's "Superman" films wanted their iteration of the hero to stay on land. Fortunately, Reeve was eager that flight be included (and managed to make the physics look so lifelike that the producers agreed). And while modern technology can certainly make it easier to include flashier flight scenes, stunts have become more complex as well. According to Digital Spy, "Man of Steel" stuntman Ryan Watson said that the movie would have the fastest Superman yet — a treat for fans that was reportedly difficult to create.