Amy Adams' Lois Lane fixation: 'I wanted Superman'

Amy Adams’ Lois Lane fixation: ‘I wanted Superman’

By Glenn Whipp

Nov. 7, 2012 12 AM PT

When you grow up knowing all the words to the love theme from “Superman,” as Amy Adams did, the thought of one day portraying Lois Lane doesn’t really pop into your head.

“Never,” says Adams, who will indeed be playing Supe’s main squeeze in next summer’s Superman origin story “Man of Steel.” “I did, however, grow up wanting to be Lois Lane. For real. Really wanting to be Lois Lane, not just an actress playing her.”

And why not? After all, as played by Margot Kidder in Richard Donner’s 1978 film version of “Superman,” Lane is a dynamic woman -- smart, independent and able to hold her own with anyone, even the Man of Steel. That’s the appeal, right? Not just the guy in the cape.

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“All of that, sure,” Adams says. Brief pause. “No. It was Superman. Let’s cut to the chase. I wanted Superman.”

We had a long conversation with Adams last week for an interview that will run in The Envelope next week. Mostly, we talked about Adams’ turn as the watchful, willful wife in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” but it didn’t take long for us to start harmonizing on a chorus or two of Maureen McGovern’s “Can You Read My Mind?” -- a song Kidder was originally slated to perform in the Donner movie.

“I sang it in a stage choir once,” Adams says. “Our movie has a much more modern take on Lois, but it’s very respectful and reverent to Margot Kidder too. She was brilliant in the films they made. I loved that she was such a troublemaker.”

Adams describes herself as a “people pleaser,” so the opportunity to make a little mischief while in character certainly has its appeal. Take the photo at top: If you’ve seen “The Master,” you might remember it as taking place just after a skeptic questioned the Cause during a New York party that went awry. Adams’ baleful expression reads as the perfect extension of a woman not happy when things don’t go according to plan.

Except, during the scene, nothing went according to plan.

“It was supposed to be a super-serious moment, and I just could not keep it together,” Adams says. “That look on my face? That’s me trying not to giggle. So it worked out great because of the tension it created. I always say you’ve got to use whatever’s happening and make it work for you.”

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