James Gunn’s Superman is proving to be a smash-hit reinvention for DC’s most upstanding superhero.
And the blockbuster has also reinvented one of America’s most underrated cities, Cleveland, in the process.
The Ohio city doubles up as DC’s other city, Metropolis, with the old Leader Building standing in for The Daily Planet offices and Progressive Field, home of the aptly-named Cleveland Guardians baseball team, starring in a big fight sequence.
It’s the perfect setting: Superman co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first came up with the idea for their comic-book character in the city.
And one of the city’s most historic spots provides the backdrop to an iconic big-screen snog too.
Remember the scene where Superman (David Corenswent) takes to the air with Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane? That romantic moment was filmed inside The Arcade Cleveland.
America’s first-ever indoor shopping centre, the elegant mall was based on Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II when it first opened in 1890. Thanks to Superman, it’s now part of superhero movie lore.
Fans wanting to visit the real-life Metropolis can even stay inside the arcade. The Hyatt Regency Cleveland is situated inside the building and offers standard rooms for around $237 and suites for $332. Book a room with an arcade view and drift off dreaming of the Man of Steel.
And right next door is the 1913 Beaux-Arts-style Leader Building, which doubles as The Daily Planet’s HQ in the film. Outside was the scene of a battle sequence that reduced the area to (fake) rubble.
‘We didn’t go and shoot there because Superman was created [in Cleveland],’ says writer-director James Gunn in the production notes. ‘We went and shot there because it has all this beautiful art deco architecture that is what we wanted the look of Metropolis to be.’
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