While, yes, Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ Superman is all about the super and man elements of the iconic hero, the movie is also about Supes’ bond with his best friend Krypto, the super-powered canine set to make his DC Universe debut. However, Krypto’s first big-screen outing wasn’t without some challenges.
In an exclusive excerpt from the forthcoming Superman: The Art and Making of the Film book, visual effects supervisor Stephane Ceretti detailed how the moviemaking team drew inspiration from director James Gunn’s rescue dog Ozu, who Gunn affectionately calls “the world’s worst dog,” for Krypto.
But the real hurdle was trying to figure out whether or not the Superman’s lovable pet would don a cape like his comic book iteration, and, if so, how would it look in motion?
“We really harnessed the look of the cape from the costume of Superman, the type of fabric that Judianna (Makovsky, Costume Designer) used,” said Ceretti. “We worked with them to figure out how to translate the cape from a human body to a dog. Obviously it’s very different as a human is standing so the cape kind of rolls down the shoulders and then becomes a free-flowing thing. When it’s on the dog it’s laying on the back of it, so it’s a different vibe in terms of the way it looks.”
“But we still tried to kind of really work on our simulation and how to control it to keep that same feel of the kind of folds and quality of the cape that we have on the back of David, to try and translate it on the back of the dog which is very different. The gravity is in a different direction in that case, so it was a little tricky to keep them consistent with the two, but they have to feel like they come from the same idea.”
Writer Otto Binder and artists Sy Barry and Curt Swan created Krypto the Superdog, with his first appearance — alongside Superboy — being in 1955’s Adventure Comics #210. Much like Gunn’s dog, Krypto has managed to find himself in various shenanigans over the years, teaming up with Superman, Superboy, Streaky the Supercat, Ace the Bat-Hound, Jun Kent, Supergirl, and more.
But Krypto’s biggest adventure will find him fighting alongside the Man of Steel in theaters when DC Studios releases Superman on July 11.
The book Superman: The Art and Making of the Film is scheduled to be released on Nov. 18.
