The global success of James Gunn’s Superman put much attention on the impending sequel’s big villain, and fans went berserk when the director revealed the much-rumored Brainiac is indeed the threat that brings Supes and arch-enemy Lex Luthor together in Man of Tomorrow. German actor Lars Eidinger was cast for the role in December, but updates have been all but absent since.
Now, Eidinger has opened up about what sounds like a hectic and stressful audition process for the upcoming superhero movie for an interview with Kevin Kühnert for the program Don’t Misunderstand Me! (or Missverstehen Sie mich richtig! as it’s known in Germany). During that talk, he revealed a few details about what fans can expect, as well as how much effort he put into the possibly the highest-profile casting audition of his career thus far.
1. Eidinger's Audition Required 2 Hours In Makeup And A "Mask"
Ahead of turning 50 in January, Lars Eidinger was not expecting his life and career to take a shared 180 spin into the mainstream, but he says that all changed once James Gunn noted his interest in Man of Tomorrow and asked for a self-taped audition. The actor admitted he recorded the attempt no less than 15 times before he finally felt his free-flowing attempt was worthy of submitting. Spoilers: his patience paid off.
At that point, Gunn & Co. wanted to meet with their potential new star for an in-person callback, which led him to DC’s Atlanta studios, where he was immediately treated to a full-body 3D scan. (Though not before watching 2025's Superman on the flight over.) Saying he was legitimately confused at that point as to whether the extra efforts meant he'd already been cast or not, he also shared:
I drove back and then I had my makeup done for two hours. So two hours in makeup. Then I got this Brainiac - that's the character's name - a Brainiac mask. And yeah, I didn't really know the whole time if there were others there, or if I was the only one.
That's quite the interesting word to use there: mask. Especially if said mask was applied after so much makeup work was already in the mix. I won't jump to any immediate conclusions here, since there are several things he could have meant by that. Most versions of Brainiac feature unique and numerous elements on his face and head, so it'd make sense for the prop team to have a version of that aesthetic ready to go for exactly these audition purposes.
Perhaps facial applications will be handled spontaneously each day of filming, but I have to imagine he'll be fitted with a prefabricated headpiece to account for whichever specific look the movie will lean into. Not to mention whatever CGI flourishes also enter into it.
2. DC Already Made Sure To Keep This Brainiac Look A Secret
The info that fans are hungriest for about comic book movies tends to be the designs and looks of the previously two-dimensional characters, and that's certainly the case here. Plus, artists rarely stick with one Brainiac look for very long, which makes his big-screen debut all the more exciting. (The Absolute Superman approach, which James Gunn is keen on, is on a whole other disturbing level.)
Lars Eidinger, in addressing his audition-related confusion, spoke on the all-around lack of other people in the area. In his words:
I thought maybe after the makeup, I’d still have a moment to concentrate, or to myself. But on the way out of the makeup room, I was accompanied by an umbrella, so that no one from the outside could [see]. It was a ghost town, nothing there. It was simply a studio lot. There were no other people there, either. But I was properly shielded with an umbrella so that people wouldn't take pictures from the outside of what Brainiac would look like.
I have no idea how many people would normally be walking around this studio on any given day, to be sure. And I also have no idea how many other actors were brought in to go through everything that Eidinger did. But it seems like there was intention behind making sure the actor was walking around without the chance for a bystander to see him and identify him, especially after he was sporting the Brainiac mask. The studio heads likely kept the on-hand crew list as limited as possible, on top of making sure his look was completely hidden as he went to and from his vehicle.
3. Lars Eidinger Will Be There For The Entire Shoot, So Expect A Lot Of Brainiac
For the five days after his offbeat audition, the White Noise co-star said he remained sure that he would get a call from his agent saying Gunn & Co. would be going with another actor. Instead, it was James Gunn himself who reached out to Eidinger and confirmed his inclusion in Man of Tomorrow.
When asked about how many days he expected to be filming, Eidinger shared:
I can't say exactly when it's filming days. So I'm going there in April for a week of rehearsals and then again from May until the end of August.
Not that anyone should have expected the actor playing the main villain of Man of Tomorrow to only be around the set for half of it. But given the character's alien and occasionally AI-related nature, it's certainly plausible that Brainiac will exist as a threat throughout the sequel without constantly needing to be there in full physical form. But hopefully this means we'll get as much of the villain as fans have been hoping for.
Man of Tomorrow will hit theaters on July 9, 2027.
