David Corenswet found screen-testing for Superman to be an "intense" experience.

The 31-year-old actor learned that his wife, Julia, was pregnant shortly before he screen-tested for the role, and David now admits that it was a particularly intense period of time for him.

The actor - who landed the role of Superman in 2023 - told People: "She told me that she was pregnant two days after I found out I was going to screen test for Superman.

"For the first several months of her pregnancy, as is sort of protocol, we weren't telling anybody. We had these two quite huge secrets that we just had between the two of us. And that was intense.

"For a period we had just each other for these two huge things. It was very close. It wasn't direct, but it was still very close. But it was just having to do two big unknown things at the same time. And they were both great things."

Superman director James Gunn actually called David to reveal that he'd landed the role.

However, the actor initially suspected that he was the victim of a prank.

He recalled: "It started with, 'Hey David, it's James Gunn.' And I said, 'Can you prove that?' I guess in the moment before when I saw the unknown 310 number, I thought, 'I'm pretty sure this is James telling me whether or not I got the part, but it could be anybody from Los Angeles who has my number and maybe somebody's going to play a prank on me'.

"Anyway, I think he appreciated that and he said, 'That's a good point. I'm calling to offer you the role of Superman.' And I said, 'Well, you're the only person who could do that, so it must be you.'"

Superman has previously been portrayed by the likes of Christopher Reeve and Henry Cavill. And David felt the weight of pressure and expectation after he landed the role.

He said: "I feel much more a sense of responsibility than a sense of accomplishment having done the role. I also know that so much in life and especially the life of an actor is up to chance and good luck, and certainly you get what you make of your situation.

"I just think of it as a great stroke of luck and I better do everything I can to earn the responsibility."