Playing Supergirl gave Milly Alcock nightmares. In fact, she was a dream pick

Perhaps we get the superhero we need. Superman, leaping tall buildings, faster than a speeding bullet, and more powerful than a locomotive, was as superhuman as imaginable – for his time. His original mission: “Truth, Justice and the American Way.”

That tagline could probably spark a war now, or at least a self-righteous graduate thesis. Today’s superhero is Supergirl. She’s powerful enough to destroy spaceships and the roughest aliens who ever shambled into an intergalactic dive bar. After, she staggers away drunk, which incidentally was her mission. Aggressively unapologetic, she seeks no one’s approval. And the new tagline? “Truth. Justice. Whatever.”

Sure, it’s cynical, yet spot-on for these days. Supergirl, brought to you by Australians Craig Gillespie (Your Friends & Neighbors, United States of Tara, I, Tonya) and Milly Alcock, delivers a post-feminist Supergirl, beyond the cliched antihero.

“I would describe Kara as someone who is incredibly resilient,” Alcock says from Warner Bros Manhattan offices. “She’s gone through a lot of trauma. She’s incredibly human for someone who is not a human, and I would say that she just has such a strong moral compass.”

Director Gillespie, separately, adds that Kara/Supergirl “is kick-ass, honest, vulnerable, incredibly flawed in the best way, and she’s trying to figure out the world”.

In Supergirl’s case, of course, it’s many worlds. Alcock (House of the Dragon, Sirens) had long impressed the director. Gillespie espied Supergirl/Kara’s essence in this woman from the Sydney suburb of Petersham with permanently tousled hair and a determined set to her jaw.

“There is a vulnerability and an accessibility to her that is undeniable,” Gillespie says. “When she’s on the screen, I think she’s the only one you’re looking at. But then, on top of that, there’s something that’s built into her DNA, and it’s a rare thing. I’ve had the fortune to have directed Margot [Robbie] and Emma Stone as well; it is this dance that they can do between humour and drama.

“The other thing, which I don’t think she appreciates, is that she’s effortlessly cool, she gives zero shits, and it comes out,” he adds. “You can’t act that. To see her just embody that – that’s a lot of what this character has to do. Baked into Milly is this sort of punk quality, this edge that she has, this independent edge. The fact that we got to have that as our hero of this film, it’s just between that script and Milly, I knew we had a movie.”

The action begins with Supergirl on a bender as she bops around planets. Her spaceship looks like a floating frat house, stench and all. Gillespie laughs that it’s probably best this was not made in 4D. Supergirl has the domestic skills of an orphaned wolf, but is utterly devoted to her dog, Krypto. (Superman was dog-sitting in the last film.) For those who need magic revealed, Krypto is animatronic, and plenty of CGI was used.

All Kara wants to do is celebrate turning 23. But her hard-partying fades when her sense of justice is tested. She won’t let an innocent girl or dog suffer. While trying to sedate herself, she encounters Ruthye (Eve Ridley), a brave, though hardly strategic or logical girl. Ruthye could not radiate more innocence, despite her quest to avenge the murders of her family. Brigands slaughtered them. Supergirl wants no part of Ruthye’s revenge, despite empathising.

“Kara has been dealt a hand of really unfortunate, exceptional, and devastating” lot in life, Alcock says. “Ruthye’s experience with her family mirrors that, so there’s like an unspoken kinship and understanding. Kara really wants to protect her from making the same mistakes she did, because I think she probably felt that she just wasted a lot of time being angry.”

Her anger, tinged with an attitude, is apparent in Kara’s well-worn Blondie T-shirt, and Call Me on the soundtrack. Gillespie instantly saw a shared punk sensibility with Blondie singer Debbie Harry.

Alcock smiles as she considers why Kara’s a natural fit.

“I was so fortunate in playing someone incredibly close to the bone of who I am that I didn’t really have to reach,” she says. “I just kind of had to indulge in the imaginary world presented in front of me. Craig and Ana [Nogueira, screenwriter] have done such a fabulous job in really illustrating that so vividly it felt like I didn’t have to do anything.”

Still, starring in a global franchise wasn’t without anxiety. Alcock admits that nightmares about tsunamis began with this film and continue. She’s nailed Supergirl’s stride and swagger even in flight. Her “whatever” vibe is more than generational angst, though. Usually, it’s said with a sneer from someone bred to think they are entitled to everything. Kara’s outlook was forged from hardship.

“Her story, the way that she was brought up, and then losing everybody she’s ever known, her entire family, every place she’s been to, everywhere she’s ever visited, learning an entirely new language, customs, and rules, and kind of etiquette, would be an incredibly daunting feat to overcome, and ultimately I think that is what kind of makes her a bit resistant to that change, and a bit cynical,” Alcock says.

Kara has every reason to be suspicious, yet she’s also fierce and good – despite herself. Supergirl, at a tight 107 minutes, has the ingredients of a blockbuster: tense action sequences with explosions, a relentless hero and hateful villains.

Gillespie, who worked on the film for nearly two years, after lobbying to helm it, calls it a road movie, although in this case, the road is space. The vastness is depicted with an artsy, cinematic feel, not surprising for the director, who trained at New York’s School of Visual Arts after leaving Sydney at 17.

“It’s a two-hander,” he says. “The really fascinating part of that is she’s such a reluctant hero. Yes, she goes on this journey. She doesn’t want Ruthye to come along. I love the antagonism that’s happening there, but in helping Ruthye deal with her trauma, she inadvertently starts to deal with her own trauma.”

Kara witnessed the destruction of her home planet, Krypton, leaving her with a grim outlook, unlike her terminally sunny cousin, Clark Kent. Kara describes him as “a nerd”. “He sees the good in everyone. I see the truth,” she says.

But when Ruthye is endangered, Supergirl’s conscience kicks in, and once she commits, no phalanx of space monsters can vanquish her. Naturally, the film, based on the comic Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, is set up for sequels.

As cinematic as space, as heinous as villains trafficking young women, and as spectacular as the fight scenes are, another element of the film must be acknowledged: Jason Momoa as Lobo is clearly having a blast as an intergalactic bounty hunter who looks as if he swallowed the band Kiss. Momoa was hankering for this role for years.

“He’s so passionate about it, he lives and breathes it, which, when you consider how terrifying this character looks, could give some pause,” Gillespie says. “That was amazing to have an actor [who] was that passionate about that role, but the amazingly gracious thing with him is he tried everything.”

The fun result is what we expect from a DC film, especially one featuring the original caped crusader. (Superman has been around since 1938; Supergirl debuted in a 1959 comic.) Maybe superhero movies shouldn’t be burdened with social impact, yet Gillespie knows it’s there, especially for younger viewers.

“I hope that it gives them a better sense of themselves, feeling confident with who they are, and that they can be their own hero in a way,” he says. “Perfection doesn’t exist, and you can be special just as who you are.”

Supergirl is in cinemas from June 25.

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