Brandon Routh returns to cinemas with the 'ICK'.

American actor and producer Brandon Routh is best known for his performance as the title character of 2006’s Superman Returns. He was a regular on the superhero television series Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, and he recently reprised his role in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) for Netflix’s anime adaptation Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. This year, he stars in the science fiction-horror Ick, which was well-received at the Toronto International Film Festival and is now showing in cinemas.

“I’m very proud of this – I think it's some of the best work I've ever done,” says Routh. Although it is only getting a limited theatrical release in the US, he hopes that a positive audience response will lead to Ick’s wider availability. “Success breeds success,” he says. “Who knows, if we have enough of a domestic showing, maybe it'll show up in Europe somewhere. I’m just proud of the performance in this movie, and I’m happy that people are going to be able to see this movie.”

Ick is described by writer-director Joseph Kahn as “an old-fashioned monster movie for a modern world.” Routh was introduced to Kahn by producer Joe Heath, a mutual friend and fellow Iowan. “I had been in talks with him for a couple years about another, Iowa-based film, and he was already working with Joseph on helping finance some aspects of Ick. Joe suggested to Joseph, ‘What about Brandon?’ I guess Joseph said, ‘Hmm, Superman with a broken leg ... that could be cool.’”

Filming took place over a hot and humid two months in Houston, Texas, and long working days were essential. “We were always under the gun because we were shooting such a huge film on such a restricted budget, pushing the limits all the time, especially the amount of setups we were shooting,” says Routh. The technical complexity of the shoot was ambitious for a small independent film, but they succeeded, Routh believes, because of the strength of the entire filmmaking team. “It's amazing what is in this movie, the amount of work that's in here – it’s pretty staggering. You can do that when you have people that you can trust. The great thing about filmmaking and TV-making, of any kind, is when you can keep bringing together the team. It’s great to meet new people too, but it's nice to have your friends. Because as an actor, I know we travel around so much, so it's nice to have some stability.”

“I just like that I got to be a little bit curmudgeonly. Hank is a lot of my teenage angst, or my teenage ‘Woe is me, the world’s against me’ Brandon, who still lives inside of me a little bit”

— Routh

Routh plays Hank, a chemistry teacher whose promising football career has been cut short by a leg injury. When a substance known as the Ick starts to appear all over his hometown, Hank and his student Grace, played by Malina Weissman, are apparently the only people to be concerned, and together they mobilize the local youth to fight back in the face of smalltown complacency. A key scene sees Hank and Grace trapped in an overturned car, having an awkward, generation-gap conversation that soon develops into the quasi-paternal relationship at the heart of the film – hinting at the possibility that Hank really is her father, Grace being the daughter of his former girlfriend Staci (Mena Suvari). “I love that back and forth, and working with Malina on that scene was awesome. She's really, very, very, very funny. And her just swallowing up Hank’s cynicism – I think it's a great pairing, the two of us in the car.” Routh relished playing what he calls a “begrudging hero”. “I just like that I got to be a little bit curmudgeonly. Hank is a lot of my teenage angst, or my teenage ‘Woe is me, the world's against me’ Brandon, who still lives inside of me a little bit.”

Part satire on conspiracy theories and antiscience, Ick carries its clearest echoes of recent history in the scenes featuring lockdown advocate Dr Prentice (Debra Wilson). “She was incredible – it was a joy working with Debra. She’s an amazing human being and so fun to work with.” One of the standout comic exchanges is between Hank and Dr Prentice. “We had back-and-forth improv. It was great – it was hard to keep a straight face.” Ick’s dark humour gives Routh several such chances to showcase his comedy skills. “Comedy is always a first for me, so that’s what I want to do more of, or bring into most of the things I do. It is just more enjoyable on a day-to-day basis to go and participate in that process, make myself laugh and make the crew laugh, and then hopefully other people after that laugh. And there are plenty of other people who are good and want to do the crying. So they can do the crying ones and I’ll do the funny ones – although I’ve done a lot of pained expression and crying in the work that I’ve done.” Off camera, although the schedule was pressured, “it was actually a pretty funny set,” Routh says. “I tried to keep it lively, because everybody was working so hard, and so I was trying to be the jester sometimes.”

His comedic sense was honed by a childhood watching British classics Monty Python and Red Dwarf, as well as some more unexpected influences. “Are You Being Served? was one of my favourites. A lot of my comic timing comes from those shows, I imagine. And Mr Bean, all of it's in there.” The nostalgic sci-fi feel of Ick also has resonances with Routh’s early viewing experiences, such as Dr Who. “Tom Baker was my Dr Who, because that’s the episodes we played most of the time. I’m mostly English, Scottish and Irish, so it’s part of my blood.”

As might be expected given Kahn’s background as a music video director (he’s worked with Public Enemy, Taylor Swift and Britney Spears, among many others), the soundtrack is a significant presence in Ick. Its use of late-nineties rock bands provides another evocative link with the younger Routh’s tastes. “Creed, for sure. The All-American Rejects. Blink-182, a little bit, yes. I'm a byproduct of a lot of that stuff. I was a little bit more in rock territory, or just straight rock, but I have crossover in some of these bands, especially with Creed being rockier. The first CD I ever bought was Cake, I think – one of my favourite bands – or the Presidents of the United States of America.”

Although he has a pedigree in big-budget superhero films, Routh sees in Ick proof that “not everything has to be as big and explosive as we make it: it’s the story. The best thing about Guardians of the Galaxy, which are some of my favourite Marvel movies, is the relationship between the characters.” While the effects, the soundtrack, the stunts of Ick are impressive, they remain peripheral to the core business of storytelling. “What makes Ick work is the family that's created – even if it's not a real family, the thought of family, of community is what sells the story. You don't care about the Ick if it's killing people you don't care about; you have to be invested in your main characters. The point is that the story is usually what wins the day.”

ICK is released nationwide (U.S.) via Fathom July 27th, 28th and 29th July.

Author: Rachel Goodyear