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A superhero movie led to a super friendship.
Superman director James Gunn is about to be hailed as the best matchmaker on the market as his movie leads, Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet, have been praised for their electric chemistry both on- and off-screen while members of the cast have been candid about the connections they made during production.
Mikaela Hoover, who plays gossip columnist Cat Grant in the 2025 installment in the superhero franchise, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview about the special friendship she struck with Brosnahan, 35, during filming.
“I got the opportunity to get the closest to Rachel [Brosnahan] and I value that friendship so much,” the actress, 41, says. “She was a real champion for me through this entire movie, and I will be grateful to her for that.”
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
“I love the entire cast,” Hoover also shares. “James Gunn has a knack for pulling together the best humans. I got close to a lot of the actors.”
The actress mentions that she celebrated the recent Fourth of July holiday with a few of her castmates and she describes the vibe on set as “like summer camp.”
“When we wrapped, we would always go get dinner and stay up late talking,” Hoover says.
The new Superman flick is a reboot of the DC Universe, led by Gunn and Peter Safran. The movie is directed and written by Gunn, and stars Corenswet as the titular character a.k.a. Clark Kent and Brosnahan as Lois Lane.
The synopsis teases that the director “takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind.”
In the movie, Hoover plays one of the Daily Planet staffers alongside Clark and Lois. The actress says she researched the comic books to get into character, but was already familiar with Cat from Tracy Scoggins’s portrayal in the 1990s television series Lois and Clark.
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“I decided that I wanted to play her more similar to the comics,” Hoover shares. “She was a gossip columnist back in Hollywood, and she’s still a gossip columnist now for the Daily Planet. But I also wanted to add my personality into her and find a common ground between her and myself.”
Much like herself, she says Cat “is a little bit in her own world.”
“There was the scene where she’s talking to Lois on the desk, and she’s kind of talking at Lois, not really talking to her. I found that to be really funny and fun. I think not judging her and just playing her very honestly helped me a lot,” Hoover says.
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The Superman cast also includes Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Milly Alcock as Supergirl, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern and Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific. Sara Sampaio, Terence Rosemore, Anthony Carrigan, María Gabriela de Faría and Wendell Pierce also star.
Superman is now in theaters.