Screen Brief was fortunate to attend an exclusive press conference with James Gunn, Milly Alcock, and director Craig Gillespie for the launch of the first ‘Supergirl’ teaser trailer.
We were one of a few journalists in attendance at the Asia Pacific press conference, which was hosted by James Gunn. We had the chance to submit questions and listen to what Milly Alcock and Craig Gillespie had to say.
The new film from DC Studios is directed by Craig Gillespie (I Tonya, Cruella), and stars Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Supergirl. It’s written by Ana Nogueira, who is adapting the comic book ‘Woman of Tomorrow’ from Tom King. It releases in cinemas worldwide on June 26, 2026 , and in Australia on June 25.
James Gunn on Supergirl’s arrival in the DCU
What made Supergirl the right choice to be the second DCU film after Superman?
James Gunn: The reason is because the script by Ana Nogueira was the best script I’d read in a long time. And at the end of the day, everything we do at DC is story driven. I loved the script, Supergirl is not someone who we’ve seen on the big screen for a long, long time. And I loved the Tom King book, Woman of Tomorrow, so it was always something that I wanted to do.
Even before Peter Safran and I first got the job at DC Studios, we were talking about what projects we would potentially do. And I said, “Peter, did you read this great new graphic novel, Woman of Tomorrow, by Tom King?” I talked about how good it was and how much I loved it and what an interesting take it was on the character of Supergirl. And I said, “Do you know who I think she should be?”
Milly Alcock: I think I do… You said it should be me.
James Gunn: Yeah. Except I just said, “that little girl from House of the Dragon!”
Milly Alcock on making her DCU debut as Supergirl
Milly’s cameo in Superman was a great surprise for fans. Can you [Milly] please share a bit about your experience filming your DCU debut and putting the suit on for the first time?
Milly Alcock: Yeah. I remember that day, I think it was summertime in January. It was hot.
I walked into the Fortress of Solitude set, and I was like, ‘this is ridiculous’, because it was such a huge set. And I remember doing a take and Ana Nogueira [the screenwriter for Supergirl] was there, and Chantal Nong, one of our DC Studios producers was there too. Chantal was gazing at me, and she looked at me just cried. And I was like, “Oh my God, are you okay? What’s going on?” And she said, “I’ve been trying to make this movie for five years. This is a really amazing moment to see you wear this suit.” That’s when understood this is really important, that it was a lot of people’s entire lives trying to put this story together. It made me really want to do it justice.
On finding out she was cast as Supergirl
How did you feel when you found out you were cast as Supergirl?
Milly Alcock: I just got a text from you [James Gunn] and you just linked me the deadline article. That was how I found out that I got it. No one called me and was like, “You got the job.” I just got a text from James Gunn.
James Gunn: Wait, Milly, I tried calling you first!
Milly Alcock: Yes, I didn’t answer the call and then you still just sent me the article. I was in Australia. I was in my family home and I hadn’t been home in two years and it was all weird. And then I got that Deadline article and I just remember just being like, “Whoa, what?” It was really exciting.
James Gunn: Did you know you had it already, though?
Milly Alcock: I did. As soon as I left the screen test, I was like, “F*ck I have, I’ve got it”. And I knew it. I just had an instinct. I. had an intuition that I was like, “I think this is going to change my life.” And it has. So, I was really excited. But then I was, obviously, just really scared about, how am I going to do this? How am I going to pull this off? And I did it.
On her training and physical preparation for the role
What kind of preparation did you do for the role?
Milly Alcock: I got really into the comic that Tom King wrote. I think that was the bible because in the Supergirl story that we are telling, that’s where she lands. She isn’t like the other iterations. It’s just within this story. I also did a lot of stunt training and got into really good shape. I did lots of stunts. It was really fun.
What were some of the challenges for when you were shooting the fight scenes?
Milly Alcock: Well, it’s just technically quite difficult to be able to throw a punch convincingly, depending on the angle of the camera. I would get to set, and I’d have some time to practice a fight scene. Once we start rolling, there’s all these explosion rigs and other elements. So, if you get it wrong, it takes a while to turn it back around. It’s like an ensemble. Everybody has to cohesively work together.
Craig Gillespie: You [Milly] absolutely killed the fight scenes. You’d be doing a one-minute sequence of spinning and fighting with eight guys on ratchets that are flying around, and you’d nail it. And I have to say also, Milly has a trainer, and she was there every morning at 5:30AM training every day to be physically ready to do this for four and a half months.
On portraying a flawed hero like Supergirl
What sets Kara apart from the characters you’ve played before?
Milly Alcock: Well, she’s a superhero, but she was written so incredibly grounded and like a person that we can all understand and empathise with. She’s incredibly flawed, she’s messy. And the fact that she’s a superhero is what makes her different. That’s why it was such a beautiful script to be a part of and role to play.
This version of Supergirl seems more jaded and wild compared to Superman. How do you approach portraying that contrast?
Milly Alcock: For me, when portraying the contrast, Supergirl is who she is and the fact she’s set against the context of her much more famous cousin, just shows that people are different. I don’t think I had to really do anything to find that. I think the story in the world that we create already had that for us. That’s what the movie’s about in a lot of ways. It’s about Supergirl being herself, she’s not just Superman’s cousin.
On Supergirl’s sense of humour and vulnerability
Superheroes often hide their emotions behind their abilities. Was there a specific human flaw you chose to lean into to make your version of Supergirl feel raw, vulnerable, and genuinely real?
Milly Alcock: I think that Kara’s strength is that she doesn’t hide. She doesn’t mask behind her abilities. In this journey that she goes on, she has to become the hero of her own story. We kind of start backwards.
Craig Gillespie: I agree, she’s an anti-hero.
James Gunn: She is an anti-hero.
Milly: She’s an anti-hero in the sense that she doesn’t accept this role. She doesn’t want to be a hero, she’s reluctant.
James Gunn: One of the cool things to me about the movie is that most of the movies we’ve had with female-led heroes have been pretty much like the “perfect badasses”. And the Supergirl is not that. She’s a reluctant hero. I don’t think she wants to necessarily wear that costume, or even be a hero. She is her own thing, and that’s how you [Milly] play the character. But the other thing is that have this very unique ‘Milly Alcock’ sense of humour. It’s very sniper-like, with quiet little comments and looks that are very funny.
Craig: I agree. We’re both Australian [Milly and Craig], so the sense of humour was a very much a shorthand.
Milly: Yeah, it’s an unspoken language.
How was it balancing Kara as a strong, powerful figure, but also a young woman navigating the galaxy?
Milly: I think that she doesn’t adhere to any standard of her being a vulnerable woman navigating the galaxy because she’s so confident in herself. I’m scared of her. She can really hold her own. The balance is actually between the audience’s expectation of who this person is going to be, and how she’s actually going to have to behave. Thematically though, the film looks at the position of being a woman and considers the standards of what you can and can’t sacrifice.
Craig Gillespie on Differentiating the World of Supergirl
Supergirl has always lived slightly in Superman’s shadow. The teaser makes it clear this is her story. How important was it to visually and tonally differentiate her world?
Craig Gillespie: When I first met James about this project, he said to me every DC Studios project will be like its own graphic novel. And he really wanted me to be able to put my stamp and my own take on it. And using Tom King‘s book and Ana’s script, I immediately had a take on it that I was very excited about. I presented that take to [James], and here I am, so I guess [James] liked it.
I’ve always been a huge admirer of your [James Gunn’s] work and had a feeling that we would have some like mindedness. So be able to be under the DC Studios umbrella, and then to work with the script that Ana wrote— from first two scenes I was in. Plus, we already had Milly, too, which is amazing. The whole combination, it couldn’t have been a better setup.
The comic book that the film is based on deals with trauma, revenge, and moral ambiguity. Given that ‘Superman’ (2025) set up the DCU with hope and heroism, how did you negotiate that darkness and light?
Craig: It’s a world that I’m very comfortable in. Over my career, I’ve tended to work with very flawed characters, and I’ve learned to figure out what’s motivating them by seeing them as outsiders who are able to pull themselves up. And the character of Supergirl, as she’s written, has a lot of demons, a lot of baggage, and she’s not dealing with it at the beginning of the film. It’s a wonderful place for an actor to start, to be able to draw on that and be broken in that way and figure it out. That’s what really drew me to this.
Craig Gillespie on filming action sequences
How are you approaching action sequences to make them distinct from other superhero films?
Craig: Well, there’s always the emotional component of the action. I think about where she’s coming from emotionally, how angry she is, how frustrated, or how playful she is in certain scenes. And so that’s part of informing the action sequences for me. And then musically we’re going to enhance and contradict that. I try to vary it within each sequence and let the character’s emotion dictate how aggressive the camera work is, how operatic it is, depending on what her groove is.
On Working with Milly Alcock as Supergirl
What was it like for you to see Milly bring this character to life in a much fuller way than the snippet we saw at the end of Superman?
Craig: I’m so excited for everybody to see Milly in this. Honestly, it’s always about character and performance for me first. When you get into these kinds of films, there’s so much mechanics involved, big set pieces, and all the action sequences that can be a lot. But at the end of the day, every time I turn the camera on Milly, she just grounds it.
And there’s this humanity to [Milly], and this vulnerability with humour and strength that you just can’t get enough of. It’s amazing. Once I was involved in this project, I went back and checked out all of [Milly’s] television in Australia, and I felt very confident. I could see the work from the past and just the range that she had.
I was really excited just to get into it with [Milly] and introduce the world, because this is going to be a very big platform, but I think the character, as written, played so well to [Milly’s] strengths.
On the message of this Supergirl movie
When audiences walk out of the cinema after Supergirl, what’s one thing you hope they feel about Kara Zor-El that might surprise them?
Craig Gillespie: I think audience is going to be in for real surprise. It’s very different from other superhero films that I’ve seen. It began with Ana’s script, and you guys have been incredibly supportive in letting us make that film. The ending is very surprising and incredibly empowering. Supergirl just owns who she is in an unapologetic way. It is really exhilarating to be able to see a character that isn’t trying to conform to anything, that plays by her own rules and defines herself on her terms. There are the repercussions that can come from that, so I think it’s going to be a little shocking.
James Gunn: Hopefully audiences will enjoy the fact that we’re trying to create stories that are different and unique, and that’s what this one is. And you guys [Milly and Craig] were great partners and still are as we move forward. I can’t wait for people to sit down in actual theatres and see this big, beautiful, expressive film that you created.
Thank you for reading our coverage of this exclusive Q&A with Milly Alcock, Craig Gillespie and James Gunn on Supergirl!
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A very big thank you to Warner Bros Australia and Universal Pictures Australia for providing us to access to the press conference.
Stay tuned for more DC Studios coverage from Screen Brief in the future!
You can watch the Supergirl trailer here:
Supergirl is in cinemas worldwide on June 26, 2026, and in Australian cinemas June 24.
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