Genre mashups are nothing new, but Brightburn caught a lot of attention for its uncompromising take on “super hero horror.” Armed with a hard R-rating, the film essentially posited the question: “What if tween Superman was evil?” Without spoiling anything, the answer involves a lot of gory kills and super-powered terror.
Brightburn succeeded at the box office, grossing over $32 million worldwide off a budget of just $6 million. While sequel hopes are high among the film’s passionate fandom, nothing has been officially announced yet, though the film’s young star, Jackson A. Dunn, has ideas for where he’d like to take his instantly iconic character.
While promoting the home video release of Brightburn, Jackson A. Dunn spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the provocative horror film, his thoughts on a prospective sequel, his surprise appearance in Avengers: Endgame, and how he would like to approach the casting of new characters teased at the end of the movie.
You are such a huge part of why this movie works. You make this character so compelling. There’s so much to read into it. If you look online, there’s so many fan theories about whether he’s truly evil, whether he can be redeemed, the reasons why he does what he does in the movie. When you were shooting the film, what kind of direction did you get? What did the script tell you? Did you have a secret knowledge of the character? Or did you play it scene-by-scene?
Reading the script and going through the whole audition process, I was trying to fit the character into what I thought was the direction is was supposed to go, but there was some of my own direction. I took light inspiration from horror movies and demonic or possessed character. Like in The Sixth Sense, movies like that. I wanted it to be different from an everyday superhero/super villain movie. I wanted it to have that darker horror twist, since that’s essentially what the movie is.
Did you get to collaborate with the Gunns and David Yarovesky a lot?
Yeah! It was really great working with them. They were always there on set. They have super creative minds, they always have their energy flowing through them. It’s really exciting to see the way David Yarovesky creates stories in his mind. Things will pop into it and he’ll get an idea of what he wants to see. It’s really fun to be able to bounce off him. I try to embrace his vision as my own.
I know actors are usually the last people to find out, but do you know if there is sequel buzz going, and would you be open to appearing as this character again?
I know there’s definitely some buzz about it in the media, but I don’t know any more than the average person, but I’d love to be a part of it. I’d love to see where it could be taken, for sure.
If they slapped a producer credit next to your name and gave you creative control over the direction of the series, what would you like to see Brandon do in the future?
There’s really an endless list of directions the character can be taken. There’s so many possibilities. With the way the movie ended… Maybe he’ll go out on his own conquest, and encounter what he may and face it, going on an arc as a character outside of his little home in Brightburn, Kansas. But there’s also potential for, maybe, a league. I have my own personal theory that Brandon wasn’t the only one to land in a pod that night, and there’s others all over the world. I’d really like to see that possibility explored, whether it’s in collaboration with Brightburn, or they fight against him, or they all fight among each other, I think there’s a lot of ways it can be taken, and I’d love to see that explored, for sure.
Yeah, villains don’t play well with others, so when they’re together, they’re a lot more volatile than a team of heroes, like The Avengers. Speaking of which, you’re in Endgame! You’re young Ant-Man! Was there any connection between your being hired for these two roles, or was it a complete coincidence?
No, it was completely coincidental. I auditioned for and filmed Endgame a few months prior to Brightburn, and I didn’t even know I was filming for Endgame when I was. Obviously, they are really secretive, they were fully on lockdown. I knew I was playing Ant-Man, but that’s about it! Then, a few months later, I did Brightburn. But there was no correlation there.
Were there any scenes that you maybe thought of or wanted to include, like, ideas for grisly kills? There are some great kills in this movie, did your imagination ever go wild with what this character could do to people beyond what’s already shown in the film?
I really liked the direction we took, like in the killing of Uncle Noah. The way the whole thing was orchestrated. The car, the jaw, the blood, etc. I really enjoyed that. But I also think it’s important to not over-saturate with that kind of killing, and have some variance within it. I think the way we did it in the first movie was definitely well-distributed, and that’s what I’d like to see more of in the future.
You mentioned before that you got to put your influence on the character. Can you talk a bit about how the character was different when you were cast, and the place you brought it to, and if that effected charcterization at all?
In the script, maybe he was a little more quiet, and a little more intellectual. I tried to embrace the quiet, shy traits of Brandon, but I tried to make it so he had a little more foil to his character, and a little more dynamic properties. I tried to make him a little more well-rounded, and a little more aware of other personality types.
Is it more difficult or easier to act with that mask on? They mention in one of the Blu ray special features, in a typical horror movie, someone is in the dark and they turn on the light and the slasher is revealed and he kills them. But when that slasher is a little kid in a mask, the person just takes their mask off and says, “get in the car!” And then the horror really starts.
It’s definitely an empowering feeling to be wearing the mask. It’s just easier to take myself seriously as a murder wearing the mask as opposed to when I’m not. Without the mask, everyone else in the Brightburn universe looks at me as a weird, quiet kid with no real significance. But with the mask on, I’m a cold-blooded murderer, a cold-blooded serial killer with super powers! It’s easier to mold myself into that shape of a character with the mask on and the whole getup.
This movie definitely wears its influence on its sleeve, both in horror and super hero vibes. It makes no delusions to being influenced by the Superman mythology. You said you looked into horror, but did you look into any Superman stories for inspiration?
Yeah. I definitely think there are hints of Man of Steel, Superman, those types of characters. But I did want to keep it different from those, keep it leaning more towards horror elements. I wanted to distinguish Brandon from a regular supervillain, make him more demonic, more possessed.
The movie ends with teases of new super villains based on Wonder Woman and Aquaman, maybe even Martian Manhunter. Are there any actors you’d like to see in those roles, who you’d maybe like to share the screen with and fight or by uneasy allies with?
The thing is, when I was cast in the role, I wasn’t a name that would have been said in terms of “Oh yeah, he can play it.” I was someone who was found for this role. I got a lot of my come up through this role. So I’d like to see more up and coming actors embraced with this universe, if we were to continue with that.
Thank you so much for your time, I, and a lot of people, can’t wait to see what you do next. Do you want to tease or shout out any projects coming up?
Um, nothing I can talk about right now!
Fair enough!
Brightburn is out on Digital now, and hits Blu-ray on August 20.