Milly Alcock’s ‘punk rock’ Supergirl takes flight as DC bets big on the Woman of Tomorrow. The Australian actor stars as Supergirl in this summer's new DC Studios movie bearing her name.
A Vision Takes Shape
Not long after James Gunn and Peter Safran took the helm of DC Studios, they began discussing Supergirl. The Tom King comic series, “Supergirl: World of Tomorrow,” was a key inspiration, and Gunn had a vivid image in mind—though he didn’t yet know the actress. “He goes, ‘you know the young girl from ‘House of the Dragon’? The young queen or princess? That’s how I picture it, like a young punk rock girl who is just totally badass and tough,’” Safran told the Associated Press. “I was like, yeah, that sounds fantastic, and we haven’t seen that before.”
Milly Alcock, now 26, had just begun to break out playing Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in the “Game of Thrones” prequel when she received a request for a self-tape for the secretive Supergirl project. Alcock had been working in her native Australia since her teenage years, but her world was expanding rapidly.
The Screen Test
A few weeks later, she was summoned for her first-ever screen test. She boarded a 24-hour flight from Sydney to Atlanta and gave it her best shot. “I kind of had a feeling, I remember I like got back to my hotel room and I like sat down and I was like, ‘Oh, this is gonna, something’s gonna happen,’” Alcock said. “I just had like an intuition that like, this is going to be a very exciting challenge if it goes in my favor.”
Ten days later, Gunn texted her an article from Deadline: “‘Supergirl’: New Woman Of Steel Is ‘House Of The Dragon’s’ Milly Alcock.” No phone call, no context. All she could think was, “This is crazy, what have I done?” A few days later, she was back on that 24-hour flight to film her cameo in “Superman.”
Life in the Fast Lane
Since then, things have not slowed down. Shooting the film was a marathon of stunts, action, and emotion, and promoting the new DC film is proving to be a non-stop ride. When Alcock spoke to the AP earlier this month, she had just arrived in Las Vegas from Kyoto, where she was filming another movie, on just two hours of sleep. She had to muster the energy to hype “Supergirl” in front of thousands of movie theater owners. The film is set for release on June 26.
“It’s a really original and unique take on a superhero movie,” Safran said. “I think it’s just a great movie for audiences. It’s not just for superhero fans.”
A Badass Authenticity
The character may be less widely known than her famous cousin, but the response to her appearance in “Superman” was encouraging. “She’s in the ‘Superman’ movie for, you know, 12 seconds, yet one of the things audiences wanted to see ... more of was her,” Safran said. “And Millie in real life, she’s just that girl … she is authentically a badass.”
Part of the intrigue is that Supergirl is not the straightlaced Superman, who was raised by loving parents on Earth. Supergirl witnessed her planet’s destruction and the death of everyone she knew, forcing her to fend for herself. Directed by Craig Gillespie, known for “I, Tonya” and “Cruella,” the film follows a jaded Kara on an intergalactic odyssey with Krypto the Superdog and a young woman seeking revenge against the murderous Krem of the Yellow Hills.
“Kara surprisingly reminded me a lot of myself, which I never thought I would get from playing like a superhero, from playing someone who isn’t human. There’s a lot humility in her and that kind of made me fall in love with her immediately,” Alcock said. “Sometimes you can get swept up in what other people expect, and then you kind of lose your intrinsic you-ness. And that’s why people hire you in the first place, because of what you bring to something just innately being who you are.”
Adjusting to Fame
Alcock didn’t grow up a big film fan, but she found acting to be a lifeline and an outlet for emotions she struggled to express in real life. Recently, she has been living in London with a great group of non-actor friends. She is adjusting to the reality that her face will soon be everywhere. “It’s been kind of disorientating,” she said. “I do this job because it gives me the ability to disappear. So then to like suddenly be so visible and so exposed is a very vulnerable experience. I’m just trying to learn how to deal with that relationship. But I mean, it’s exciting. Of course it’s exciting. But like anything exciting, it’s also terrifying.”
While on the “Superman” set, she recalled a conversation with David Corenswet. “I remember him being like, ‘We’re gonna have action figures, isn’t that cool?’” she said. “And I was like, ‘That’s so weird. Why would someone have a toy of my face?’”
