Screamfest: 'Ick' helped Brandon Routh make peace with career path

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Brandon Routh said his new movie, Ick, which screened at Screamfest on Tuesday, helped him put his career in context.

Routh plays Hank Wallace, a high school quarterback with dreams of the NFL who becomes a science teacher after an injury and suffering from alcoholism. Routh said he saw parallels between Hank's circumstances and his acting career.

"The career may not be what I thought it was," Routh told UPI on the red carpet in Hollywood. "I was young, and all kinds of life happens."

Routh alluded to his 2006 role as Superman. He never got to make a sequel to Superman Returns , though did reprise the role in a CW crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths .

Though Routh had roles in more comic book movies like Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World and Dylan Dog: Dead of Night , and a lead role on DC's Legends of Tomorrow , he said he related to Hank's unfulfilled expectations.

"I had to go through my own learning about myself like Hank does in the movie to realize that I had a little more work to do," Routh said. "I had to go back and do a little homework."

Routh said having a 12-year-old son has also taught him perspective.

"Being a father makes a big difference in understanding past patterns as a kid," Routh said, adding that fatherhood teaches him "about being a better human all the time and more gracious."

In Ick , Hank becomes the voice of reason when he notices the town's indigenous substance, Ick, has become dangerous. Ick grows in the ground and overtakes town structures.

When most of the adults decide to ignore the Ick, Hanks takes it upon himself to rescue his students. He said he enjoyed playing Hank's reluctant heroism, as opposed to Superman's unquestioning heroics.

"That naivete he has of maybe things can change -- that's exciting for characters if you can give them an opportunity to have growth," Routh said.

Ick director Joseph Kahn said he felt Hollywood failed to capitalize on Routh's range and charm. Kahn also shared that sentiment for co-star Mena Suvari, who plays Hank's high school sweetheart, Staci, and had early success with American Pie and American Beauty .

"Brandon and Mena have been completely disserviced by Hollywood in my opinion," Khan said. "She is truly someone who is just funny, charming, really fun to watch and can make you laugh on a dime."

As the students try to survive the Ick, the film's young cast found parallels between the horror concept and real life. Malina Weissman, who plays Staci's daughter, Grace, said Ick creates conflicts with her parents because Grace does not believe Ick is harmless as they say.

"I think the movie really resembles family and overcoming obstacles," Weissman said.

Grace's boyfriend, Dylan (Harrison Core), speaks up for social causes that are in the news today. However, Core said, Dylan reveals his true motivations are just to put down others.

"It's putting other people in the wrong so that way I get the advantage and then using that to make them feel worse about themselves," Core said. "He's always trying to get Grace to do what he wants her to do."

The Ick crisis also draws some of the young characters into action. Zeke Jones, who plays reclusive artist Griffin, said he could relate to Griffin keeping to himself.

"My character doesn't really talk a lot," Jones said. "He's pretty awkward, so he's not really too far off from me."

Grace's goth friend, Heather (Taia Sophia), takes the initiative in her relationship with Griffin. Sophia said this sets Heather apart from traditional loner goth characters.

"I'm a bit of an outsider at the school," Sophia said. "You see her come out of her shell and go after her love interest."

Ick is the first feature film for Diya Rao, who plays cheerleader Jazzlynn and said Ick pays homage to the movies and music to which her parents introduced her.

"This movie plays a lot into the tropes of early 2000s movies," Rao said. "Once, I was old enough to watch what I wanted to watch, I would go back to the things that they liked because that was all I really knew."

Weissman agreed that Ick features the current generation's perspective on parents' favorites.

"I think that our generation is taking so many things from back in the day and we're repurposing it," Weissman said.

Kahn said he wanted to make a movie about today's youth culture, and even emulated the speed of the TikTok videos his daughters like to watch.

"It's good that I have kids so I live it," Khan said. "I have a tween myself, so I see what she listens to. I see what she obsesses over."

Screamfest continues through Oct. 17 in Hollywood, Calif.