Kristen Bell: I stick to workouts

Kristen Bell: I stick to workouts

Kristen Bell slimmed down by simply 'getting off her butt'.

The actress and her fiancé Dax Shepard welcomed their daughter Lincoln into the world in March, but the pretty blonde already looks svelte and gorgeous three months on.

Hosting the CMT Music Awards earlier this month, Kristen looked fabulous in a tight leather Zuhair Murad dress and the star let fans in on how she got her body back.

'I got off my butt and got to the gym,' she laughed to USA Today.

'I really have no secret, I started working out when the doctor told me that I could and I kind of put the pedal to the metal.'

Along with regular workouts, Kristen stuck to a healthy diet.

The 32-year-old made sure not to go over the top and simply upped her intake of fruit and vegetables while cutting back on dessert.

'I'm not doing anything unhealthy and I never would. But I'm trying to eat clean and keep everything on track as best as possible,' she explained.

Not content with showing off her figure in just one dress at the CMTs, the star changed her outfit four times throughout the show.

Her leather frock was followed by a floor-length black gown with cut-out detail, a flashy gold-and-silver mini-dress and a glamorous number with an encrusted bodice and flowing skirt.

'Those four quick changes caused some sweat,' she joked.

'I'm sure I dropped a little bit [of weight] during the show.'

Irina Shayk ‘scared of stalker’

Irina Shayk is allegedly asking for a restraining order against a man who has been stalking her.

The Russian model has reportedly filed paperwork about the obsessed fan with police on two occasions. It is claimed the man has been lurking around the 27-year-old star's home in West Village, New York City, and even managed to get into the apartment.

According to New York Post, police have confirmed the story. It is alleged the unnamed man has been seen on CCTV footage taken from the building and has also been sending Irina presents, including flowers, over the last two years.

He reportedly broke into the model's home when it was being worked on after it was flooded during Superstorm Sandy last year.

'She returned to find the intruder in the apartment but managed to run out and call 911. When cops arrived, the man had already left. Shayk filed a complaint, but no arrests were made,' reports the publication.

On Sunday the apparent stalker returned to the apartment block, so Irina again filed paperwork with police and is now said to be trying to get a restraining order.

According to the publication, the star was later heard discussing the incident with a friend while she was out shopping. She was apparently heard saying she was 'super freaked out'.

'She was going up and down the aisles, telling a friend she has a stalker [who showed up at her apartment again] and how scared she is,' an onlooker claimed. 'She wasn’t whispering. I’d never met her before, but I wanted to pull her aside to tell her that the middle of a packed store was [not the place] to talk about that subject matter.'

Irina's representative hasn't commented on the report.

Katy Perry: I’ve toned down my look

Katy Perry describes her make-up experiments as more 'age appropriate' these days.

The popstar is known for wearing super bright colours on her face and for sporting hot pink and blue hair.

Katy still likes to mix things up with her beauty look, but feels she's grown out of the wacky phase.

'We still like to do dramatic make-up but I think we are in the more age appropriate era of experimenting,' Katy laughed in a behind-the-scenes video from her American Vogue cover shoot.

'My skin used to be a lot worse than it is [now] so we would do a lot more coverage because I was insecure about my skin and when you’re insecure about your skin, you just do a lot more.'

The singer first started to experiment with her hair colour in her teens. The 28-year-old shared how her failed attempt at channelling Madonna resulted in her first introduction to her now trademark black locks.

'I've been dyeing my hair black since I was 15,' she explained. 'The whole reason was because when I was 15 I chopped it all off and had it bleached like Madonna in Who's That Girl, it didn't look right! So I bought a box of black hair dye and never went back.'

The stunning star named which of her features she likes the best. If her brows and eye make-up is perfect she feels confident, but doesn't really rate the rest of her facial attributes.

'My brows and my eyes, I think, are what frame my face… If I can get my brows and my eyes right, that really sets the whole face,' she shared. 'I have all right lips and all right cheekbones but they're no like, show offs.'

Katy Perry’s Madonna disaster

Katy Perry’s Madonna disaster

Katy Perry dyed her hair black after an attempt to bleach her locks like Madonna went wrong.
The 'Firework' singer has been dying her hair black since she was 15 and Katy - who is naturally blonde - admitted she only turned to the darker hue after a bleaching disaster.
Speaking in a video to promote her July Vogue cover, she said: 'I've been dying my hair black since I was 15. The whole reason I dye it is that I was 15 and I chopped it all off. I had it bleached blonde like Madonna and it didn't look right so I bought a box of hair dye and dyed it all black and never looked back.'
Katy also admitted she is insecure about certain aspects of her looks.
She said: 'My brows and my eyes, I think, are what frame my whole face. I have all right lips and all right cheekbones, but they're no showoffs. If I get my brows and my eyes right, that really sets the whole face.
'My skin used to insecure about my skin.

Taylor Swift Tries the Bandage Dress Look…Nails It!

She's been experimenting with a variety of naughtier looks lately, but perennial good-girl Taylor Swift finally nailed the perfect mix of classy/sexy Sunday when she rocked a striking Herve Leger dress at the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto.

Swift, who took home the Favorite International Artist trophy of the night, showed off her toned curves in the tight-fitting gown — resulting in a distinctly mature but still perfectly respectable look. Caged sandals added yet another bit of super-stylish edge to the ensemble.

Donning Herve Leger may be nothing new for most starlets (fellow country babes who've tried the designer's signature bandage gown are Miranda Lambert — who sported one on her Four The Record album cover — and Kellie Pickler). However, it's definitely a new look for Swift, whose overriding aesthetic has always been soft and romantic rather than cutting-edge.

In fact, just a few days earlier, she showed off her signature style at the Fragrance Foundation Awards in New York, choosing a typical-for-her ethereal gown with sheer panels.

While we'll always love the ultra-girly Swift, even traditionalists have to admit the superstar looked fantastic all "bandaged" up!

Speaking of bandages: Swift is currently on her Red tour with buddy Ed Sheeran, and both have been sharing crazy stories from the road--including one in which she nearly was stabbed by a sword the redheaded singer brought along on a plane.

Apparently, Sheeran received the sword from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. He inadvertently left it on a table during a flight to Nashville, with near-disastrous results. "The plane is kind of taking off and [the sword] started sliding down and I was like, 'No!'" he told MTV. "It was just about to impale Taylor."

Girl Meets World Picked Up By Disney Channel

"Girl Meets World" has been picked up!

The highly-anticipated spinoff to the '90s series "Boy Meets World" has been ordered by Disney Channel, the network announced on Monday.

Production on the show - which will feature Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel reprising their "BMW" roles as Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence (now married parents) - will begin this summer.

PHOTOS: 'Boy Meets World' Beauty Danielle Fishel

"'Boy Meets World' and its story of adolescent self-discovery resonated with an entire generation of tweens," Adam Bonnett, Executive Vice President, Original Programming, Disney ChannelsWorldwide, said in a statement. "In the same way audiences fell in love with Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence, we look forward to introducing our viewers to their daughter Riley Matthews in 'Girl Meets World' and building a memorable connection with a whole new generation of fans."

Set in New York City, the new comedy series aims to stay true to the funny, heartfelt tone of "Boy Meets World" -- only this time, the stories will be told from Cory and Topanga's tween daughter's perspective as she navigates Junior High.

PHOTO: See Cory & Topanga's 'Girl Meets World' Wedding Rings

Rowan Blanchard will star as the couple's curious and bright 7th grade daughter, Riley Matthews; the show will also feature Sabrina Carpenter as Riley's quick-witted pal Maya.

Riley and Maya's plans for a carefree year will be slightly modified under the watchful eyes of Cory, who's also a faculty member at their school (and their new History teacher) and Topanga, who owns a trendy afterschool hangout that specializes in pudding.

Kristen Stewart Has a Hoot at Hooters

Maybe she was just craving some wings!

"The Twilight Saga" star Kristen Stewart hit Hooters in Amarillo, Texas, Saturday night for a low-key meal.

Of course, the newly single starlet tried to keep a low-profile but, let's be honest, she wasn't about to go unnoticed. Still, we have to give her props for all the uncharacteristically smiley photos she took with fans – and Hooters girls, natch – throughout the night.

KStew and a young fan (Twitter)KStew rocked a white tank top and seemed to belaughing to herself as the ladies in short orange shorts said "cheese." In another pic, the 23-year-old is posing with her arm sweetly wrapped around a young fan.

According to one woman on Twitter who claimed to see the star, Stewart was visiting the Texas town to see Cadillac Ranch, a public art installation that features old Cadillac cars.

Despite her recent breakup, Stewart has plenty to smile about. The actress recently signed on to two new movies, "Camp X-Ray" and "Sils Maria," in which she'll play an assistant to Juliette Binoche's lead character.

UK report: Saatchi cautioned over assault on wife

Art collector Charles Saatchi has been cautioned over a dramatic assault on his TV presenter wife Nigella Lawsoncaptured by a tabloid photographer just outside a fancy Londonrestaurant.

The Daily Mirror said late Monday that Saatchi, 70, had accepted the official warning after a five-hour grilling over dramatic photographs published in its sister paper, the Sunday People, which showed him grasping Lawson's throat. The tabloid published photographs of what it said showed Saatchi taking a cab back from a London police station.

Under British law, a caution is a formal warning given to someone who admits a minor offense. It carries no penalty, but it can be used as evidence of bad character if a person is later prosecuted for a different crime.

When asked about Saatchi, London's Metropolitan Police said that a 70-year-old man had been cautioned for assault after voluntarily attending a police station following an investigation into the pictures published by the Sunday People.

The force didn't mention Saatchi by name — authorities in Britain rarely identify suspects who haven't been charged — but such statements are routinely understood as confirmation of media reports.

Contact information for Saatchi couldn't immediately be located, but the collector had earlier told the London Evening Standard newspaper that the photos misrepresented a "playful tiff."

Saatchi, an Evening Standard columnist, said "the pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place."

"About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point," he was quoted as saying. "There was no grip, it was a playful tiff."

The 70-year-old Saatchi also told the paper the couple "had made up by the time we were home.

"The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."

Lawson's spokesman, Mark Hutchinson, confirmed that she and her children had left the family home but declined to comment further.

Saatchi and Lawson married in 2003 and live in London with Lawson's son and daughter from her marriage to journalist John Diamond, who died of cancer in 2001, and Saatchi's daughter from a previous marriage.

Lawson, 53, gained fame with her 1998 best-seller "How To Eat" and subsequent "How to Be a Domestic Goddess" (2000) and is one of Britain's best-known cookbook writers, as well as the host of foodie TV shows including "Nigella Bites" and ABC's cooking program "The Taste."

A former journalist who attended Oxford University, she served as deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times and subsequently wrote for numerous other newspapers and magazines.

Lawson is also one of the few British food personalities to have had real success in the United States, both on television and with her cookbooks. She has often made the point that she is not a trained chef, but is simply showing people what they can do in their own kitchens. She is known for her sensual style on television, once calling her shows "gastroporn."

Lawson is also known for her refreshing frankness. In January of this year, she made news for insisting that her belly not be airbrushed out of promotional photos of her for her show, "The Taste," on ABC.

"That tum is the truth and is come by honestly, as my granny would have said," she wrote in a blog post.

Saatchi, co-founder of the Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency, owns one of London's biggest private art galleries. He was the main patron of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s, which made household names of artists including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

You’ll Never Believe How Normal Lady Gaga Looks in This Photo

You’ll Never Believe How Normal Lady Gaga Looks in This Photo

           

                         

Lady Gaga, is that you?

The songstress was photographed in East Hampton, New York, last week looking, well, normal.

Gaga wore a fitted black dress and black pumps as she made a Starbucks run and popped in to do some shopping at the boutique Intermix. With her platinum blond hair down, the 27-year-old looked quite chic and almost unrecognizable.

Lady Gaga is known for her eccentric style on and off the stage (remember the infamous meat dress she wore to the Video Music Awards?), so we must admit it's refreshing to see the "Just Dance" singer looking like a normal 20something girl.

Mother Monster was likely in town to hang with boyfriend Taylor Kinney, who is filming "The Other Woman" in the Hamptons alongside Cameron Diaz, Kate Upton, and Leslie Mann.

The weekend prior, the singer acted as a bridesmaid in BFF Bo O'Connor's wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Gaga also displayed a makeunder for the nuptials, wearing minimal makeup and a simple gown for the ceremony.

Could "normal" be Lady Gaga's new schtick?

Her fourth studio album, "Artpop," is scheduled for release later this year, and she will also make her feature film debut on July 31 when "Machete Kills" hits theaters.

Somehow, we don’t think the simple look is here to stay for Gaga … although it would be her most shocking wardrobe phase to date.

Miss Connecticut wins Miss USA contest in Vegas

A 25-year-old accountant from Connecticut with a secret glamorous side is the new Miss USA.

Erin Brady of South Glastonbury, Conn., won the beauty pageant Sunday night after strutting in a white sparkly gown and answering a question about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding widespread DNA tests.

She beat out 51 other beauty queens every U.S. state and Washington D.C.at the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip to take the title from outgoing champion Miss Maryland Nana Meriwether.

Asked if she agreed with the decision to swab the cheeks of arrestees, Brady said she did, since they had committed crimes after all.

As Brady was crowned, she could be seen mouthing "Oh my God, oh my God" with tears in her eyes.

As the stage emptied, the blonde woman spoke about her commitment to fighting drug and alcohol abuse, which have marked those close to her.

"I grew up in a family influenced by that and I think it's really important to help the children of families that are suffering from those problems," she told The Associated Press.

As Miss USA, Brady gets the crown and a New York apartment for one year. She is expected to spend her title reign on a nationwide speaking tour and raising breast and ovarian cancer awareness, the organization's official cause.

The Central Connecticut State University fiance major could not contain her excitement at the prospect of telling her bosses at Prudential Financial she wasn't coming in tomorrow. Or ever again.

Asked what she was looking forward to now that the competition is over, she described a routine that sounded not very different from her training regime: getting in her beauty sleep and hitting the gym.

Her father Francis said he always knew his math-oriented daughter was a glamour girl. She and her sisters used to strut around and pretend they were beauty queens.

"They would model around the pool," he said.

Her sister Audrey, 20, said with tears in her eyes that her grandmother would orchestrate the shows.

"She'd be like, 'prance around the pool like Miss America.'"

The family was taken by surprise when Brady announced that she would be entering the Miss Connecticut competition two years ago, but cheered her on.

"She just went up there on a whim, man. But it was like, 'Just go for it. There should be more people like you who are competing, where it's not all about the hair and the makeup, but personality too,'" Audrey said.

Fiancee Tony Capasso said it was her winning personality that propelled her to the crown. He said he advised her to compete without makeup.

Brady told The Associated Press she hopes that her background will help dispel the image held by some of the bimbo beauty queen.

"I think that now more than ever, they're accepting that we're all intelligent individuals and that it's really not a stereotype anymore," she said.

Unlike the rival Miss America pageant, Miss USA doesn't ask its queens to perform a talent or choose a charity mission.

Brady will represent the United States at the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow this winter.

Last year's Miss USA, Olivia Culpo, won that international crown, becoming the first Miss USA to ascend to Miss Universe in 16 years.

Brady said she is determined to pull of that feat for the U.S. again.

In the moments before she won, Brady held hands with first runner up Mary Margaret McCord, of Alabama. McCord could be seen saying, "I love you" in the moments before the winner was announced. Miss Illinois Stacie Juris was second runner up.

Two of the six judges' questions on Sunday touched on the controversial data-collection programs run by the National Security Agency brought to light earlier this month.

In both cases, the queens took an unconcerned attitude. Miss South Carolina said the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden who leaked the information should not be charged with treason. Miss Alabama said the programs did not bother her.

Brady also took a sanguine attitude in her answer about check swabs.

"If someone is being prosecuted and committed a crime, its should happen. There are so many crimes that if that's one step closer to stopping them, than we should be able to do so," she said.

Tony Awards spur box offices on Broadway

here were smiles at many Broadway box offices last week as a big financial bounce followed the Tony Awards, with the biggest winners being "Pippin," ''Matilda the Musical" and "Motown the Musical."

Data from The Broadway League on Monday indicates exposure and statuettes on the June 9 telecast helped many shows have their most profitable weeks ever and break some individual theater records.

"Kinky Boots," crowned with the best musical Tony, scored $62,775 more than the previous week to land at an eye-popping $1,474,349. "Motown the Musical" had its best week ever with $1,441,448 and set a new box office record at The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

The hit-studded show, which didn't win a Tony but got valuable screen time with a great Michael Jackson medley, has grossed over $1 million every week since previews began March 11.

The circus-themed revival of "Pippin" made over $1 million for the first time after winning four awards, including best revival, best direction, best leading actress and best featured actress in a musical. It went from $931,349 in the week before the Tonys to $1,009,392 last week.

"Matilda the Musical," which lost the best musical Tony to "Kinky Boots," broke the house record at the Shubert Theatre en route to earning $1,184,104 over its eight performances ending Sunday. "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" got a decent $171,107 boost to end at $1,059,352. Bette Midler's show, "I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers," took in $854,203 without a single Tony win.

Virtually every show increased its box-office take, except for "Macbeth" and "Ann" and the existing Tony winners "Once," ''The Book of Mormon" and "Jersey Boys," though their losses were relatively small. "Wicked" pulled in a tremendous $1,849,045 while "The Book of Mormon" made $1,721,966 and "The Lion King" won the overall crown with $1,951,428.

As for plays, standing-room-only "Lucky Guy" with Tom Hanks made $6,000 more to earn $1,367,394 — thanks in part to the top ticket going for $348 — and best play winner "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" got a $101,25 boost to end at $654,304 — or 85 percent of the show's potential take.

There were a total of 11 Broadway shows of the 26 playing last week that earned over $1 million and the average ticket went for $108.

The Tony telecast itself earned a 20 percent bump this year. Neil Patrick Harris, who announced he will return to act on Broadway in the spring, returned as host and helped viewership jump to 7.24 million people.

Hollywood Actress, Angelina Jolie,Removes Both Her Breasts (mastectomy) to avoid cancer

Hollywood Actress, Angelina Jolie,Removes Both Her Breasts (mastectomy) to avoid cancer

Angelina Jolie says she underwent a preventive double mastectomy earlier this year after learning she carries a gene that increases her risk of developing bréast cancer and ovarian cancer.

In a New York Times op-ed published late Monday, the 37-year-old Academy Award winner writes that after genetic testing she learned she carries the "faulty" BRCA1 gene. 

 The risk of developing cancer due to the gene varies, but Jolie says doctors estimated she had an 87 percent risk of bréast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. 

Jolie, whose mother died from cancer, says she decided to have the preventive mastectomy to be "proactive" for the sake of her six children with her partner, Brad Pitt.

"My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56," Jolie writes. "She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was."

She said she has kept the process private so far, but wrote about with hopes of helping other women.

"I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy," she writes. "But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing bréast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to bréast cancer."

She is anything but private in the details she provides, giving a step-by-step description of the procedures. She writes that between early February and late April she completed three months of surgical procedures to remove both bréasts.

"My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a `nipple delay,"' she writes, "which rules out disease in the bréast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area."

She then describes the major surgery two weeks later where bréast tissue was removed, saying it felt "like a scene out of a science-fiction film," then writes that nine weeks later she had a third surgery to reconstruct the bréasts and receive implants."

Many women have chosen preventive mastectomy since genetic screening for bréast cancer was developed, but the move and public announcement is unprecedented from a star so young and widely known as Jolie.

She briefly addresses the effects of the surgery on the idealized séxuality and iconic womanhood that have fueled her fame.

"I do not feel any less of a woman," Jolie writes. "I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."

She also wrote that Brad Pitt, her partner of eight years, was at the Pink Lotus Bréast Center in Southern California for "every minute of the surgeries."

Jolie, daughter of Hollywood luminary Jon Voight, has appeared in dozens of films including 2010's "The Tourist" and "Salt," the "Tomb Raider" films, and 1999's "Girl, Interrupted," for which she won an Academy Award.

But she has appeared more often in the news in recent years for her power coupling with Pitt and her charitable work with refugees as a United Nations ambassador.

Paris Jackson HATES Justin Bieber, Says He Sucks as Role Model

Paris Jackson HATES Justin Bieber, Says He Sucks as Role Model

Paris Jackson is not a fan of Justin Bieber, and we're not just talking about "Beauty and a Beat." She says he's a terrible role model for his young fans.

Michael Jackson's troubled daughter totally HATES the Biebs, according to reports, because he wouldn't speak up about teen girls cutting themselves.

Currently at UCLA Medical Center after cutting herself with a meat cleaver and OD'ing on 20 Motrin, Paris resents that Justin won't do more for young girls.

Justin's female fans often tweet about cutting themselves as a display of love for him, and rather than trying to talk them out of it ... crickets from JB.

Paris was also less than impressed by pics and video of Justin Bieber smoking weed in a hotel and thinks he's a "disgrace" who sets a bad example.

And last but not least, she lives in his Calabasas gated community and joins the growing chorus of celebs fed up with his dangerous driving actions.

She's not the first to play the role model card in criticizing Justin. Ian Somerhalder called him out last month over his monkey. So we gotta ask, THGers:

Is Justin Bieber a good role model?

Kim Kardashian gives birth to baby girl: reports

LOS ANGELES: Reality television star Kim Kardashian gave birth to a baby girl on Saturday, her first child with rapper boyfriend Kanye West, news reports said.

Kardashian, 32, was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, the entertainment news website TMZ.com reported.

The website said West was present at the birth and had cancelled an event to promote his new album late Friday after Kardashian had complained of feeling a "little off."

US Magazine quoted a hospital source as saying the Kardashian and her daughter were "doing great and amazing!".

"Kim had her baby," the source was quoted as saying. "She's five weeks early. Kim got sick last night and had the baby early."

Dark 'Man of Steel' groomed to reboot Superman film franchise

But director Zack Snyder, who is best known for 2007 action film "300" and 2009 superhero flick "Watchmen," told Reuters that it was a delicate balance staying faithful to Superman's story without retreading earlier film and television versions.

"I think a mistake would be to consciously ask, 'What mistakes have they done in the past?' That type of reactive approach - that's going to end in disaster," Snyder, 47, said.

"The way we looked at it was like, 'Let's say we just found these comic books under our bed and this character, Superman, seems pretty cool to make a movie about,'" he added.

The Superman comic, which artist Joe Shuster and writer Jerry Siegel debuted in 1938, has been brought to the big and small screen about a dozen times, most notably in the four-film series starring Christopher Reeve from 1978 to 1987.

"Man of Steel" tells the origin story of the DC Comics superhero, played by British actor Henry Cavill, setting up the film as a springboard to reboot a franchise that failed to take off in 2006 with director Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns.

Studio Warner Bros. enlisted director Christopher Nolan - whose three Batman films grossed more than $2 billion worldwide between 2005 and 2012, according to box-office tracker Boxofficemojo.com - as a producer and story writer to help shepherd the film along.

"He treated me probably how he would want to be treated," Snyder said of Nolan. "If I had a problem he was there to say, 'What's going on? What about this?' offering advice and counsel whenever I needed it."

ALL-AMERICAN ALIEN

"Man of Steel" begins with Superman's birth as Kal-El on the planet Krypton. As the last hope for his society's survival amid an insurrection, his parents send him to Earth where he is raised as Clark Kent in Smallville, Kansas.

By framing "Man of Steel" as a coming-of-age story, Snyder is also able to tap the science-fiction unique to Superman that other superhero stories, like Batman, do not have.

"He's able to look at humanity objectively because he's not human, and that element combined with the sci-fi school made me really go after that aspect of it as hard as I could," he sal elaid.

The film documents the young life of Clark Kent from bullied and sensitive schoolboy to itinerant loner endowed with otherworldly strength, laying the groundwork for a consistent, relatable Superman that Snyder said he wanted in the character.

"We didn't have to have this crazy transformation go on when he became Clark Kent," he said. "He's not even aware of it ... I feel like in a weird way, he's also easier to hook onto because he's coming from the same point of view all the time."

Snyder also said he leaned on Clark Kent's all-American values and farm-boy upbringing by Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) when it came time for Superman to emerge to save the planet from Kryptonian warlord General Zod.

"He's like a first-responder. ... He's a volunteer in a lot of ways, and I think that because he's that ultimate, selfless character, you end up (with) a personality type that goes along with that," Snyder said.

"I think as soon as you start to work on him it's going to be muddy and weird," Snyder said about his reluctance to modify Superman from his comic book origins. "There's a pure thing inside of the Superman character."

"Man of Steel" also stars Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as General Zod.

Warner Bros. is part of Time Warner Inc.