EXCLUSIVE: Amy Jo Johnson Talks her Directorial Approach to Superman & Lois “Tried and True”

Last night, March 1, a brand new episode of Superman & Lois premiered on the CW. Entitled, “Tried and True”, the episode was directed by Felicity and Power Rangers star, Amy Jo Johnson.

The episode was Johnson’s first ever television directed episode and we got the chance to talk to her about it. Check out what she had to say below.

How did you come to direct the episode?

“About a year ago, I told my manager that I really want to start shooting television, because as a film director, it took years to get a film off the ground. I just love directing so much. So he set me up with a meeting with Warner Brothers, with a man named Chad Kennedy, who’s awesome. Who had watched Tammy’s Always Dying, which is the last feature I did, with Felicity Huffman. He really loved that. From there, Chad really pushed for me. Then I met with the CW and then I met with Todd Helbing. After watching the series and I probably watched first season, each episode, maybe four times. I got so into it. I didn’t even know if I had the job yet, but finally, after a lot of interviews and stuff, I got the part. I got the job in August.”

Do you think that was a little bit more nerve wracking than anything you’ve ever auditioned for on the acting world? Just waiting to be told that you got the directing gig.

“I don’t know if it was nerve wracking, but it was a lot of anticipation. I just kept sort of prepping on my own and watching the show. Fingers crossed that I would get one episode and I did. Then I was terrified. Like, oh god. Then I started reading the scripts as they were shooting them. I fell for all the same red herrings as the audience has fallen for in this new season. I went out and bought a bunch of Doomsday comic books. Then made the next jump into the Bizarro World comic books. I started trying to get on top of it. Then I’d read the next episode and I’d be like, oh no, wait, there is no Doomsday.”

All your prepping goes to waste.

“Yeah, it was okay though. It’s still sort of kept the juices flowing. It was kind of fun to read those comic books.”

You can read the rest of our interview below! What did everyone think of last night’s episode?

But you didn’t only get the Bizarro storyline. You also got other intense storylines. I feel like you were thrown not only the overall major storyline, but so many others that you had to incorporate and make sure they all were told in a way that the audience understood. When you read the script and saw you how much was going on in the episode, how did you find a way to balance all that?

“Well, first of all, I think Max Kronick and Patrick Barton Leahy wrote a really incredible script. When I read it, I felt so lucky. Cause I was like, wow, I get to dabble in every aspect of this show. I’m getting avalanche scenes, but then these like really juicy, dramatic scenes and some football. As you said, it’s really all over the place in a really cool way. It was written really well. It just really goes down to prep. Really breaking down the scripts, and the scenes and really finding my way with each aspect. Then having the guidance and support of all these incredible people with their jobs. Everybody really helped.”

How was it working with the show’s showrunner, Todd Helbing?

“Todd was really cool when I got the job. He knows I come from the Indie filmmaking world. He said, I would love for you to treat this episode like your own little feature. He goes, it’s probably a dangerous thing to say. I really took that to heart and really inspired me and made me just jump in two feet. I really just tried to go for it, with his guidance and with Greg Smith, the Producing Director’s guidance. I had a blast.”

Was there any particular scene in the episode that came out exactly how you pictured it to as you were prepping it?

“I would say that the opening, when I got the song, when I knew that they had the rights to the ‘Tried and True song’. Creating that whole sequence in the opening, especially that first shot. I sort of wanted it to be a oner that stitched to the whole outside. It was the most thrilling to map that out with Gord, the DP, and my first AD Bob, and go down there with my iPhone, filming what I saw in my head. Having Gord take that, and the lighting is so beautiful and the camera work, and having it executed so magically on the day when we shot it. Having the kitty cat that I picked to play in the scene, Dexter, nail it. The smart cat was so brilliant. It came out even better than I even hoped it could, that whole opening.”

Were you always planning to have the cat in there? Was that a last minute decision?

“Oh yeah. Oh no, no. I wanted that cat from the very top. It was in the script. The kitty cat was in the script. Oh yeah, everything. Pretty much everything is on the page first, and then we shoot the way I see it. Which may not always be the way that the writers saw it. I tried to really go from the page for sure. I think maybe there was like five cats sent over and that guy to me was just the cutest.”

He was super cute. He was really, really cute. So good pick.

“He was very good at his job too. He was amazing.”

Moving on to your human cast, what was it like working with them?

“Being a first time TV director, for sure I was a bit nervous at first. Although I’ve been on a gazillion TV sets cause my acting career was with mostly television. Innately, I kind of get it. As soon as we hit the ground shooting, it was like, okay. Yeah, I remember this. This feels good. They were just really just supportive. Bitsie [Tulloch] always would come with really great ideas to the set. I would just sort of trust her.

All these actors know the show way better than I do, and their characters. I’m just really there to sort of guide their performance, not change it in the least. It was such a prepared cast. There were no lazy actors on that set. I’ve worked with a lot of lazy actors, including myself and none of them were lazy. They all knew their lines. They all were so prepared.”

Emmanuelle Chriqui had an intense episode, what was it like working with her on those scenes?

“Emmanuelle brought it every single take, and she had so much emotional stuff to deal with. She just really, really dove in and brought it, and some fun stuff too.”

What about the rest of the cast?

“Inde [Navarrette], I just think is so super talented. I can’t wait to watch this girl’s career. She’s just going to, I don’t know. She’s something special.”

She’s fantastic.

“Yes, she’s so good. She’s so good. She’s so natural. She’s so naturally good.

Jordan [Elsass] and Alex [Garfin] were a dream too. They were great. I had a lot of fun with them. I would take a lot of time on their scenes. I don’t know exactly why. It wasn’t like something I planned on doing. But I ended up slowing down a bit more when I had all those scenes between Alex and Jordan. I thought they were just wonderful to work with.

Then Tyler, he’s just such a perfect Superman. Yes. He just really knows that character inside and out. From when he is Clark Kent. He has so many different sides of that character. He knows when to bring which side. It was really cool watching him work, even with the Bizarro stuff. He’s very, very, very talented. He’s good. He’s really good.”

Is there a chance we could see you again, directing an episode of Superman and Lois?

“Oh, I would love it. If they asked me I would come back in a heartbeat. It was such a great experience for me. I learned so much and the entire team was really great. I got to use storyboards and use a 100-foot crane. I got to work with the Effects Team, and just do stuff that was so out of my element. I’m an Indie Filmmaker. To get a feature off the ground, it takes two to three years. I love my experience doing TV. I’d like to do more because, not only do I love the show, but I love growing as a director as well. Having the opportunity to try different stuff, and to work with actors and just to do it. Keep the muscle.”

Well, for my final question for you today, what are you hoping fans get from your episode?

“Oh, I don’t know. I just hope fans enjoy it and love it. My favorite part is the opening sequence for sure.”

*This interview ha been edited for length and clarity