Lois Lane actor Rachel Brosnahan learned she got the part from Superman director James Gunn in the most awkward way possible: "I'm in the bathroom, but I'm not about to miss this call"

Rachel Brosnahan was one of the earliest cast members announced for writer/director James Gunn's Superman reboot movie. And while she also found out she was cast fairly quickly after auditioning, she was in a rather uncomfortable place to receive such an important call: in the bathroom at the mall.

"I was in an Aritzia bathroom in SoHo looking at my phone and it said: 'Maybe: James Gunn'," Brosnahan says jokingly in a conversation with actor Amanda Seyfried for Interview Magazine. "Maybe James Gunn is calling me. I'm trying to get out of there before he realizes that I'm in a bathroom, but I'm not about to miss this call. I answered and he said, 'How would you like to be Lois Lane?'"

It's a charmingly human anecdote in an interview full of those kind of moments, and one that speaks to exactly why Gunn cast Brosnahan as Lois Lane, who often serves as Superman's brashly outspoken and fearlessly authentic connection to humanity.

That seems to be the same role Lois will occupy in the new Superman film, with trailers showing her unafraid to challenge Superman on his actions during an interview. For Brosnahan's part, she agrees with the assessment that Superman is something of an "everyman" hero, though she sees his place on Earth as more complicated than that.

"Totally. But he’s also an outsider," Brosnahan explains. "He loves people, but he’s an alien. He’s trying to fit in and walk among people and wants to be like them, but he also knows that he’ll never be quite like them, and that can be isolating. I feel like that’s part of why so many people see themselves in him."

Superman will hit theaters on July 11. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and shows for everything else the DCU has in store.