What goes through her mind?

This might be a bit of a ramble, cos I don't really know what my point is, but...what can go through an actress' mind when she picks up a script and finds out she's playing a character that has superpowers?

My thinking always leans more towards proper costumed superheroines rather than the Buffy kind of supergirl, or at least characters with Kryptonian-style powers...and I know it would always depend on the individual, but would she find it embarassing or exciting? I can't believe it wouldn't have some sort of effect on her, that it's another role she can totally forget about it when she's spending the day flying around in a cape and tights...and surely she's got to start thinking 'what if this was real'?

How did Laura Vandervoort feel the first time her character used her superstrength? How did Teri Hatcher feel when she first put on the Ultrawoman outfit? How did Helen Slater feel when she first walked on the Supergirl set in costume? Did they worry about the reaction of friends and family, particularly to that scene where their character first uses her superstrength to save the day? Did they feel completely embarassed by the costume at first, only to gain confidence from wearing it by the end of shooting?

Does any of that make sense? :?

Yes, that's it exactly! Every woman would answer a little bit differently but you've finally asked the right question!!

Evelyn

I hope this makes a long discussion, it's one of the better questions here. There was a time when I looked at this forums and felt disappointed that there weren't really meaningful discussion about superheroines and superpowers in general. (btw this should be at the superwomen discussion)

Sorry if I might ramble a bit;

In a real sense superpowers are just special effects. You might hear like "I'm excited I get to fly, stop bullets with my chest, bend steel with my hands and throw guys and tanks around, yeah I'm excited." with a tingle of cheerfulness in the actress voice. But in a professional point of view it'll be boring. It'll be done in a computer and the actress will act in green field and in reality stopping thugs who has no chance against you won't be fulfilling.

When I saw the OP the first thing that came to my mind was "who will be the villain." The villain aside from family is the only meaningful interaction a superheroine will have, especially if the heroine in question hides her secret identity from everyone including those closest to her. And that interaction will be what makes a script. Think about it the villain will most likely have an idea what the superheroine is, her powers, strengths and weaknesses, her personality. Depending how this done will make the story.

In every story there should be sort of a foil, someone or something to struggle with. It isn't always a villain but its always a struggle.

Lets not delude ourselves an actress will not think "what if this is real?". An actress will think how she'll be "in character". Its quite a bit of a challenge and some might not be able to do it, dismissing it and results in a bad performance. I think Uma Thurman didn't make it in character for "My super ex-girlfriend" but Angelina Jolie did in Lara Croft, even though it isn't a superheroine movie it's an example of making a character work even if it wasn't there in the first place.

In one of her interviews Anjanette Abayari as Darna summarized it well as the hardest part of playing the role was "How do I kiss as Darna?"