Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane, like many iterations before hers, won’t play it safe when it comes to fighting for justice — and that’s exactly how she likes it.
“It’s been so much fun to embody somebody who will quite literally go to the ends of the earth for the things she believes in,” Brosnahan, 34, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, April 30, at the Global Citizen Now Summit. “Yeah, she’s nuts. She’s probably braver than I am. She’ll do just about anything for a great story.”
Brosnahan stars opposite David Corenswet’s titular character in James Gunn’s upcoming Superman reboot, which releases in theaters on July 11. Gunn said on Instagram last month that their “special chemistry” is what brings the movie together.
“What I love about their relationship is that they’re both in relentless pursuit of truth and justice,” Brosnahan told Us. “They just often have totally opposite ways of approaching that goal.”
While Brosnahan might not be dating a world-saving Kryptonian in real life, she’s found her own way to fight for justice on a global scale. The Hollywood star has spent the better part of a decade working with Global Citizen, an international advocacy organization fighting to end extreme poverty.
In 2019, Brosnahan traveled to northern Peru during the height of the Venezuelan migrant crisis to meet with migrants and their families crossing the border — a life-changing experience that she said deepened her “resolve” to use her platform to spread awareness.
“I was profoundly moved by a lady that I met who was pregnant and had been walking for days to arrive to Peru, ” Brosnahan recalled. “She had two young children with her. I’m literally getting the chills talking about it, but her courage and resolve to find and start a better life for her children was so moving and has stuck with me ever since.”
Since then, she has joined the ranks of other celebrities like Hugh Jackman, Bill Nye and Lisa Koshy in Global Citizen’s mission to fight for a better tomorrow.
“Everybody has a platform, sometimes it just takes a couple of leaders to show the way,” Koshy told Us. “Hugh Jackman showed me that it’s not just his work that he’s going to shine a light on, but he’s been given this platform to shine a light on others too.”
To those who might not believe celebrities should become involved with advocacy and social causes, Brosnahan said she understands “that feeling and impulse,” but doubled down that when actors “listen to or rely on experts,” they can make a significant force for good.
“We’re storytellers — and we can help bring a sense of humanity to the data that can so easily feel impersonal as we read it online,” Brosnahan said. “I feel like anybody who has a platform has the ability to use it and should… We’re all going to be imperfect in that pursuit, but it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do it anyway.”
To further aid that pursuit, Global Citizen unveiled a slate of new initiatives this week, including its first-ever impact concert headlined by Brazilian stars Anitta and Seu Jorge to protect the Amazon rainforest; a partnership with Bedrock to support innovation efforts in Detroit; and the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which aims to raise $100 million by the 2026 World Cup Final to expand access to classrooms and soccer fields for kids around the globe.
“To anyone who says artists or celebrities can’t make a difference, that’s absolute rubbish,” Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans told Us. “What we’ve seen consistently is that when an artist leans in, and is consistent over a long period of time, they can change the world.”