Abhiroop Das
Helmed by David Yarovesky, ‘Brightburn‘ flips the script on traditional superhero stories through its protagonist, Brandon Breyer, who is of extraterrestrial origin. After crash-landing in the woods as a baby, he is adopted by Kyle and Tori Breyer and blends seamlessly into human society for much of his childhood. On his twelfth birthday, however, Brandon discovers that he has supernatural abilities, and with that, Pandora’s box is opened. As he refines his craft in secret, his powers find increasingly sinister uses, with the darkness slowly consuming his mind. In charting Brandon’s downward spiral as a child who is too powerful for his own good, this horror sci-fi movie employs a number of visual elements in its storytelling approach. The town of Brightburn, where the entire story is set, encompasses all of these building blocks and functions as an analogous figure to track down the damage Brandon is doing to his loved ones’ lives.
Brightburn Likely References the Town Where Superman Grew Up
While Brightburn is a fictional town created by Brian and Mark Gunn, it serves as a lot more than just the backdrop to the story. Over time, Brandon’s identity as a supernatural force becomes synonymous with the town itself, and how each of its elements molded his psyche comes into question. Incidentally, Brightburn finds its closest parallel in another fictional town, named Smallville. Most famous as the childhood hometown of Superman, it was first established in 1949 and has since developed into a full-fledged location with a distinct geography and culture. Much like Brightburn, Smallville is popularly described as a small town or rural community in Kansas, which adds credence to this possible line of inspiration. The emphasis on the respective towns’ close-knit community and country landscapes also gives off a similar vibe, which is likely an intentional decision on the creators’ end.
Although there are numerous partial overlaps between Brightburn and Smallville, no direct connection exists between the two towns. As such, it is more likely that the writers of ‘Brightburn’ were only informed by the idea of Smallville and similar rural towns that are featured in superhero origin narratives. From there, they proceeded with an original take, charting the town’s descent into chaos due to the actions of its alien inhabitant. Writers Brian and Mark Gunn described their intentions with the setting as a subversion of genre conventions. They told Slash Film that “there’s a long tradition in comic books of superheroes who are found out in the woods and taken in by some parents and raised as if it were their own (…) We started to ask ourselves what would happen if this baby grew up to be something far more sinister.”
Brightburn Town Was Brought to Life in The Peach State
While Brightburn is described as a Kansas town in the narrative, the bulk of the movie was filmed in the state of Georgia. In particular, the crew set up camp in locations such as Newnan, Jonesboro, and Stockbridge, taking a chunk of their visual identity along the way. The film’s most prominent location, the Breyer residence, was filmed in a historic property in Newnan, situated at 2295 Poplar Road. Production designer Patrick M. Sullivan Jr. utilized the site’s lived-in aesthetic and added his personal touches to mimic a pastoral vibe, further making it geographically distinct. Similarly, Brightburn Eagles, the fictional local school, was filmed in the now-defunct Patrick Henry High School, located at 109 Saint Lee Street, in Stockbridge. Reportedly, the school has also served as the filming location for ‘Stranger Things,’ which speaks to its ability to perfectly capture a Midwestern aesthetic, in turn fitting the requirements of ‘Brightburn.’
Alongside filming on-site, the crew also put up numerous fictional signboards and even dressed up ambulances to make Brightburn as realistic a presence as possible. However, given that the town is specifically set in Kansas in the story, Georgia merely serves as a part of the movie’s visual canvas. Notably, Burns is also the name of a small farming and ranching community in Kansas, and might have inspired Brightburn’s unique name, alongside other similar regions in the state, such as the city of Burrton. However, given how closely that tile is connected to the other motifs of the story, it is more probable that it is a wholly original creation by the writing team and was designed with all of the thematic layers in mind.
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