Casting What-Ifs: Actors Who Almost Played Superman
Casting the right performer in a role can make or break a movie. This is known. But have you ever been watching one of your favorite movies and wondered how it might have turned out if ofther actors had been cast in the roles?
Superman has appeared on the big screen eight times, from 1978's genre defining Superman: The Movie starring Christopher Reeve, to Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns with Brandon Routh, to Henry Cavill’s recent DCEU incarmation. But for every superhero movie that successfully makes it way to the big screen, there are countless others that get a certain distance into production before the project falls apart. There was Superman Reborn and Superman Lives in the '90s, Superman: Flyby and Wolfgang Petersen's Batman V Superman in the early '00s. Nicolas Cage was famously signed on for Tim Burton’s, Superman Lives and even did costume tests before the project was shut down.
With each project there are stories about the actors being considered for the iconic role. From the unlikely (Neil Diamond) to the “I can see that” (Matt Bomber) here’s a look at some of the actors considered to don the iconic cape over the years.
Robert Redford
Image: Getty Images
Robert Redford was on the shortlist lead role in Superman: The Movie. At the time, he was one of the most bankable leading men in Hollywood thanks to movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Great Gatsby, and Three Days of the Condor. He reportedly turned it down because the script wasn’t finished, and Christopher Reeve got the role. Redford eventually made his way into a superhero movie with his role as Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Christian Bale
Image: Getty Images
We all know Christian Bale for his iconic portrayal of Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy. But before the Oscar winning actor donned the cape and cowl he was being considered for the role of Superman. In 2003, director Wolfgang Petersen was developing a Batman Vs Superman movie. Peterson revealed in an MTV interview that Bale was one of the two actors he considered for the role. The movie was eventually scrapped, but it’s interesting to think about what Bale would’ve brought to the role and what that would’ve meant for Christopher Nolans’s Batman films.
Ashton Kutcher
Image: Getty
During a press junket for 2010 action rom/com Killers, Ashton Kutcher (That 70's Show) revealed that he auditioned for the role of Clark Kent/Superman for director, Brett Ratner for J.J. Abram’s Superman: Flyby (which never got made). He said he was stick thin at the time, looked “silly” in the costume and that his audition was opposite Keri Russell (The Americans) as Lois Lane.
Burt Reynolds
Image: Guy Webster
Burt Reynolds was another 70’s A-lister up for the lead in Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman. “Everyone said put Burt Reynolds in a Superman suit,” Richard Donner remembers. “Well, for a certain kind of movie where you want to camp it up, Burt Reynolds would have been wonderful” Donner said. Ultimately, Reynolds was deemed too recognisable and “not suitable” temperamentally speaking.
Daniel Cudmore
Image: Getty Images
Best known for his role in the X-Men films as Colossus, Daniel Cudmore has tried out for two Superman films that ended up casting other actors in the lead role. In an interview with Newsarama, Cudmore revealed that he had tried out for both Superman Returns and Man of Steel eventually losing out to Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill. Aside from his X-Men role, Cudmore has also had a presence in the Arrowverse playing the DC villain Jackhammer on Arrow and Gridlock on The Flash.
Will Smith
Image: Shutterstock
During 2008’s press junket for Hancock In 2008 Will Smith revealed he had been offered the role of Clark Kent in Superman Returns. He decided against it after playing Jim West in the widely panned Wild Wild West saying he didn’t believe he could play a traditionally white character again. Smith eventually joined the DCEU, as assassin Deadshot in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad.
Jude Law
Image: Getty
Jude Law was approached for a Batman Vs Superman movie by director, Brett Ratner, but was reportedly not into the idea of a long commitment to three movies without script approval over the sequels. Ratner ended up swapping franchises with X-Men director, Bryan Singer who got Superman off the ground with Brandon Routh in Superman Returns. Ratner moved over to Fox where he made X-Men: The Last Stand.
Sylvester Stallone
Image: MGM
Yes, you read that right. Sylvester Stallone. Riding high on the success of Rocky, producers considered offering the role of Superman to the actor. Rumor has it Marlon Brando, already signed to play Superman’s dad, Jor-El vetoed Sly for the role which eventually went to Christopher Reeve. So much for “Gotta Fly Now”.
Josh Hartnett
Image: Getty
Josh Hartnett was labeled the ‘next big thing’ in the early 2000’s after roles in Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down. The actor was reportedly offered the chance to play Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman (Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns) and turned them all down for fear of being typecast at a young age. Harnett revealed in a 2014 interview with Details magazine that he walked from a three-picture deal reportedly worth $100 million because, "I didn't want to be labeled as Superman for the rest of my career."
David Boreanaz
Image: Getty
Best known for his roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Bones, David Boreanaz has the dubious honor of being up for the role of Superman not once, but twice — losing out both times. Before it became Superman Returns, Boreanaz was up for the role in J.J. Abrams’ Superman: Flyby. He had to take a pass because of his schedule on Angel and the role later went to Brandon Routh. The actor was also considered for Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel losing the part to Henry Cavill. Boreanaz did end up voicing Hal Jordan a.k.a. Green Lantern in the well-received animated film Justice League: The New Frontier.
Warren Beatty
Image: Getty
Warren Beatty has a turned down a lot of films over the years — The Godfather, Boogie Nights, Kill Bill, and 1978’s Superman. In 2016 the A lister told MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast that he had an assistant go out and get him some long underwear. "I take off my pants and put on the long underwear and open the full-length mirror and I went to the telephone and I said, 'Look, just forget about Superman, it ain't going to happen.' And then the movie was terrific."
Joe Manganiello
Image: Getty
Henry Cavill was cast in Man of Steel, but Joe Manganiello was almost was the film's leading man. According to the actor his commitment to HBO’s True Blood prevented him from taking the role. Manganiello was later cast as Deathstroke in the DCEU and made a cameo in the Justice League post-credits scene.
Matthew Goode
Image: Getty
English actor Matthew Goode worked with director Zack Snyder on 2009's Watchmen adaptation. Goode was one of the actors the director reportedly tested for Man of Steel, and at one point there was a rumor that Snyder was going to rely heavily on CGI for scenes of Superman in costume. In the end, it reportedly came down to Goode and Henry Cavill, with the Immortals star ultimately getting the nod.
Jon Voight
Image: Getty Images
Oscar winner Jon Voight was one of 200 actors who went up for a part in the 1978 Superman – and was even the producer’s back-up if they couldn’t find their ideal candidate for the role. "Jon Voight had signed a deal to play Superman for a lot of money if we couldn't find anyone else," creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz recalls on the Superman DVD.
Zach Effron
Image: Shutterstock
Zach Efron was reportedly up for the role in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, but turned it down — on advice from Leonardo DiCaprio. According reports DiCaprio advised Efron against playing the Man of Steel because he thought the actor would get stuck being typecast for future roles.
D.J. Cotrona
Image: Getty
When Warner Bros. was working with director George Miller to bring Justice League: Mortal to the big-screen, D.J. Cotrona had been cast as Superman. In addition to Cotrona the film would have starred Armie Hammer as Batman, with Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Adam Brody as The Flash, and Common as Green Lantern. The project was ultimately shelved as they were getting ready to film. However, Cotrona got another chance at joining the DCEU when he was cast as the grown-up superhero version of Pedro in Shazam! as part of the Shazam Family.
Matt Bomber
Image: Getty
Matt Bomer has a long history with Superman. Before he voiced the Man of Steel in the 2013 animated movie, Superman: Unbound, he had previously been linked with playing Superman in several of the live-action movies. The actor was cast in Brett Ratner’s 2002 Superman: Flyby, which fell apart when Ratner left the production. “I was in full tights,” Bomer told MTV in 2010, “I was rocking the tights, the Speedo, all of it.” Bomer then lost out to Brandon Routh when Bryan Singer finally made Superman Returns in 2006. The actor was also in the mix for Man of Steel before Henry Cavill landed the role.
Neil Diamond
Image: Getty
Neil Diamond as Superman?! Wait. What?!!! This sounds so bizaare, but producer Ilya Salkin revealed that singer Neil Diamond was up for the role before they settled on Christopher Reeve. Salkin had this to say at the Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con: "After meeting a lot of actors, such as Jon Voight – we even met Neil Diamond, don’t ask me why - I knew in my heart of hearts it had to be an unknown.
Brendan Fraser
Image: Universal
Brendan Fraser was being courted by J.J Abrams for Superman: Flyby (which was eventually scrapped in favor of Superman Returns). In a 2008 interview with MTV at New York Comic Con, The Mummy star revealed he'd even tried on the suit. "First they offered it to me, then they didn't offer it to me," he admitted with a laugh. "Everybody in town was up for this."
Nicolas Cage
Image: Warner Bros.
Tim Burton almost made a Superman movie. That’s right. It was titled Superman Lives before being eventually scrapped by Warner Bros. after months of pre-production including the creation of a prototype Superman suit. “The fact that Tim and I were pretty far down the road designing the film, and I know that with Tim, and where I was going to go, we would have done something really special,” Cage said. If you want more on the “what might have been” on this film check out the documentary, The Death of ‘Superman Lives.’
Zachary Levi
Image: Getty
Zachary Levi is no stranger to superhero movie roles. He played the adult superheroic version of Billy Batson in Shazam! and he also played Fandral, one of the Warriors Three, in the Thor sequels The Dark World and Ragnarok. Prior to playing these roles, though, Levi had been rumored to have auditioned for the role of Superman in 2010 and was also linked to playing The Flash and Green Lantern.
James Caan
Image: Getty
Legendary character actor James Caan was another actor on the shortlist to play Superman in the 1978 movie. He had become a big name in the '70s thanks to performances in The Godfather and Rollerball but reportedly turned down the chance to play the Man of Steel. Before Richard Donner came on-board as director, the script had a lighter tone, which Donner altered before filming began, but Caan balked at the tongue-in-cheek nature of the original script.
Henry Cavill
Image: Getty
Henry Cavill is currently wearing the iconic cape in the DCEU films, but the actor had an “almost" Superman experience earlier in his career, nearly playing Superman for director McG in J.J. Abrams, Superman: Flyby. The script was leaked out to a then-burgeoning online movie press and if you’ve never read it it was full of interesting ideas, like Lex Luthor as an alien.
