Following the Christopher Reeve string of films, Hollywood truly struggled to figure out how to relaunch Superman on the big screen, and as we learned with "Superman Returns," even the best intentions don’t always work out. We’ve previously explored some of the more well known iterations that never made it in front of cameras in our feature, 4 ‘Superman’ Movies That Never Took Flight, but it speaks to the long development process of some of these versions that this particular detail skipped our attention.
Back in 2002, a young writer named J.J. Abrams delivered a script for a retooled Superman origin story that involved the evil twin of Superman’s father, a fully intact Krypton, and Lex Luxor as a CIA agent obsessed with UFO phenomena who has potentially otherworldly origins himself. Brett Ratner was originally slated to direct, with Josh Hartnett reportedly offered $100 million for a trilogy of films, playing the lead role. However, casting couldn’t get firmed up, but it seems another actor was lined up.
During a conversation on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, "Magic Mike XXL" and "White Collar" star Matt Bomer says he would’ve been the Man Of Steel.
"Brett chose me for the project and then it all fell apart. It was a very lengthy process to get the role, I think it was over the course of three months because I went in in a cattle call. It sort of evolved from there," he said. "It was a month of, ‘Okay, looks like this is going to happen’. And then it slowly fell apart. I have zero regrets about that, I feel like I’ve gotten to do such a rich array of roles in so many different things. I haven’t been too locked in… I mean that’s a very iconic role to portray, to suddenly be that character in everyone’s minds forever."
More interestingly, Bomer says he screentested with Amy Adams (who would’ve played Lois Lane, and eleven years later, did just that in "Man Of Steel"), Brendan Fraser, and Paul Walker. He also notes that Abrams’ script was "light-hearted," and quite different in tone than the current Zack Snyder directed and David S. Goyer penned incarnation of the character.
But don’t feel too bad for Bomer. He wound up voicing the superhero in the animated "Superman Unbound" (trailer below) and is doing just fine career-wise, which is more than you can say about Brandon Routh. Listen to the full podcast below. [via Digital Spy]