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Scared of the Super-Suit? Jude Law Reveals Why He Rejected the Role of Superman

Jude Law talks about how he almost played Superman, but rejected the role for a set of reasons that were most strange!

By Max FarrowPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Like any other Hollywood blockbuster, our beloved superhero flicks have many cases in their production history of un-adapted stories, disagreements on the way to success and massive casting deals which never came to pass. Amongst these were Tom Cruise and John Krasinski, who came very close to playing Iron Man and Captain America respectively! However, on the promotional train for his upcoming movie Genius, Jude Law has described his own surreal scrape with superhero-stardom!

The Hollywood heart-throb sat down with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show and discussed how he almost played the grandfather of all superheroes, but ultimately didn't down to a set of reasons that were most strange!

Way before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, let alone DC’s Cinematic Universe, and Superman Returns, several new adaptations of Clark Kent and his alter-ego just couldn’t get off the ground in the early 2000s.

Indeed, it was in one of these many attempts where Jude Law came to be considered for the role; in the interview, he guesses that it was around 2004 when he first mulled over becoming the Man of Steel. However, it was his own reluctance that meant he never got soar in the red cape and boots...

It’s funny that he states his Englishness was a problem, since that didn’t stop Jersey-born Henry Cavill from later donning the tights, or the Welsh Christian Bale or English Tom Holland becoming Batman and Spider-Man respectively...but wait, there’s even more to this tale!

Clothes Maketh the Man

Jude Law recalls that he “...was always worried about the outfit,” and he recounted a funny anecdote where he even tried on the iconic costume!

"This director was very keen to meet and impress it upon me and I was actually out in California and he said, ‘look, you just have to try the suit on. The suit’s amazing, and we’ve revamped the suit,’ and I was like, ‘Ok, send the suit over...’
So I take the suit into the bathroom and I’m putting it on and then I look round, I’m in the mirror and suddenly…I’m Superman, right. I stood there and then I had this picture of me in that costume on posters all over the world and I was like…’No Way!’ and I unzipped it.
But I was Superman for two minutes. That’s enough."

DC’s Superman Woes

Law doesn’t state exactly which director it was who offered it to him. There are several people who it could have been, since it was in a troubled period of Superman’s movie history.

Forget the furor over Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, if you think that Warner Bros have fumbled with him in recent years, then you should check out their attempts in the early 2000’s!

Crazy times, eh?

Tim Burton, Kevin Smith and Nichols Cage’s Superman Lives (boy, did we dodge a bullet there!) had fallen through, and Warner Bros. began to put other projects in motion.

JJ Abrams penned a rebooted origin story for Supes entitled Superman: Flyby which sounded...ahem... similarly strange, involving a Kryptonian civil war and Lex Luthor as a conspiracy theorist rather than an evil, billionaire genius. Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) and McG (Terminator: Salvation) came on to direct at various stages, and Abrams even petitioned the execs to direct it himself.

But when McG dropped out at one point to direct Charlies Angels: Full Throttle, Warner Bros’ turned to Wolfgang Petersen to direct a Batman Vs Superman movie which never materialized (except for a cheeky reference in I Am Legend). Law and Colin Farrell (?!) were both wanted for either Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne in this abandoned movie.

That saucy little Easter egg.

Apparently, Jude Law was in consideration for all of these projects and was wanted by all of these directors! Instead, he passed on the role and we ended up with Bryan Singer directing Superman Returns and Christopher Nolan making Batman Begins...and we can only muse on what might have been...

Would He Have Been A Good Fit?

Road to Perdition (2002)

Ignore what the haters say, for Jude Law is more than just a pretty face! He's able to switch between quirky (A.I. Artificial Intelligence), action-comedy (Sherlock Holmes) and can muster up a steely and intimidating presence (Road to Perdition) with ease.

Having said that, it is hard to picture him in the role (as interesting as he could have been in it) and I can’t fault the attempts of both Henry Cavill or Brandon Routh, so perhaps history served us justly in the casting of Superman.

It’s also worth mentioning that this isn’t the only comic-book part that he was linked to! When Paul Greengrass was attached to the adaptation of Watchmen, he was in the running for Ozymandias!

Law says in the interview clip below that he’s too old for roles like this anymore, but as Colbert says reassuringly:

“...I can see a fair amount of your chest right now and I think you’re looking pretty good,”

Maybe there’s a space for Jude Law in Marvel and DC’s upcoming movies?

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About the Creator

Max Farrow

A fanatical film-watcher, hill-walker, aspiring author, freelance writer and biscuit connoisseur.

These articles first appeared on Movie Pilot between Jan 2016 and Dec 2017. Follow me on Twitter @Farrow91

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