Brendan Fraser has said he missed out on playing Superman due to “studio politics”.
The actor, currently nominated for an Oscar for his role in The Whale, revealed he was a contender to play Superman in the early 2000s for a film penned by J.J. Abrams called Superman: Flyby.
“Everyone in town was reading for Superman,” Fraser told Variety. “Like, again, we’re testing I think six or seven guys in 2002/2003. Paul Walker, I remember Paul Walker was before me. They were like the usual suspects.”
Fraser said that the role would have been “a life-changing amazing opportunity,” but that he also “had to reconcile with, ‘OK, say you do get the job to be the Man of Steel, it’s gonna be chipped on your gravestone, are you okay with that? I mean, forever more known as the Man of Steel.’”
“There was a sort of Faustian bargain that went into it,” he continued. “I think inherently, I didn’t want to be known for only one thing because I prided myself on diversity my whole professional life and I’m not a one-trick pony.”
Of not landing the role in the end, Fraser said: “I felt disappointed that there was an amazing opportunity and it didn’t come to fruition. It had to do a lot with some shenanigans and studio politics.
“And probably, inherently, in my screen test. I think that’s why you test… they could kind of see I was only there like 98 per cent.”
In a three-star review of The Whale, NME wrote: “Even these strong performances can’t quite focus The Whale – a story which purports to grapple with existential themes, but never really makes sense of anything.”