As it turns out, this is not the first time Henry Cavill has been set to play Superman. Back in 2004 when McG was directing the film from a JJ Abrams script, Cavill was the top choice of both the director and Warner Bros (seems this scooper for Dark Horizons was right on…). Unfortunately McG was afraid to get on a plane to fly to Australia to film the project and bailed, allowing WB to chase Bryan Singer who went in a completely different direction with the project.
He maybe had to wait six or seven years, but Cavill finally got the gig. So who are the next crop of almost-had-it actors that Cavill beat out for the part? THR is reporting that Matthew Goode, who worked with Snyder on WATCHMEN, was a close second for the part. Goode was so close he apparently turned down the lead role in ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER to better focus on getting the SUPERMAN gig (LINCOLN went on to cast Benjamin Walker).
Other actors that were on the Snyder/Nolan shortlist were Matthew Bomer (Brett Ratner’s favorite for Superman when he was attached to direct), Armie Hammer (who was cast as Batman in the ill-fated JUSTICE LEAGUE movie), Joe Manganiello (“True Blood”) and Colin O’Donaghue (THE RITE).
Apparently only a handful of people knew about the choice to cast Cavill and the reason they announced on Sunday was to allow them to issue a studio-sanctioned press release before the news leaked on the web.