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Matt Bomer could have been the Man of Steel but missed out on the opportunity due to his sexuality. The 46-year-old actor has revealed that he was in talks to play Superman in a feature film but lost the part because of being outed as gay.
The film, titled Superman: Flyby, was in the works in the early 2000s and was eventually shelved. Matt, known for his lead role in the police procedural drama White Collar, publicly came out as gay in 2012.
Matt Bomer Says He Lost Superman Role for Being Gay
On June 10, Matt Bomer appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, where he talked about how he extensively auditioned for the role of Superman in a film called Superman: Flyby in the early 2000s. “I went in on a cattle call for Superman, and then it turned into a one-month audition experience where I was auditioning again and again and again,” said the actor.
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“It looked like I was the director’s choice for the role. This is a very early iteration of Superman written by J.J. Abrams, called Superman: Flyby, I think is what it was called, and it never came to light.” The host asked him if he thought his sexuality played a part in him losing the opportunity.
Matt then replied, “Yeah, that’s my understanding. That was a time in the industry when something like that could still really be weaponized against you. How, and why, and who, I don’t know, but yeah, that’s my understanding.” Superman: Flyby was supposed to be helmed by Rush Hour director Brett Ratner, whose first choice for the superhero’s role was Matt.
However, Warner Bros. reportedly wanted a bigger star on board. Ratner eventually left the project, and it never got made. A new version of Superman was then brought to life by Bryan Singer in his 2006 film Superman Returns, starring Brandon Routh.
Matt Bomer Came Out in 2012
The actor disclosed his sexuality to the world at the Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards in 2012, where he thanked his husband, Simon Halls, and their three children in his acceptance speech. And while Matt came out much later, Hollywood insiders probably already knew about his sexuality in the early 2000s.
Author and actress Jackie Collins had a similar story to tell in a 2012 interview with Gaydar Radio. “Matt Bomer, who is the most gorgeous looking guy and the star of White Collar, he had not come out of the closet, but people in the know knew he was gay,” the novelist said at the time, adding, “Someone didn’t like him and told [the producers] he was gay. They said, ‘No, no, we can’t cast you.’ The reason he didn’t get cast was because he was gay.”
Interestingly, while Matt missed out on playing Superman, he did get to voice the character in the 2013 direct-to-DVD animated film, Superman: Unbound.
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