A quick shameless plug: I’ll be appearing on PolyCast, the official Apolyton podcast in the near future. If you’d like to ask me a question about CivRevolution, they’ve put out an official call for questions.

Should be fun!

</shameless plug>

If you’re like me and love comics, and comic book movies, then chances are you know about at least a couple of actors that tried out, or were rumored to have been involved in some of your favorite movies. Being the obsessive fan that I am, I know of a lot of them…here are a few of them.

Naturally, because of personal interest, there are a lot of potential actors in various Superman movies, but I think I’ve covered the Marvel spectrum as well, with could-have-beens from Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man and Fantastic Four.
Be warned, some are a little painful (for differing reasons).

Superman: The Movie (1978):

Role: Superman/Clark Kent

Actor: Warren Beatty

Likelihood: Offered the role. Back in the late 70s, tons of people were “considered” for the role of Superman/Clark Kent in Richard Donner’s Superman movie, including Robert Redford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jon Voight and others. According to the IMDB, even producer Ilya Salkind’s wife’s dentist tried out for the part, which eventually went to obscure stage actor Christopher Reeve. But unlike a lot of those actors, Beatty actually turned down the part, and went on to direct and star in Heaven Can Wait that year instead.

Good decision? In the long run, there’s no denying that Christopher Reeve was the right man for the role, but Beatty wouldn’t have been bad by any means. He has the charm to pull off Superman, but how would his Clark Kent have been?

Image Source

Role: Superman/Clark Kent

Actor: Sylvester Stallone

Likelihood: Nearly happened. Stalone has confessed to having been a huge Superman fan in his youth (as a child, he even tried to fly off his roof in a homemade costume), and following the huge success of Rocky in ‘76, he set his sights on Donner’s brewing superproject. It’s unknown whether or not Richard Donner was a supporter of Sly’s quest to play the last son of Krypton, but it didn’t matter anyway - he was vetoed out of the project by Marlon Brando, the guy who got $14 million for ten minutes of screen time.

Good decision? Forget the Stalone you know from later movies…Rocky is a great movie, and Stalone back then was very much (oddly enough) a young Brando. I think he wouldn’t have been a bad Superman. But like Beatty, his Clark Kent would have been a stretch. And of course, Reeve was the right choice for the movie.

Role: Lois Lane

Actress: Stockard Channing

Likelihood: Tested. Channing was one of many actresses who tried out for the part (along with Anne Archer and Lesley Ann Warren among others). Here’s her test video:

Batman (1989)

Role: Vicky Vale

Actress: Sean Young

Likelihood: Cast, started filming. Young was originally cast as Vicky Vale, but broke her collarbone during filming of an early scene on horseback. Kim Basinger was then recast in the role, in one of those extremely rare cases where a studio recast a role with an older actress than the one originally cast (Sean was 30, Basinger 36).

Good decision? Playing the love interest in a Batman movie has to be one of the most thankless jobs in Hollywood. Let’s face it - Batman isn’t a romantic character, and the role only exists so there’s some eye candy on screen for part of the movie. Basinger may have been the hotter of the two, but Young was pretty good looking in those days too. No real loss here either way, and the next two movies had better eye candy regardless (particularly the god awful third movie, thanks to Nicole Kidman).

Role: The Joker

Actor: Robin Williams

Likelihood: Close enough to give me nightmares. Good lord, can you imagine this? Along with Willem Dafoe, David Bowie, John Lithgow and James Woods, Williams was apparently considered for the role of The Joker in Tim Burton’s movie. They all ultimately lost to a very hammy Jack Nicholson.

Good decision? Robin Williams as The Joker? Even pre-Patch Adams, Robin Williams at his manic nuttiness was a little grating. When he acts, he’s actually quite good, but when he’s just being Robin Williams it can be painful. I am most certainly not a fan of Nicholson’s turn as the Joker (I hate that entire movie, actually…I think it’s aged horribly), but he’s definitely the better of the two. Willem Dafoe might have been pretty good though. Let’s all be thankful this never happened.

Batman Returns (1992)

Role: Catwoman

Actress: Sean Young

Likelihood: Never happened, but not for lack of trying. Sean Young really wanted to be in a Batman movie. After being cast but dismissed from the first Batman movie (see above), she set her sights on the role of Catwoman in the sequel. So badly did she want this role that she showed up on the studio lot in her own Catwoman costume, and bribed studio employees to help her track down the producers. According to the IMDB, Tim Burton hid under his desk to avoid seeing her. Yikes.

Good decision? Okay, so she has a few screws loose. But you have to admire her enthusiasm, right? I think the right call was made here. Catwoman isn’t exactly Lady MacBeth, and this sure as hell wasn’t high art they were making, but Michelle Pfeiffer looked good in that costume, and that’s about all that matters.

Role: Catwoman

Actress: Annette Bening

Likelihood: Done deal. Bening was cast in the role but had to drop out when she got pregnant (I guess that costume doesn’t leave much room for expansion).

Good decision? Again, Catwoman ain’t Lady MacBeth. I’m a fan of Annette Bening, and she would have done a fine job. But there’s no complaints with the final result either. Call this one a draw. One fun factoid: At just $1 million, Bening was significantly cheaper than the amount ultimately paid to Pfeiffer, who got $3 million for the role.

Batman Forever (1995)

Role: Two Face

Actor: Billy Dee Williams

Likelihood: Cast but revoked. Lando himself was cast (and filmed) in the role of Harvey Dent in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, and his contract had a provision that called for him to play the role in any sequels. When WB moved forward with this trainwreck of a film they had to buy out his contract to cast Tommy Lee Jones in the role.

Good decision? The words “good” and “Batman Forever” should never belong in the same sentence. Outside of Nicole Kidman, this movie has no redeeming value whatsoever. I would rather watch her reading the phonebook for two hours than sit through this again.

Superman Lives! (never made)

Role: Superman/Clark Kent

Actor: Nicolas Cage

Likelihood: Cast. Tim Burton’s “Superman Lives!” project ultimately fell apart, but it got pretty far along in the process. This has been pretty exhaustively documented all over the web, but the gist is that there was never a screenplay that satisfied, well, anyone, and that the budget kept creeping up and up. One thing is certain - while Burton was on the project, his main man was Nicolas Cage.

Good decision? The good decision is that this movie was never actually made. Cage is a well known comic book lover, and I never doubted his enthusiasm. He’s a great actor, and I’m positive he would have made a pretty good Clark Kent, but Superman? It would have been a stretch. I would have been first in line to see it, but with all the other problems this movie had, there’s just no way this would have had a happy ending. And hey, it could have been worse - David Duchovny was also considered by Burton.

X-Men (2000)

Role: Storm

Actress: Angela Bassett

Likelihood: Reportedly offered the role, turned it down. Several actresses were “considered” for the role of Storm (such as Jada Pinkett Smith), but apparently Angela “Don’t call me Tina Turner” Bassett flat out turned it down. The role ultimately went to Halle Berry.
Good decision? I enjoyed it, but there’s no denying that the script in the first X-Men movie is a little weak. Particularly when it comes to the Storm character (Joss Whedon’s cringe-worthy “toad gets hit by lightning” line is one of her few in the entire movie). On that basis alone, it’s not hard to understand why an actress would turn down the role. Berry may not have won an academy award for her role in X-Men, but she was fine, and her role got quite a bit better (along with everything else) in the second movie.

Role: Wolverine

Actor: Keanu Reeves

Likelihood: Lots of actors tried out or were “considered” for what is essentially the leading role in this ensemble movie (Bryan Singer spoke to Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Viggo Mortenson and Edward Norton, among others), but apparently Fox wanted Keanu “woah!” Reeves.
Good decision? What are you kidding me? Not only was this the career launching role for Jackman, but Keanu Reeves as Wolverine? Good lord no. Fortunately this never got very far.

Spider-Man (2002)

Role: Spider-Man/Peter Parker

Actor: Freddie Prinze, Jr.

Likelihood: Irreconcilable differences. Back during the days when this movie was coming together, Freddie Prinze, Jr. was all over the place talking about his love of Spider-Man. There’s no doubt about it, the guy loves him some Peter Parker. So what happened? He differed with Sam Raimi on the direction of the character, as he told CANOE back then:

“I had made it clear to everyone that I wanted to play Spider-Man. I wanted to do that project so badly.

“(Director) Sam Raimi met with me but it was clear we had very different views of the direction a Spider-Man movie should take. I am a huge fan of the Todd McFarlane version of Spider-Man. That’s not where Sam wanted to go. He likes the older, vintage approach to Spider-Man and I sensed instantly that he’d made up his mind about using Tobey Maguire.”

Prinze admits he was hurt and that, at the time, he felt he would make a much better Peter Parker than Maguire.

“I’ve seen Spider-Man and Tobey was incredible. He was the right choice for Sam’s vision.”

Good decision? Tobey Maguire was pretty much spot-on. Prinze gets a lot of flack for being a pretty boy (Raimi reportedly passed on him for being too good looking), but I think he probably would have risen to the occasion, if only because of his sheer enthusiasm for the project. But we’ll never know.

Role: Mary-Jane Watson

Actress: Eliza Dushku

Likelihood: Auditioned, screen tested with Tobey Maguire. Lots of actresses auditioned for the role of Mary-Jane Watson, including Mena Suvari, Elisha Cuthburt, but Sam Raimi and co. ultimately went with Kirsten Dunst. It’s unknown how far along Ms. Dushku got in the process, but it was clearly farther than the rest, since on the Spider-Man Deluxe Edition DVD, there’s a screen test with Tobey Maguire where the Mary-Jane lines are read by her.
Good decision? We missed out here, kids. I’m not saying Dushku was the right one for the role (I’m pretty sure she wasn’t), but anyone (and I mean practically anyone) would have been better than Dunst. Let’s all cry in our pillows over this one.

Role: Mary-Jane Watson

Actress: Alicia Witt

Likelihood: Definitely considered. During the years of Spider-Man rumors, Alicia Witt was the odds-on favorite to play the redheaded best friend of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Then they signed the Kirsten Dunst. What happened there? Got me. I’ve never found a decent answer. Some people have speculated that she was actually offered the role (Kate Hudson, too), but passed. Maybe we’ll never know for sure.

Good decision? Crime of all crimes? I’m gonna say yes. Dushku would have been marginally better on all levels, but Alicia Witt is my dream Mary-Jane. She can act, she’s no bubblehead, and she’s actually got naturally red hair. Of every person on this list, this one kills me the most. Plus she’s hot. I really like the Spider-Man movies (particularly the second one, but even the third one!) but every minute that Kirsten Dunst is on screen is painful. Why Raimi, why?

Fantastic Four (2005)

Role: Doctor Doom

Actor: Tim Robins

Likelihood: As with any superhero movie, various people were “considered” for the various roles. At one point it was widely reported that Tim Robbins was supposed to be Dr. Doom, with Paul “I was also considered for Superman” Walker (see below) as the frontrunner for Johnny Storm. Nothing came of it, and it’s unknown if Robbins ever seriously considered the role. But his name was floated around a bit.

Good decision? Julian McMahon, who ended up in the role, delivered a perfectly mediocre performance in a perfectly mediocre movie. Would Robbins have been better or worse? It’s tough to say. The bland as dirt script didn’t exactly leave a whole lot of room for interpretation. FF isn’t the worst comic book adaptation ever (I reserve that title exclusively for Constantine). I doubt Robbins would have helped much.

Superman Returns (2006)

Role: Lois Lane

Actress: Selma Blair

Likelihood: Hey, we know she wanted it. Back in 2004, when casting was just starting up for Superman Returns, one name got fanboys like me excited - Selma Blair. As I said back then, she was perfect. Just the right age, with the right look, and just a bit of edge to her. It wasn’t to be, but we do know that Blair wanted the role, as she told Counting Down back then:

CD: I keep hearing you’ve been campaigning for Lois Lane in ‘Superman’ pretty hard…

SB: It would be my dream come true to play Lois Lane, I have no idea what’s going on with that, I’m sure they’ll want someone more famous, but *I* think it should be a relative unknown like Selma Blair, but I dunno… You know, Lois Lane is something that would be fun to play, I know that’s something that would make things very happy for me. But I have no idea. Cause I don’t even know what is going on with that movie, I have no idea what my chances are with that, so maybe if people could do a little crossing of the fingers for me.

Hey, I had my fingers crossed. But it wasn’t to be. Instead we got Kate Bosworth, who looked good on screen, but had no spice to her whatsoever.

Good decision? This doesn’t make me quite as annoyed as Alicia Witt (DAMN YOU RAIMI!) but it’s still pretty painful. She would have been great.

Role: Perry White

Actor: Hugh Laurie

Likelihood: Cast. Director Bryan Singer is the executive producer of TV’s “House M.D.”, so casting Laurie as Perry White seemed an obvious choice (even if I had no idea who the heck he was at the time). Unfortunately the overwhelming success of that show caused inevitable scheduling problems, and he had to drop out. The role was picked up by Frank Langella.

Good decision? Perry White doesn’t have a whole lot to do in Superman Returns (other than spout the occasional inspirational line or two), so this hardly qualifies as a tragedy. Plus Langella is great, great stage actor, and it’s always good to see him on screen. No complaints here.

Role: Superman/Clark Kent

Actor: Ashton Kutcher

Likelihood: Would you believe he turned the role down? Back when Brett Ratner was heading up the project, a whole list of inappropriate actors were considered for the lead, including Kutcher, Paul Walker, Jerry O’Connell and Hayden Christensen. But Kutcher actually passed on the role, which means there was enough of an interest from someone, anyone, for it to get that far. IGN quoted him back in 2003 when he was thinking about it:

“There’s a couple of [reasons why Superman doesn’t appeal to me] – my television show [That ’70s Show], it would interfere with the schedule. So I don’t think I’m gonna do it, because I’ll have to sign up for another year of the show in order to get out on time. It would just kinda set me back more than it would do for me,” Kutcher said. “Also I think there’s a bit of a curse behind that role – the things that have happened to people. Also, I think once you’ve played that role then you’re just forever known as Superman. It’s kind of hard to play other things. I have a lot of other characters I’d rather play.”

Thank god he passed on the role, or we would have never gotten such classics as “Guess Who?” and “Just Married” and the just released “What Happens in Vegas.”

Good decision? Say what you will about Routh, but I support the decision to cast an unknown. The thought of Kutcher causes me physical pain (not to mention endless, “Dude, where’s my cape?” gags).

Iron Man (2008)

Role: Iron Man/Tony Stark

Actor: Tom Cruise

Likelihood: Didn’t pan out. Back in 2005, Tom Cruise did want to make Iron Man. If it had happened his way, he would have produced and starred in the role. Ultimately he decided to go with War of the Worlds with Stephen Spielberg, which, let’s face it, probably seemed like a slam dunk (and hey, it wasn’t half bad).

Back in 2005, IGN tracked him down on the set of War of the Worlds for an official comment:

“They came to me at a certain point and, when I do something, I wanna do it right. If I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know it’s gonna be something special. And as it was lining up, it just didn’t feel to me like it was gonna work. I need to be able to make decisions and make the film as great as it can be, and it just didn’t go down that road that way.”

“It was two years before we decided to make [War of the Worlds]. There’s a commitment. Obviously, I trust Steven… I’ve never just made a movie to make a movie. I’ve always made it because I was really interested in the story. I wanted to make that kind of picture and see what it would take. And it was an adventure for me. And for [Iron Man], it just wasn’t panning out, so far. As of yet…”

So there you go.

Good decision? I haven’t seen Iron Man yet (hoping to tomorrow!) but I’m pretty sure that Robert Downey Jr. is the dream casting everyone says it is. But hey, at the same time, I gotta say, Tom Cruise probably wouldn’t have been half bad. He can definitely pull off the slick look Tony Stark needs. But until I’ve seen the movie, I won’t say for sure.

So there you go. I didn’t touch on a lot of others. Name a superhero movie, and chances are there are ten interesting or notable actors that could have been in it. But these are a few of the more interesting ones, I’d say.

So what are your favorites?

Following our first bit of Civ-related artwork from Shepard Fairey and Studio Number One, we contacted Aidan Hughes, AKA Brute to try his hand at some Civ propaganda. Here’s what he came up with: