One of the most difficult tasks in filming Superman: The Movie was the casting of the Man of Steel, himself. The list of possible candidates was a veritable who’s who of 1970s top box office draws. Everyone from Burt Reynolds to Paul Newman to Dustin Hoffman… even Muhammad Ali? That one is even stranger than the candidate I was going to blog about. Can you possibly imagine “The Greatest” in the role.
Another contender for the dual role of Superman/Clark Kent was an actor who had (and still has) close ties to Warner Brothers Pictures. Clint Eastwood had already established himself as a different kind of action-hero. Can you imagine Dirty Harry rescuing a fluffy white kitten from a tree. He would be more likely to growl at the little girl and send her running in tears to her mother. Instead, we got an excited little tyke exclaiming to her mother that a man swooped out of the sky and rescued Frisky. Her reward… a slap for telling more lies.
As for Mr. Eastwood’s take on the offer made nearly 35 years ago: “it’s not for me. It’s meant for someone, just not me.” Thank goodness for that. He did agree that Christopher Reeve nailed the role. Incidentally, Clint was also offered the role of another iconic character back in the day. Read this to find out which one.
Never heard either of those stories. Good thing too. I like Clint Eastwood movies, but I can’t see him in either roll.
I’m glad he was gentlemanly enough to turn down those roles. What were they thinking?? Obviously not right for either of the roles for different reasons.
I can’t imagine Clint Eastwood as Superman, but I’m also not all too familiar with the movie. Hollywood has tons of “could have been” stories for their classic movies, and because we are so used to them the way we’ve seen them, we can’t picture the “could have been” actors in the roles. Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones? Bruce Willis instead of Patrick Swayze in Ghost? Harrison Ford instead of Rob Reiner as Mike Stivic in All in the Family? Darryl Hannah, Molly Ringwald or Al Pacino in Pretty Woman? Yeah, things are definitely better the way they are.
Clint Eastwood is an awesome director by the way. Anyone who reads this and is a movie fan must see Changeling – EXCELLENT movie with great directing!!
Agreed… Changeling is an EXCELLENT movie. And tv series also have their share of “could have beens.” Gene Hackman (“the greatest criminal mind of all time”) as Mike Brady, anyone? Nice tie in to the topic, yes?