Matt Bomer On His “Superman” Near Miss

Between Tim Burton’s stalled Nicolas Cage-led “Superman Lives” in the late 1990s and Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns” in 2006, another Superman film was in the works – the J.J. Abrams-penned “Superman: Flyby”.

The “Felicity” and “Alias” creator penned the movie, which had McG attached to direct and would serve as an origin story in which Krypton doesn’t explode, and a civil war ravaging the planet spills over to Earth, where Kal-El is sent after Jor-El is imprisoned.

Several names were tested for the movie, including future Superman stars Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill and “The Mummy” actor Brendan Fraser. One who came very close was “White Collar,” “Doom Patrol”, and “Fellow Travellers” star Matt Bomer.

Speaking with Happy Sad Confused recently, Bomer explained just how close he actually came – in fact, he signed a contract:

“I was such an unknown at the time. It’s so hard to know. I mean, I, you know, went in on a cattle call. Then I got a phone call from the casting people. Then I went and met with a director and read with an actress. Then I went back in and screen tested in the suit and signed the contract, you know, all that stuff that you do where it’s like, ‘Okay, this is the next step. You’re doing the role.’ And I know that I was the director’s choice for the role. And then, wah, wah, it happens.

It was a great script. It was called ‘Flyby,’ and it was more about him when he was younger. He was like a college student trying to figure out what it means to have all these powers and how to be a normal person and Superman at the same time. And J.J. just crushed it with the script.”

Bomer says being on that list of candidates for a Superman role changed how Hollywood perceived him overnight:

“It was all so surreal to be going from a total cattle call to that, and suddenly everybody in LA wants to meet you, and all I really remember is playing ‘Lose Yourself’ by Eminem in my headphones before every audition and just trying to stay in the mindset of somehow that I could believe that this could be real, you know?”

While “Superman: Flyby” never happened, Bomer did eventually voice the charcter in the 2013 animated film “Superman: Unbound”.