Josh Hartnett shed some light in a recent interview on why he turned down Superman Returns and the conversations he had for Batman Begins.
Penny Dreadful star Josh Hartnett was one of the biggest young actors around in the early 2000s. Naturally, Josh Hartnett was offered some pretty iconic roles, with some of them being for superhero films. However, Josh Hartnett never played any of these characters on the big screen.
Variety recently ran a piece about Josh Hartnett’s career and talked with him about those superhero opportunities. In the interview, Josh Hartnett clarified some rumors that have been floating around the internet for years while admitting he was offered Superman Returns:
“I didn’t turn down Spider-Man. I don’t know where that came from. I’d only turned down Superman as a straight-up offer. But I was, at that time of my career, where a lot of people were asking me to do those types of movies. I was having meetings with those directors and people were saying: ‘Would you be interested?’ I talked to them about what they were doing and I ultimately decided I wasn’t, but that was a very privileged place for a young man to be in. I’m a little bit outside of the box and had the leverage to do that, and that’s the direction I chose.”
Brandon Routh went on to play the Man of Steel in Superman Returns and recently reprised the Superman role for Crisis on Infinite Earths. Aside from Superman Returns, Josh Hartnett was also up for Batman, but the actor says it never went beyond a meeting with director Christopher Nolan:
“No, Batman wasn’t an audition or an offer. It was a conversation with the director [Christopher Nolan]. I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there. When you say one thing one time about it, and now it gets blown up. But I don’t really care to tell that story over and over again.”
Do you think Josh Hartnett would’ve been a good Superman or Batman? Sound off in the comments below!
Here is the synopsis for Superman Returns:
While Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) plots to destroy him once and for all, the Man of Steel (Brandon Routh) returns after a long absence to a much-changed world. Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has moved on with her life, and society has learned to survive without him. Superman must find a way to reconnect with her and find his place in a world that may no longer need him.
Superman Returns was directed by Bryan Singer and starred Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Parker Posey, Kal Penn, Sam Huntington, and Kevin Spacey.
Source: Variety
Superman Returns in now available.
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