Chris Rock Comments on Being Cast in Tim Burton’s Superman Lives: “Where’s My Superhero Movie?”

September 19, 2021, 4:46pm

In the world of superhero entertainment, there are always projects that never end up seeing the light of day and perhaps the most legendary among them is Superman Lives, a late 1990s film directed by Tim Burton that would have starred Nicolas Cage as Superman while Christopher Walken was rumored to play Brainiac and Courteney Cox and Sandra Bullock were among those considered for Lois Lane. Chris Rock was also cast in the film as Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen, though the film fell apart before it could get out of the development phase and now, more than two decades later, Rock is reflecting on how close he came to being part of a major superhero movie.

During a recent roundtable interview with John Boyega, Rege-Jean Page, Josh O’Connor, and Jonathan Majors (via Yahoo!), Rock spoke about his experience, revealing that he had even gone through wardrobe fittings before everything fell apart.

“I was cast in Superman 20 years ago when Nic Cage was going to play Superman,” Rock said. “I was cast; I had wardrobe fittings. I saw the miniature sets, and I was hanging out with Tim, and the whole thing fell apart. There’s a part of me that’s like, where’s my superhero movie? I was this close.”

Rock isn’t the only actor who has a close but not quite experience with a DC superhero film, either. Another DC project that has become the stuff of legend is Justice League Mortal. That film was set to be directed by Chris Miller and star Armie Hammer as Batman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, D.J. Cotrona as Superman, Adam Brody as The Flash, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, and Common as Green Lantern. That film was allegedly within days of shooting when it was canceled in 2008.

While Rock may have missed his opportunity with Superman Lives, that doesn’t mean there might not be a chance for him to have that superhero movie glory in the future. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is showing no sign of slowing down and there are new Superman projects in the works as well. In February it was announced that Ta-Nehisi Coats was writing a new Superhero film with J.J. Abrams set to produce with the film expected to center around a Black Superman and in July, it was reported that Michael B. Jordan may be developing a Superman miniseries – albeit one that focuses on Earth-2’s Superman, Val-Zod – for HBO Max.

What do you think about Rock’s comments about Superman Lives? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.