It’s always interesting to look at the “what ifs” in Hollywood. While the film that ends up in theaters is what a film is known for, there is often a lot of crazy stuff that goes behind the scenes. Filmmakers file in and out of projects like nobody’s business, and actors are often replaced last minute due to varying circumstances. This is the kind of stuff that audiences would usually never know about, but in the age of the internet, pretty much everything comes out sooner or later.

If you’ll recall, Henry Cavill was attached to play Superman in Superman Returns long before Brian Singer took the helm and cast Brandon Routh in his place. There’s another man who was almost Superman at one point, and this time, it turns out, he was replaced by Henry Cavill in Man of Steel.

Speaking with MTV’s Happy Sad Confused Podcast, actor Joe Manganiello discussed how close he came to playing the Man of Steel.

“I met with Zack [Snyder]. I had an hour and a half long meeting with Zack, which is what was causing all the trouble. … I went ahead and met with casting, and then they all brought me over to meet Zack. I met the producers, I met with Jon Jashni and Thomas Tull at Legendary, I met everybody – everybody involved – and then finally sat down with Zack for an hour and a half and had a big conversation about the character and where it was going, et cetera. Then they called the True Blood costume shop for my measurements to build my suit and that’s what caused – that’s when it stopped.”

Uh-oh. That’s often the tough part of being an in-demand actor in the business. You have to juggle all sorts of commitments, and sometimes, you have to pass on big roles because of prior ones. This appears to have been the case with Manganiello and True Blood.

Of course, Manganiello’s been in the news a lot lately because of his attachment to The Batman. As recently as a couple months back, he’s been locked in to play Deathstroke in the adaptation, but with the departure of Ben Affleck and arrival of Matt Reeves as director, it’s kind of up in the air as to whether or not Manganiello will, once again, be cheated out of a high profile role in a DC film.

Such is Hollywood. We’ll have to wait and see.

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SOURCE: Happy Sad Confused Podcast (via Screen Rant)