Nicolas Cage has cemented his legacy as one of Hollywood's premier action stars and to say that the 1990s revolved around his body of work isn't that much of an overstatement. However, there's one failed project that could've catapulted his career to the next level and that's the canned Superman Lives film which would have seen director Tim Burton put his own twist to the Man of Steel.
There have been conflicting reports about what led to the project's unfortunate demise and there's even a 2015 documentary that digs deep into the supposed film. Now, Cage is opening up about his Superman aspirations and what exactly went wrong with the project.
Appearing at the Miami Film Festival to accept his Variety Legend & Groundbreaker Award, the Ghost Rider actor said that the studio initially had a different director in mind, presumably because of the whole Batman Returns controversy which ultimately convinced Michael Keaton to exit the franchise.
Cage revealed: "I said, this has to be Tim Burton. I called Tim and said, 'Would you do this?' Tim didn’t cast me, I cast Tim, and Tim said yes. I loved what he did with Michael [Keaton] and Batman, and I was a big fan. I love Mars Attacks. I thought Mars Attacks was just a fantastic, groundbreaking movie. He’s a groundbreaker!"
Also Read: Nicolas Cage Reveals Petty Yet Understandable Reason for Rejecting Star Wars
It's always fascinating to learn new details about films that were put on the shelf and there's no denying that Superman Lives could have been an interesting project. It's a shame that it never came to fruition because it could have easily been Hollywood's first attempt at doing projects that are set in the same universe and continuity.
Speaking of Kal-El, James Gunn's Superman: Legacy will hit cinemas on July 11, 2023.
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