Kevin Smith Wanted Michael Rooker To Play Lex Luthor in the SUPERMAN LIVES Movie

Way back in the 1990s, actor and director Kevin Smith was hired to write the script for a Superman movie called Superman Lives. The movie was being produced by Tim Burton, who was also set to direct. Nicolas Cage was famously in line to play the Man of Steel, and while all these big names were attached, the movie never came to be, and fans have always wondered what would have come of it.

All these years later, Smith was recently participating in a Mallrats viewing party, where he mentioned that Michael Rooker, who played Svenning in the movie, was his first choice for the role of Lex Luthor in Superman Lives.

“When I wrote my Superman Lives script, Rooker was who I saw in my head as Lex Luthor. So his head shaving became yet another comic book reference."

He even said that was why he had him shave his head in Mallrats, as kind of a comic book reference. Rooker has had a great career, and has landed some awesome roles since then, like in The Walking Dead and the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. But it would have been really fun to see him in the role of the super-villain Lex Luthor.

Would you have liked to see this movie get made? Do you like Rooker for Lex Luthor?

Via LRM