Matt Bomer was almost the Man of Steel.
The “White Collar” star, 46, revealed that he was in the mix to play Superman on the big screen in the early 2000s, but he allegedly lost out on the role when he was outed as gay.
“I went in on a cattle call for Superman, and then it turned into a four-month audition experience,” he recalled on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast episode released Monday.
“I was auditioning again and again and again and flying out to New York and doing chemistry reads and flying out to LA and doing chemistry reads, back to New York, flying back to LA to do a screen test, and it looked like I was the director’s choice for the role.”
Bomer, who was let go from the CBS soap opera “Guiding Light” when he was auditioning for J.J. Abrams’ axed film “Superman: Flyby,” said he was confident he’d star in the DC movie because he “signed a three-picture deal at Warner Bros” at the time.
However, Bomer didn’t get cast as Superman and said it was because of his sexuality.
“Yeah, that’s my understanding,” he claimed on the podcast. “That was a time in the industry when something like that could still really be weaponized against you. How, and why, and who, I don’t know, but yeah, that’s my understanding.”
“Superman: Flyby” never came to fruition and was replaced by Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns.” The 2006 film starred Brandon Routh in the titular role.
Bomer publicly came out as gay in 2012, one year after marrying his husband, Simon Halls.
At the time, author Jackie Collins told Gaydar Radio that Bomer’s sexuality lost him the role of Clark Kent.
“Matt Bomer, who is the most gorgeous looking guy and the star of ‘White Collar,’ he had not come out of the closet, but people in the know knew he was gay,” Collins said. “His audition tape went in and he called up the agent and somebody didn’t like him and told [the producers] he was gay. They said, ‘No, no, we can’t cast you.’ The reason he didn’t get cast was because he was gay.”
Back in 2020, the “Fellow Travelers” star told Attitude magazine that coming out as gay briefly hurt his career.
“I came out at a time when it was very risky to do so – I had a studio film that was about to premiere, and a television series coming out,” he said. “But to me it was more important to be my most authentic self, both for my family, and for myself.”
“I wasn’t trying to be a role model, nor am I now, but I thought if it could help just one person, then it would be worth it. But to say that didn’t cost me certain things in my career would be a lie. It did.”
He added: “To me that trade-off was worth it. But it hasn’t been some fairy tale.”
Bomer has been happily married to his husband for over a decade and they have three children born via surrogacy.
