It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s Nicolas Cage in Superman: the actor also returns to an old unfinished project in which he almost played the superhero for an extended period.
Warning, spoilers. It is advisable to have seen The Flash (2023) before reading this article.
Nicolas Cage surprised many by briefly appearing as Superman in The Flash, released on June 14.
In an interview with USA Today (via Deadline and ComingSoon), the actor opened up about the subject, saying he was happy to finally play Superman after a failed opportunity in the 1990s. He admits, however, that his appearance in the film DC 2023 ended in a flash.
Well, I was glad I didn’t blink. For me, it was the feeling of becoming real. Even that look for that particular character, finally seeing him on screen, was satisfying. But like I said, it’s fast. If you really want to know what I was going to do with this character, watch my performance in City of Angels.
Indeed, after playing in The City of Angels (1998), Nicholas Cage almost played Clark Kent/Kal-El in a movie named Superman Lives. The film was to be directed by Tim Burton, who had previously signed two Batman films with Michael Keaton. A few photos had also been leaked, revealing a Nicholas Cage with long hair wearing the Kryptonian costume in full. After a messy pre-production, however, the film was scrapped before filming. But the actor had prepared and already had an idea of how he was going to play the iconic character.
“I was supposed to (play) Clark Kent after that and I was already developing this alien otherness playing this angel. It’s a perfect example of the tone you would have gotten for Kal-El and for Clark Kent: Clark would have been a little more fun, but Kal-El (had) the sensitivity, the kindness, the vulnerability and all those feelings to both angelic and terrifying,” he clarified.
The Flash: why is this actor making a surprise appearance as a DC hero?
Nicholas Cage has finally had the opportunity to embody the hero, first by lending him his voice in the 2018 film, Teen Titans GO! To The Movies, and now in the DCU’s latest Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) feature, which features Superman battling a giant spider, a scene which ComingSoon claims also existed in the scrapped film. Superman Lives.
After Renfield, released on May 31 – and in which he embodies another cult role, that of Count Dracula –, we can then find Nicholas Cage stars in the psychological thriller Sympathy for the Devil, opposite Joel Kinnaman.
The Flash is still playing at your nearest movie theatre.