“He was a big star, I’m some punk kid”: Christopher Reeve Crushed Sylvester Stallone’s Dreams to Be the Superman
Hollywood is full of stories of the dreams pursued and achieved. It also has dreams which were unfulfilled and dashed. One such story is of the two iconic actors, Sylvester Stallone and Christopher Reeves, and the role that defined the career of one while it affected the aspiration of another.
Before Christopher Reeve got cast in 1978 as Kal-El in Superman, the producer wished Sylvester Stallone to take the role of the iconic character of the DC universe. With this, Reeve did soar to stardom, and his embodiment as Man of Steel became the gold standard within the genre of superheroes. But Reeve’s rise to fame, it wasn’t just about the success story but also about the role in crushing the ambition of another actor.
Christopher Reeve Crushed Sylvester Stallone’s Dreams
Not all know about it, but Stallone who’s known for the beating of adversaries in the ring, could have been Kal-El beating up the bad guys in the 1978 Superman movie. It was in an interview in 2016 with The Hollywood Reporter where Richard Donner, the director of the superhero movie, explained the way he fought for the unknown to get cast as Superman, the lead actor. He said:
“We had a great casting director. He would put many, many people together. But the Salkinds [Superman producers] wanted a name. I met with Sylvester Stallone because of them. I tried to be nice and say, ‘This is wrong.’ I liked Stallone; he turned out to be a nice guy. He wanted to do it. I remember meeting him in his manager’s office and I was as cordial as I could be. He was a big star and I’m some punk kid.”
Well, despite putting in attempts for Stallone, Christopher Reeve was later cast as a DC character. Now, while Reeve’s Superman might have crushed Stallone and his dream to wear the red cape, it also paved the path for the new superhero movies era. Either way, both actors have left an indelible mark on the industry, and the stories are a testament to the complete unpredictability and the allure of the evolving landscape of Hollywood.
Read More: Henry Cavill vs. Christopher Reeves – Who Played Superman Better? Action Comic Writer Comments
Sylvester Stallone & His Journey in Marvel
Stallone might have had tough luck at the DC, but he did get better at Marvel. He joined the Guardians of the Galaxy cast as the leader of Ravagers, Stakar, for the popular movie sequel. He again reprised the role for the third Guardians movie.
In one of the interviews with Vulture, it was said by Feige that Stallone didn’t actually take much of convincing when he approached for joining the MCU. He said, “This is a man who’s bright and has achieved almost everything there is to achieve in Hollywood, and he’s talking about how excited he is to be a part of Marvel and see something new. It’s surreal, and very cool of him to say.”
Read More: Here’s What Christopher Reeve Would Look Like In Henry Cavill’s Superman Costume
Despite all that, it’s in the past, with the DCU reboot with Chapter 1 Gods and Monsters, the fans are sure that there will be a lot of characters that can be played by Stallone. So, if Safran and Gunn would fancy correcting the historical wrong and make it right, we might see Stallone in DCU soon enough.
Source: The Digital Fix
