“I was like a rail with fake muscles”: Ashton Kutcher’s Superman Dreams Were Destroyed as Soon as He Put on the Suit, Claimed Nobody Would Take Him Seriously
Ashton Kutcher rose to fame with the famous sitcom That ’70s Show alongside his current wife Mila Kunis. He has been a part of almost every movie genre except for superhero dramas.
However, the Jobs actor did try his luck in donning the Kryptonite’s red suit but ended up realizing that nobody would take him seriously as a superhero.
Ashton Kutcher Felt Nobody Would Take Him Seriously If He Was Superman
During an interview with a reputed media outlet Comicbook.com, Ashton Kutcher spoke about his Superman dream. After giving the audition, the actor realized that nobody would take him seriously as a superhero. He said-
“I wore the Superman suit. I did a screentest in the Superman suit. There is footage of my audition out there, with Keri Russell, who was reading Lois Lane. There’s me in a Clark Kent outfit, then there’s me in a Superman outfit. I hadn’t worked out or done anything right…I was like a rail with fake muscles. It looked funny,”
During an interview with the Irish Examiner, Ashton Kutcher mentioned that he could have been a successful Superman. He said-
“Could anybody f***ing take me seriously as Superman? Let’s be honest about that. I’ll read how s****y they think I am. I don’t necessarily think all the critics are wrong … I don’t think I’m that good. And they don’t think I’m that good. So I’m not pulling that feeling out of my a**. They’re just backing up that feeling that I already have about myself.”
However, the No Strings Attached actor’s superhero dream could not come to fruition due to his belief that nobody would have taken him seriously in Superman’s shoes.
Brett Ratner Wanted To Go Ahead With Josh Hartnett After Ashton Kutcher
Many reputed names tried wearing the director’s hat before Bryan Singer came up with 2006’s Superman Returns. The filmmaker tried roping in Ashton Kutcher for the face behind the superhero franchise, but the actor felt he would never be taken seriously by the audience. Post Ashton Kutcher, the director wanted to go ahead with the Pearl Harbor star Josh Hartnett.
During an interview with a reputed media outlet Entertainment Weekly in 2003, Brett Ratner spoke about approaching Josh Hartnett for the role of Superman. He said-
”The decision was a struggle. But I just never really wanted to play Superman. It’s probably the biggest [-budgeted movie] ever — and because it was planned as a trilogy — it was three films [over] 10 years or something like that. It was a bigger commitment than I was willing to make.”
He further said-
“This has been a very difficult movie to cast — it’s a big role and the actor has to be able to play to two distinct roles. It’s a long commitment, but we’ve only offered it to one person so far. We are still in the process of evaluating the best candidate for the part, and we want to take the time to make sure that we get it right.”
However, Josh Hartnett did not try the superhero suit in front of Brett Ratner and even turned down the proposition. Actors like Paul Walker, Matthew Bomer, and Brendan Fraser were also considered for Superman’s role.
Source: Comicbook.com/ Entertainment Weekly/ Irish Examiner
