Kevin Smith wrote a Superman movie for Ben Affleck

Kevin Smith wrote a Superman movie for Ben Affleck back in the 1990s.

The 51-year-old filmmaker penned a script based on ‘The Death of Superman’ comic book series specifically for the then up-and-coming Affleck in mind, but producer Jon Peters wanted Sean Penn for the role.

Kevin said: “I was writing it for Affleck. Ben was heating up. Like he was there. I think he’d been hired for ‘Armageddon’. Affleck, he’s a f***ing giant, like he’s built like a superhero, built like a giant action figure, particularly with the height. And then he puts on the muscles there too. So in my head and heart, it was always Ben and Michael Rooker [as Lex Luther].”

The acclaimed director – who came to prominence with the low-budget comedy film ‘Clerks’ in 1994 – claimed that Peters wanted to “reinvent” the role of the DC superhero.

Speaking on Yahoo Entertainment’s ‘The Never-Weres’ series, he explained: “[Jon Peters] goes, ‘Look in [Penn’s] eyes in [‘Dead Man Walking’], he’s [got] haunted eyes, the eyes of a killer,'” Smith explained. “And I was like, ‘Dude, it’s Superman. You know, that’s not how most people think of Superman’… But he wanted to reinvent it. He wanted something gritty, graphic, and grown-up. He essentially wanted like what Zack Snyder eventually did [in ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Batman v Superman’, and ‘Justice League’].”

In the end, ‘Beetlejuice’ director Tim Burton took the reins of what was titled ‘Superman Lives’ and cast Nicolas Cage in the title role, but the movie was ultimately shelved.

Article source: https://www.contactmusic.com/kevin-smith/news/kevin-smith-wrote-a-superman-movie-for-ben-affleck_6338838