Matt Bomer Says He Was Passed On To Play Superman Because He’s Gay

Actor Matt Bomer said he had been a finalist to play Superman in the early 2000s, claiming he was denied the role once he was outed as gay.

“I went in on a call for Superman, and then it turned into a four-month audition experience,” he said on the Hollywood Reporter‘s “Awards Chatter” podcast on Monday.

“I was auditioning again and again and again and flying out to New York and doing chemistry reads and flying out to L.A. and doing chemistry readers, back to New York, flying back to L.A. to do a screen test, and it looked like I was the director’s choice for the role.”

Bomer said he was confident about starring in the D.C. Comics movie because he “signed a three-picture deal at Warner Bros.” at the time. He was let go from the CBS soap opera Guiding Light while auditioning for the role.

However, the 46-year-old said he didn’t get cast as Superman because of his sexuality.

“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,” he said on the podcast.

The film Superman: Flyby was never made and was replaced with Bryan Singer‘s Superman Returns, a 2006 hit starring Brandon Routh in the leading role. 

Bomer publicly came out as gay in 2012, one year after marrying agent Simon Halls. At the time, author Jackie Collins told Gaydar Radio that the actor’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.”

In 2020, Bomer told Attitude that coming out as gay took a toll on 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.”