Matt Bomer’s sexuality impacted his career in a huge way in the beginning (Picture: Getty)
Hollywood icon Matt Bomer missed out on playing the Man of Steel because his sexuality was ‘weaponised’ against him.
The White Collar star publicly came out as gay in 2012 and has since played brilliant LGBTQ+ roles on screen including opposite Jonathan Bailey in the acclaimed historic queer drama Fellow Travelers.
But according to the 46-year-old actor his sexuality detrimentally impacted his career in its early days. Not least, him missing out on the coveted role as Superman in the since-shelved project, Superman: Flyby back in 2002.
‘I went in on a cattle call for Superman, and then it turned into a one-month audition experience where I was auditioning again and again and again,’ he said in a recent interview.
He explained he was the ‘director’s choice for the role’ in this ‘early iteration’ of the project written by J.J. Abrams and set to be directed by Brett Ratner but, ‘it never came to light’.
The actor beat Brendon Fraser to the role but ultimately the whole project was scrapped (Picture: Getty)
When asked if his sexuality could have been the reason for losing out on the gig, the Golden Globe winner agreed.
‘Yeah, that’s my understanding. That was a time in the industry when something like that could still really be weaponised against you. How, and why, and who, I don’t know, but yeah, that’s my understanding,’ he claimed to The Hollywood Reporter.
In 2003, Brett left the project citing that ‘the difficulty of casting the role of Superman’ had contributed to his decision.
According to reports at the time, Josh Hartnett and Paul Walker passed on the role and Warner Bros rejected Matt after he was chosen over the Mummy star Brendan Fraser.
At the time the actor was relatively unknown in the acting scene, having only starred in an episode of the long-running US series All My Children.
Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey in White Collar catapulted him to mainstream fame (Picture: USA Network)
He recently portrayed a gay man in Showtime drama Fellow Travelers (Picture: Ben Mark Holzberg/Showtime)
The superhero franchise was eventually rebooted in 2006 with Superman Returns directed by Bryan Singer and starring Brandon Routh in the titular role.
As for Matt, he now shares three children with husband Simon Halls who he married in 2012.
When he came out as gay he was leading the popular procedural drama White Collar (which ran from 2009 and 2014) and was about to star in steamy blockbuster Magic Mike as stripper Ken.
‘I came out at a time when it was very risky to do so,’ he told Attitude in 2020.
‘I had a studio film that was about to premiere, and a television series coming out. But to me it was more important to be my most authentic self, both for my family, and for myself.
Matt with his husband Simon (Picture: NBCUniversal/Getty)
‘I wasn’t trying to be a role model, nor am I now, but I thought if it could help just one person, then it would be worth it.’
Now, Matt’s career is thriving. He recently appeared in Oscar-nominated Netflix Maestro and is even fulfilling his superhero dreams as the voice of the Flash in DC Animation’s Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Most significantly, there is officially a White Collar reboot in the works with Matt set to reprise his character Neal Coffey, a charming con artist.
‘It’s a fantastic script and it answers all the questions that one would have if you watch the show,’ co-star Tim DeKay shared.
‘It introduces the show to those who haven’t seen it as well. Both edges of the sword are honed.’
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