The story of the battle between Henry Cavill's role as Superman in Justice League, and his Mission: Impossible - Fallout mustache is well known. However, it seems that the two things are even more connected than we thought. Recently, Henry Cavill revealed that his facial hair in the newest Mission: Impossible film was actually inspired by a character in one of the actor's favorite Superman comics, a mercenary by the name of Elias Orr.
It's quite fitting that Henry Cavill's character in Mission: Impossible - Fallout has a connection to Cavill's other famous character, Superman, considering the two movies clashed at the end of last year. Cavill was needed for reshoots for Justice League in the middle of filming Fallout. Unfortunately, he was unable to shave the mustache he had grown for his role opposite Tom Cruise, meaning he had to shoot his scenes with the facial hair and have it removed via digital effects, a process which met with limited success.
The character of Elias Orr, or simply Mr. Orr, is a mercenary who has gone to work for everybody from world governments to Lex Luthor. One has to assume that Cavill came across Elias Orr while reading comics to prep for his role as Superman. His background is mostly shrouded in mystery, but in the end, what's key to the character, in this case, isn't necessarily who he is -- we have no idea if the two characters have much in common from a personality standpoint -- but what he looks like, and a look at Elias Orr in the comics makes it quite obvious how he inspired Henry Cavill's facial hair decisions.
Of course, Henry Cavill also told Square Mile that if he'd had any idea what the Justice League reshoot situation would be, he likely would have made other facial hair decisions. Considering the fact that Superman came into the movie dead, Cavill probably assumed that whatever reshoots would be necessary would be unlikely to include him. However, after a lot changed during the film's post-production, including the director, it turned out that Henry Cavill would be a major part of the reshoots.
Still, there's little arguing that the mustache is an impressive one. One would think Elias Orr would be proud. We'll get to see the mustache and the man in action when Mission: Impossible - Fallout hits theaters July 27.
