Back when Richard Donner was figuring out how to adapt Superman to the big screen, he had the wherewithal to cast screen legends Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman in key supporting roles – Brando as Superman’s father, Jor-El, and Hackman as the hero’s nemesis Lex Luthor. Their casting is a big part of the reason why 1978’s Superman ranks as one of the best superhero movies ever made. Ever since, the part of Lex has gone to equally impressive character actors, but I never once heard the story about the time Zack Snyder met with Leonardo Freaking DiCaprio to play mastermind Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice! Nor did I know about the key note DiCaprio gave Snyder that he eventually incorporated into the Snyder Cut of Justice League.
Zack Snyder casually dropped this information on an episode of Happy, Sad, Confused with Josh Horowitz. The host was asking the Rebel Moon director about casting rumors for Lex Luthor, the part that eventually went to Jesse Eisenberg. Snyder confirmed that he talked to Adam Driver about the part. And then casually dropped the bomb that he also talked to Leonardo DiCaprio about the part. Horowitz, to his credit, kept his shit together long enough to follow up, during which Snyder told him:
He had a lot of great ideas, actually, just in the meeting. I think in the end, he was like, ‘Eh, I don’t know.’ But he was really smart about the material and really smart about the character. And then really … I think he was the one that mentioned to me this idea about Superman fighting the Justice League at some point. And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’
It WAS cool! So cool that Joss Whedon left it in the butchered theatrical cut of Justice League, and Snyder improved on it once he was able to deliver his ultimate cut of the Justice League movie. It looks like this:
You might be thinking, “There’s no way that Leonardo DiCaprio would play Lex Luthor in a DC movie.” And I’m sure that fans thought the same thing when Hackman signed on for Richard Donner’s movie. Or when Jack Nicholson agreed to play The Joker for Tim Burton. Or Heath Ledger, for that matter. But some of our best actors have given incredible performances in comic book performances. And DiCaprio could have looked at the Batman v Superman cast that already included Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter and Laurence Fishburne that thought, “Why the hell not?”
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. But I’m blown away that Zack Snyder credits Leonardo DiCaprio with the idea to have Superman fight the Justice League on screen. That’s just such a cool origin story for that memorable sequence. Now I need Leo’s review of the Snyder Cut.
If you are a big Zack Snyder fan, brace for his Rebel Moon: Part 2 - The Scargiver, arriving on Netflix on April 19th. And DC fans can track all the progress on the upcoming DC movies by using our handy guide.
