By George Bate
Over his decades long career, Nicolas Cage has made a name in Hollywood as one of the most dedicated actors. Amidst his myriad of classic films, Cage has had a number of projects that ultimately never made it to the big screen, perhaps none more notable than a Superman movie that was to be directed by Tim Burton.
While promoting The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent in an interview with Rolling Stone, Cage opened up about the unmade Superman picture.
“What I want to go on record with is: Tim Burton did not cast me. I cast Tim Burton,” Cage said. “They wanted Renny Harlin, and he’s a nice guy and perfectly capable. But for me, the vision I had for Kal-El was more of a Tim Burton-style presentation universe.”
This Tim Burton-style of Superman that Cage speaks of is something to wonder about, especially considering Burton’s iconic take on the Batman universe in the 1989 and 1992 films.
Despite the film never being made, Cage spoke about the positive aspects of the experience.
“That’s always been both a positive and a negative to me. It’s a positive in that it left the character, and what Tim and I might have gotten up to, in the realm of imagination — which is always more powerful than that is concrete. And a negative in that I think it would have been special.”
In answering the all-important ‘could it ever happen question,’ Cage was expectedly coy.
“Is there a chance? Who knows.”
Those wanting to know more about Cage and Burton’s Superman should check out the documentary The Death of Superman Lives. Cage can be found in other comic book films, including Ghost Rider, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Kick Ass, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is out in theaters this Friday.