10 Things You Need To Know About Tim Burton's Superman Lives
10. Nicolas Cage Was Going To Star
So right up top, that's a pretty crazy idea to get your head around, right? Cage is known for a style of acting which he calls "Nouveau Shamanic" and everyone else calls chewing every single piece of scenery in sight, crapping it out, then eating it again, all whilst with eyes open wide and manic grin plastered over his face.
Sounds like the guy to play the heroic, clean-cut Superman, no? Well, apparently Cage is quite the Superman fan. No, really: his house is covered in memorabilia related to the Man Of Steel, and he even went so far as to call one of his sons Kal-El, after Superman's Kryptonian birth name, and was grief-stricken to part with his copy of Action Comics #1, the character's first appearance, when a few years ago he needed a cash-injection.
Reportedly Cage impressed with his costume tests, which had him styled after the mid-nineties mulleted Superman. He wasn't the weirdest name in the hat, mind: one producer's first pick for the role? Sean Penn. Another classically heroic-looking figure.