10 Actors Whose Movie Character Requests Got Rejected
7. Gene Hackman Wanted Lex Luthor To Have A Big Mustache - Superman
Gene Hackman was an undeniably major get for the role of iconic supervillain Lex Luthor in Richard Donner's original 1978 Superman, but there was one snag: Hackman wanted to play the part with a big, bushy mustache, and had even gone to the effort of growing one out before shooting.
Given that Luthor wasn't exactly known for having a bush-lip in the comics, director Richard Donner had no interest in Hackman's suggestion. But because of Hackman's A-list status, Donner had to employ some genius subterfuge to get what he wanted.
Hackman, in a recent retrospective following Donner's death, recounted the incident:
"I showed up for the first day of makeup tests for Superman with a fine Lex Luthor mustache I'd grown for the role... Dick, wearing his own handsome mustache, told me mine had to go. He bargained to lose his if I did mine. True to his word, he celebrated my last razor stroke by gleefully pulling off the fake whiskers he'd acquired for the occasion... Dick made it fun, and that's why the films turned out that way, too."
Thankfully everything worked out for the better in this case: Donner used his creativity to wrangle his insistent A-lister, who thankfully saw the funny side of the ruse.