"Sweeeeet Lois Lane...!" What Happened? Some suggestions are made for the "what were they smoking?!" mantra, and the near-casting of Neil Diamond as Superman sits pretty much at the top of the pile. In the early days of Superman's production, Richard Donner and the Salkinds had originally planned to bring an athlete or body-builder in for the lead role, which is why they decided that Neil Diamond, scrawny, gigantic haired singer of "Sweet Caroline" could be a good choice... Diamond supposedly worked hard for the role, despite the fact that he looked and sounded suspiciously like Neil Diamond - which in itself should have given him an indication of how badly suited he was to the role. Ilya Salkin later spoke at the Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con to admit that Diamond had seriously been under consideration:
"After meeting a lot of actors, such as Jon Voight we even met Neil Diamond, dont ask me why - I knew in my heart of hearts it had to be an unknown."
So, apparently he was turned down because he was too famous, and not because of the glaringly obvious fact that he was Neil Diamond and should never have been suggested in the first place. Would He Have Worked? No. Just no.
