George Of The Jungle almost made it as JJ Abrams Superman. What Happened? When Superman: Flyby was still in production back between 2002 and 2004, Brendan Fraser was apparently asked to take the lead role, and got as far as testing for the role before Flyby collapsed in on itself entirely and Warner Bros. instead went with Superman Returns. By all means, Fraser was incredibly excited by the prospect - and why wouldn't he be? He apparently considered taking the role for a grand total of 28 minutes before jumping at the chance, but the film's production problems saw him robbed of his opportunity to really make it as a gigantic star after the success of The Mummy. And it was all because the goal-posts were apparently moved:
"It seems as if then the big monster studio machine and all the machinations behind it, all the cogs and wheels rolling, suddenly it went from an 'offer' to 'subject to a screen test' blah, blah, blah, 'subject to approval'..."
He did however confirm that the film would have been better than Superman Returns:
"In my view, and I say this with respect, it's far superior t... J.J. had a vision that was larger. It spanned galaxies. It was Lord of the Rings. I mean, it was that huge. It was like a Third World War on Earth involving different planets and universes, and brotherhoods - sibling rivalry and the collision of enormous powers. I mean, come on, it wasn't smacking you over the head with a symbolic hammer till you weren't paying attention. That's how good J.J. is."
Would He Have Worked? Had it been a comedy, perhaps. But it wasn't, so that's a big negatory. Even though casting a comedic actor for Batman worked with Michael Keaton, that was very much a blip, and casting Fraser would have been more like casting George Clooney, which didn't turn out very well.
