Nicolas Cage talks Superman Lives and appearing in The Flash

It’s always been one of cinema’s great ‘what ifs.’ Back in the late 1990s, DC‘s Superman franchise was on hiatus. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace had been panned, with critics even today still considering it one of the worst movies ever made. Leading man Christopher Reeve suffered a horrific riding accident in 1995 that rendered him unable to continue in the role even if the series were to be been revived. Enter Tim Burton, Nicholas Cage, and Superman Lives.

Tim Burton was one of the standout directors of the late 1980s and 90s, celebrated for moody films like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and the first two Batman movies. He seemed a good choice to give Superman a revamp just as he’d done with Batman.

For his leading man, Burton chose Nicholas Cage, who might seem like an unusual pick for Superman. Cage is famous for veering between acting genius and being an outright ham, but he’s always memorable. And as a comic book fan, he was committed, saying at the time that he hoped to “reconceive the character” with his performance.

Speaking to USA Today, Cage says that viewers can see echoes of what he would have originally done with Superman in his performance in 1998s City of Angels. “I was supposed (to play) Clark Kent after that, and I was already developing this alien otherness playing this angel,” he said. “That is a perfect example of the tonality you would’ve gotten for Kal-El and for Clark Kent: Clark would’ve been a little more amusing but Kal-El [had] the sensitivity and the goodness and the vulnerability and all those feelings that were kind of angelic and also terrifying.”

Superman Lives to The Flash: A vision realized

With Burton and Cage on board, the stage was set. Superman Lives would involve the villain Brainiac teaming with Lex Luthor to block out the sun and forcing Superman into a robotic suit. Warner Bros. expected the movie to be the big summer blockbuster of 1998. Alongside Cage as Superman/Clark Kent, Kevin Spacey was approached for Lex Luthor, Christopher Walken for Brainiac, Chris Rock for Jimmy Olson, and Courteney Cox or Julianne Moore for Lois Lane. It would have been a stellar cast, with a face-off between Nicholas Cage and Christopher Walken undoubtedly being a scene-stealing highlight.

Superman Lives entered pre-production in 1997, which is where we got the famous test footage of Cage in the Superman suit. However, there were already rumblings about the script, with a rewrite ordered to lower the expense. The budget was cut from $190m to $100m, and then in the spring of 1998, the movie was abandoned altogether.

Tim Burton left the project and gave us Sleepy Hollow instead. His experiences with the film left a bad taste in his mouth, with the director saying that he had “wasted a year.” Cage would continue as he always had, starring in movies as diverse as the brilliant Gone in 60 Seconds and the atrocious Wicker Man remake. And he did eventually star in a superhero movie: Kick-Ass. However, it seemed like his opportunity to play Superman had forever passed him by. That is until The Flash.

The Flash, which came out earlier this year, had plentiful cameos from the likes of Superman, Batman and Supergirl. The movie underperformed at the box office, but many were pleased to finally see Cage as Superman, if only for a moment. For his part, the actor was happy to see the vision behind Superman Lives make it to the screen, although he sounds a little disappointed that it was so brief:

"Well, I was glad I didn’t blink. For me, it was the feeling of being actualized. Even that look for that particular character, finally seeing it on screen, was satisfying. But as I said, it’s quick."

Nicholas Cage can be seen next in the action-comedy The Retirement Plan, releasing in theaters August 23. Meanwhile, if you fancy watching The Flash, the movie was released on digital download earlier this month and will make its way to Blu-Ray and DVD on August 29.

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