Matt Bomer was not denied the role of Superman because of being gay
Despite recent rumours, a source close to Matt Bomer, star of White Collar, has said that his sexuality was not the reason he did not play Superman.
In an interview with GaydarRadio, talking about her new book, Jackie Collins had said that Mr Bomer was dropped as Superman after producers of Superman Flyby, to be directed by Brett Ratner, found out he was gay.
New reports have suggested that he did not go ahead in the role because the director was changed, and therefore the casting changed too. A source confirmed this, according to E!:
“Matt was Brett’s Superman,” the source said. “He would never have not cast Matt because he’s gay. Brett knew Matt was gay. They’re good friends. Matt not being Superman had nothing to do with his sexuality. It was because the director changed.”
The project did not go ahead with Mr Ratner, and evolved into what became Superman Returns, released in 2006.
Ms Collins had said that, at the time, Mr Bomer “had not come out of the closet, but people in the know knew he was gay,”
“His audition tape went in and he called up the agent. Someone didn’t like him and told [the production] he was gay. They said, ‘No, no, we can’t cast you.’ The reason he didn’t get cast was because he was gay.”
In response to this development, Ms Collins said that a “Hollywood exec” told her the story about Bomer “ages ago.”
“You can’t trust them I guess,” the author said in a statement on Tuesday. “I have more faith in Santa Claus now than I do an exec.”
Earlier this year, Bomer was the focus of a similar controversy involving, American Psycho, writer Bret Easton Ellis, who told his Twitter followers he thought it would be “ludicrous” to cast an openly gay actor like Matt Bomer as the lead in the film adaptation of the erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey.
