A redditor copied down the following from a recent interview with Joe Manganiello in which he lets it be known he was up for Henry Cavill’s role of Superman in Man of Steel as well:
Joe Manganiello: I wound up not being able to play Superman because of my contract on True Blood.
I heard about that. The Man of Steel Movie right?
Joe: Yeah, I wound up not being able to do the movie. But I’d created a relationship with the director and the studio that then came back around. And now once the show (True Blood) was over they came back for me and I’m going to go play the villain in the Batman movie that’s going to start shooting sometime next year.
That’s Affleck’s movie right?
Joe: That’s right, yeah.
That’s going to be a wild one. I hear a lot of crazy things about that. Like a ton of villains.
Joe: Ummm, I cannot say and speak anything to that but I’m you know… except for… I’M going to play the villain in that one.
Well I’m certainly looking forward to that.
[continued later on in podcast]
I gotta tell ya. I can’t wait for the Affleck thing. Because Affleck’s so interesting. How well do you know him? I mean like, I love the way he puts a different spin on stuff like- for example this Batman movie. I’m sure it will be different from any one ever done.
Joe: It is. That’s true. When I met Ben we sat down and we talked about, you know, the role. We talked about the movie. His take is a fresh take but I think the audience is going to be surprised. Because it’s a road that no one’s really gone down that’s completely integral to, you know, who Batman is. And I think it’s gonna be refreshing but at the same time completely familiar. But it’s going to take this franchise in a direction that I think A LOT of people are going to be really happy about.
It’s going to be gritty and action packed and cerebral and all of those elements that people love about Batman. Ben’s a great director, man. I mean the last movie that man directed won best picture. He’s got an Oscar for writing. Like, this is all the components to go down as a… everything is lined up for a really really really great movie. Not only a superhero movie but just a great great movie. Which is why, you know, I told him in the room man, when I met him, “I should be so lucky, I’d be in great hands to work with you, I love your movies, let’s do this.”
The Ben Affleck Batman movie has no release date set as of yet. Affleck is supposed to direct Batman and is co-writing with Geoff Johns. The Batman movie also stars Jeremy Irons as Alfred and JK Simmons as Commissioner Gordon.
Joe Manganiello is also heavily speculated to first appear in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, out November 17, 2017.
