Nicolas Cage Recalls Almost Playing a 'Sort of Emo' Superman for Director Tim Burton

Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage is explaining why his Superman film with Tim Burton never came to fruition.

As Cage, 59, accepted the Variety Legend & Groundbreaker Award at Miami Film Festival on Sunday, the National Treasure star told an audience about his past involvement with the superhero genre, according to Variety.

"They wanted Renny Harlin to do the movie," Cage recalled to an audience on Sunday, referring to the Cliffhanger director. "I sat down with Renny. I was doing another picture, he came to the trailer and we talked. I liked Renny… but I thought if I'm going to do this, it's such a bullseye to hit."

The actor went on to explain that he instead asked director Burton, who had directed Michael Keaton as Batman in 1989's Batman and 1992's Batman Returns, to helm the film, noting he "was a big fan" of Burton's work with the Caped Crusader.

"But they were scared at the studio because of Mars Attacks!," Cage said, referencing Burton's 1996 release. "Warner Brothers had lost a lot of money on the movie. These movies that are really weird, that challenge and break ground, they piss a lot of people off. I think they got cold feet [on Superman Lives]."

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Rolando Rodriguez/jpistudios

"They'd spent a lot of money already building the sets and the costume and what have you," he recalled. "But you never know. I don't mean to be cryptic Cage, but you never know!"

Cage described his take on the character as "a really different, sort of emo Superman, but we never got there," per Variety.

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Superman Lives was ultimately cancelled after years of rewrites and redesigns. Though Cage never got to film the movie, a surviving image of the actor in a Superman costume wearing long brown hair has recirculated in recent years thanks to a 2015 documentary titled The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, which which explores why the film was ultimately axed.

The documentary, which is available on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD through its official website, explains that a photo of Cage wearing an unfinished version of the costume leaked and was met with much ire from fans. The actor was fresh off his 1995 Oscar win for Leaving Las Vegas, yet disgruntled moviegoers didn't buy the star in the iconic role.

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"They couldn't give a shape to it in their minds," the documentary's producer Holly Payne told Fast Company's Co.CREATE back in 2015.

"And no one had seen the art, except for one horrible Polaroid of Nicolas Cage, exhausted, taken during a costume test," Payne added at the time.