The Oscar winner who was offered every major male role in the 1978 film Superman

The New Hollywood era, which began with the release of the true-story film “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967 before breathing its last in 1981 with Michael Cimino’s notorious bomb “Heaven’s Gate” (a film that its star , Christopher Walken, considered more hate than it deserved), was one of the most stimulating artistic movements of the 20th century. It came after a creative fallow period for the major studios, which were mostly run by aging moguls who had lost the pulse of the moviegoing public. They didn’t get the Baby Boomer generation, so when a younger, hipper group of executives and producers demonstrated their ability to fill the country’s theaters with films like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Exorcist” and “The Godfather,” there was a sudden changing of guard (and mentality).

This mentality had nothing to do with the type of films that were made. It was just as the great screenwriter William Goldman once joked: When it came to what worked, no one knew anything. What they did know, however, was that movies like “M*A*S*H,” “American Graffiti” and “Jaws” had people lining up around blocks at their local movie theaters. Movies were becoming first-run phenomena, and with the proliferation of multiplexes, studios were eager to get them into the country’s theaters much faster than usual to take advantage of the hype.

“Jaws” and “Star Wars” were works of New Hollywood in the sense that they were filmed in unconventional ways by young directors who made their studios incredibly nervous as to whether they could achieve the promised success, but they were also In essence, exciting attractions built to captivate. all ages. When studios realized how much money could be made from these blockbusters (“Jaws” was the highest-grossing film of all time until “Star Wars” surpassed it two years later), they were willing to spare no expense to duplicate these successes.

Producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind knew this when they were putting together “Superman: The Movie,” so to ensure their film was the must-see event of 1978, they spent money with reckless abandon. This was especially true when it came to assembling the cast. No name was too big and no price was too high… although one Hollywood legend and Academy Award winner managed to say no to three of the film’s four lead roles.

The Salkinds were already notable Hollywood actors when they set out to make “Superman” (the budget of which was a constant point of contention). Their controversial split of “The Three Musketeers” and “The Four Musketeers,” where they tried to get away with paying their actors once for two films essentially shot back-to-back, accelerated the Salkind Clause. As such, the industry was on guard against its unconventional practices and eager to profit.

While trying to cast the film’s three lead male roles (Superman/Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, and Jor-El), the Salkinds aimed as high as possible. His wish list for the lead role included almost all the big names in Hollywood, for example, Steve McQueen, Robert Redford and Sylvester Stallone. Some of these names were considered for the other two roles, but only one film legend was offered for all three roles: Paul Newman.

Newman had turned 53 the year “Superman” was released. Surprisingly, the Ohio rogue with the piercing blue eyes could still have played the role of the Man of Steel (although the dark-dyed hair would have seemed strange), but the man who once played “Hud” had no interest in donning a spandex suit. He was equally uninterested in playing Lex Luthor or Jor-El.

Did he regret it? He never said anything about what is available in the public record. but in an interview with superman home pageIlya Salkind once claimed that Newman “almost had a heart attack” when he learned that Marlon Brando made $19 million from “Superman: The Movie” after agreeing to a $3.7 million upfront deal with him. with 11.75% of the gross receipts to play Jor-El. At the very least, that would have been a big haul for Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp (which still profits from sales of its salad dressings and frozen pizzas).