Video: Jude Law Explains Why He Turned Down Playing Superman

If all goes to plan, Henry Cavill will be Superman for a long time. Before he accepted the role, however, many actors almost played the character. Nicolas Cage is a famous one. Josh Hartnett is another and Jude Law is a third. Law recently told the story of how he was considering playing the role in a version of the film that was going to be directed by Brett Ratner, but ultimately passed. Listen to the Jude Law Superman story below.

This video, courtesy of MTV, is a few weeks old but just hit our radar.

I know MTV embeds sometimes don't work outside the US, so here are some quotes. First up, on his initial trepidation.

I didn't want to spend the rest of my life being that guy who played Superman. If you ever get caught smoking [a cigarette] and you're Superman then you ruin the lives of all the children around the world.

But still, the actor was curious. So he agreed to look at the costume. Security brought it to him and Law decided he wanted to try it on:

I go in the bathroom, put it on and look in the mirror, and suddenly, I am Superman. And it is an amazing costume. My chest pops up and the music comes on... That was it. I got it out of my system. I took it off, put it in the bag, and was like, 'I'm not going to do it.' I saw myself. No need for the rest of the world to see me.

And so Jude Law got to see Jude Law as Superman and thereby denied the vision to the world. No photos were taken so it only exists in the actor's head. Now, of course, the movie didn't end up happening anyway. The idea was scrapped and then slowly morphed into what would become Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. Still, Law now seems genuinely excited by this story and maybe open to joining the world of superheroes now.