Jude Law Reveals the Real Reason Why He Turned Down the Role of Superman

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Jude Law
has played many memorable characters, including Dr. John Watson in Sherlock Holmes, but there is one iconic role that he turned down…. Superman.

Despite being a well-known actor, who seems to be able to take on any part thrown his way, Law revealed that he actually said no to portraying the legendary comic book hero, and it's not because he was too busy. In fact, it had to do with the costume!


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On Tuesday, Law appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to promote his new movie, Genius, and opened up about why he didn't want to be the next man to play the Man of Steel.

"This was a while ago. So, you remember they were rebooting, they rebooted Superman, not this last time with Henry Cavill. They did it once before," he explained.

"Like 2004 or something like that?" host Stephen Colbert asked.

"Yeah, something like that. When I was obviously young enough to play Superman," Law joked.


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"I can see a fair amount of your chest right now and I'm thinking you're looking pretty good," Colbert teased before Law tried to cover up his body and pretend to be embarrassed as the studio audience cheered him on.

The 43-year-old actor admitted that he just wasn’t feeling it when he was offered the role. "So, I was approached and at the time, I don't know, I just didn't, it didn't float my boat. I just didn't really want to go there," he said.

When asked why not, he blamed it on his English upbringing. "I'm an Englishman! I felt like it just didn't seem to fit," Law explained. "I was always worried about the outfit. I just didn't fancy it."

Despite not wanting to wear the instantly recognizable costume, the Oscar-nominated actor nevertheless gave in and agreed to try it on at the request of the director. When the suit arrived at his hotel room it came with someone from the movie’s team and a guard so nothing went awry.


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"I take the suit into the bathroom and I'm putting it on and then I look round and I'm in the mirror and then suddenly I'm Superman right?" Law explained about his cool moment in the suit. He even admitted that the theme song came into his head while he was rocking the outfit.

"Then I have this picture of me in that costume in posters all around the world and I was like, 'No way.' And I unzipped it," he recalled. "I was Superman for two minutes. That's enough."

Law might've been against stepping into the Superman suit, but he isn't afraid of fully committing to some other costumes. He completely changed his look for the upcoming Sky and the HBO series, The Young Pope, where he plays the pontiff -- getup and all. See it below.

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