Matt Bomer Says He Lost Superman Role After Being Outed As Gay
Actor Matt Bomer says he was removed from his role as Clark Kent in a J.J. Abrams-written Superman film–tentatively titled Superman: Flyby–after being outed as a gay man.
Bomer detailed the experience on a recent episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatters podcast, saying “Basically, I went in on a cattle call for Superman, and then it turned into a four-month audition experience where I was auditioning again and again and again… flying out to LA and doing chemistry reads, flying back to New York, flying back to LA to do a screen test, and it looked like I was the director’s choice for the role.”
Perhaps best known for his role as con-artist Neal Caffrey on White Collar, Bomer was a recurring cast member on the popular soap opera Guiding Light at the time of the Superman casting process, playing Ben Reade. In a shocking plot twist, his character was revealed to be a male prostitute and serial killer as a way of writing him out of the show so he could pursue the Superman opportunity.