With Man of Steel coming out, and an iconic superhero being the main showcase, people always want to know about the person playing that superhero. Christian Bale was an established actor before Batman Begins, but it really shot him to super A-list. Robert Downey Jr. was a popular cult actor, and known widely for being a drug addict who cleaned up his act, and the studio made a huge gamble casting him as Tony Stark in Iron Man. We all know how that turned out. Now, in 2013, comes Henry Cavill as Superman, or the Man of Steel. The media, as usual, makes it look like Cavill was just walking down the street with Christopher Nolan and Zach Snyder where having a latte and pointed at him, yelling, "He's perfect!" When in fact, Cavill has been around for a while, and there are lots of fun facts about him, including what he has been in, and what he could have been in.
What You've Seen Him In
In 2002, The Count of Monte Cristo was made into a film, again. It starred Jim Caviezel (Jesus), and Guy Pierce. The movie was immensely underrated, and I even went out specifically to buy it on DVD and watch it at least once a month. Henry was in the movie as Guy Pierce's son, but in reality he was Caviezel's son (Watch the movie, its 10 years old). He was fantastic in this film and I knew the moment he was cast as Superman, it was a perfect fit because the guy was a natural actor.
If you have the pay cable channel Showtime, you've probably seen him in the historical drama The Tudors. Although it's vastly historically inaccurate, Cavill excels in his performance as Charles Brandon, First Duke of Suffolk. He wore the most ridiculous costumes, but someone made it seem to work. Kind of like how everybody has that friend who can pull off anything they find in a thrift store. They just wear it and people throw thumbs up their way.
Most recently, he played Theseus in the film Immortals. It was a beautifully shot film, and showed off more of Cavill's ability as an actor, and as a badass. There's one scene in particular where his town is being evacuated, and his people aren't important enough to be evacuated until the following day. Obviously, Theseus objects, and beats up an entire platoon of soldiers, and also because one of them called his Mother a "Whore." Yeah, probably not the smartest thing to do.
He Could Have Been Edward In The Twilight Series
Talentless writer Stephanie Meyer envisioned Henry Cavill as the 100 something year old pedophile Edward Cullen when writing the Twilight books. By the time the worst films in history were about to be made, Cavill was too old to play a 100 something year old who's 17 in appearance. This is a major dodge for Cavill, because Pattinson's career is basically over after those films. Who the hell is going to watch Water for Elephants? No one. The best movie Pattinson was in was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and he dies at the end of that one. Maybe that's why that film is my favorite of that series. The fact that Cavill was considered too old to play a 17-year-old is insane. Have you ever watched television or movies where actors and actresses portray high school kids? They're in their 30s. Either way, we're lucky that Cavill didn't sparkle in the Sun as an effeminate vampire, and is now powered by the Sun as Superman.
He's A Nerd At Heart
When not being considered to play James Bond, Batman, and Superman (Yes, really), he is playing World of Warcraft in his down time. It's this game that almost cost him the job as Superman because he missed the phone call from Zach Snyder, Director of Man of Steel. On a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Conan...I mean, Jay Leno, Cavill had this to say, with all his nerdy intricacies, "I'm a big PC gamer, and I was playing an online game called World of Warcraft," Cavill said. "I was playing this game, and you can't save it. You can't pause or anything and other people are relying on you to play certain roles on a team. And it was a highpoint of the game. And so the phone's ringing, and I'm ignoring it and ignoring it, because I'm not going to bail on these guys (His group in the game, where one person leaving could affect the odds of winning a battle). And I look down and it's Zack Snyder calling, so I dive for the phone, and I missed the call from Zack Snyder, the one I'd been waiting for, for Man of Steel." Now that's dedication for a role! -- playing game!