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.

"I guess I basically got fired, but in a generous way," Bomer said of the fate of his Guiding Light character.

But the decision seemed to be the right move, as Bomer signed a three-picture deal with Warner Bros. in the mid-2000s, soon after leaving the show. Unfortunately, Bomer's dream of playing the man of steel didn't last long--he was let go from the production seemingly out of nowhere. When asked if he believed his sexual orientation was the cause, Bomer said he certainly thought it might have played a part.

"That was a time in the industry when something like that could still really be weaponized against you," Bomer said. “How, and why, and who, I don't know, but yeah, that’s my understanding."

The Fellow Travelers star had not yet come out publicly at the time of his removal from the project, but his sexuality was apparently common knowledge among Hollywood insiders. Author Jackie Collins seemed to agree that his status as a gay man played a part in the incident. In 2012--the same year Bomer publicly came out as gay--Collins shared some information regarding Bomer's removal from the role on Gaydar Radio, saying, "Someone didn’t like him and told [the producers] he was gay. They said, 'No, no, we can't cast you.' The reason he didn't get cast was because he was gay."

It's important to note that, ultimately, Flyby was never made. At the time, Bret Rattner was going to direct the film. It was previously reported by E! News in 2012 that the movie halted when Rattner left the project.

Ultimately, the discrimination Bomer faced early on in his career hasn't stopped him from succeeding. He has been nominated for a number of awards (including an Emmy) for his performance in the Fellow Travelers miniseries, and won a Golden Globe in 2015 for his work on The Normal Heart. Bomer is currently working on the White Collar reboot, reprising his role as Neal Caffrey. And in the end, he did join the DC Universe. Bomer played the role of Larry Trainor/Negative Man on four seasons of DC's Doom Patrol.