Clint Eastwood Was Offered James Bond and Superman But Held Out for Another Superhero

eastwood_225.jpgAnd to think, James Bond fans went apoplectic when Daniel Craig was initially cast as 007 because he was blonde. Quintessential American Clint Eastwood has revealed that following Sean Connery's exit from the Bond series in the '60s, he was asked to take over as the suave MI:6 agent. This, years after he was also asked to play Superman on the big screen. So why didn't this Hollywood icon become even more iconic? He knew better.

Said Eastwood in an interview with the LA Times:

"I can remember - and this was many years ago - when [Warner Bros. President] Frank Wells came to me about doing Superman. So it could have happened. This was when they first started to think about making it. I was like, 'Superman? Nah, nah, that's not for me.' Not that there's anything wrong with it. It's for somebody, but not me.

"I was also offered pretty good money to do James Bond if I would take on the role. This was after Sean Connery left. My lawyer represented the Broccolis [who produce the Bond franchise] and he came and said, 'They would love to have you.' But to me, well, that was somebody else's gig. That's Sean's deal. It didn't feel right for me to be doing it."

Eastwood cited his interest in more "grounded" characters as a reason for turning down the two roles, but he was also -- hilariously -- concerned about type-casting: "True, I had the western genre and the Dirty Harry role, but everybody made westerns and did cop movies; they didn't seem as bad," he said.

Still, there is one genre character Eastwood would have broken rank for: The Sub-Mariner. "[T]hat's the one I always liked. I had all of those comics when I was a kid." No truth to the rumor that Marvel president Kevin Feige just placed a call to Eastwood's house.

· Clint Eastwood as Superman or James Bond? 'It could have happened,' he says [LAT/Hero Complex]



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