In the realm of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the portrayal of Lex Luthor might have taken a vastly altered appearance.
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| Leonardo DiCaprio; Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor in 'Batman v Superman.' MICHAEL OSTUNI/PATRICK MCMULLAN VIA GETTY IMAGES; EVERETT |
Zack Snyder, the director, made an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to promote the forthcoming installment of his Rebel Moon series on Netflix. During the discussion, host Josh Horowitz inquired whether there was validity to the speculation that the studio had considered Tom Hanks or Adam Driver for the antagonist position.
"I recall conversing with Adam over the phone," he confirmed regarding the rumored selections. "Leonardo DiCaprio, I engaged in discussion with him about it."
Even though Snyder opted for Jesse Eisenberg to portray Lex, appearing alongside Henry Cavill's Superman and Ben Affleck's Batman, he disclosed that the Titanic star "had a lot of great ideas, actually, just in the meeting.”
"I think, in the end, he was like, 'Eh, I don't know.' But he was really smart about the material and really smart about the character," the director shared. "In a lot of ways, I think he was the one that mentioned to me this idea about Superman fighting the Justice League at some point."
Snyder delved into DiCaprio's notion that Superman could confront his comrades in both his 2017 release Justice League and 2021's Zack Snyder's Justice League, the director's extended cut lasting four hours and two minutes.
Before Batman v Superman, the Killers of the Flower Moon star had been considered for a role in a superhero film. David S. Goyer, who co-wrote Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, recounted to Horowitz that DiCaprio had also been in discussions for a part in those movies.
In 2023, the screenwriter reminisced, "I recall after The Dark Knight, the Warner Bros. chief at the premiere said, 'You have to do the Riddler. Leo as the Riddler,' telling me, 'You have to inform Chris, Leo is the Riddler.'"
