Leonardo DiCaprio has famously avoided superhero franchises throughout his career. However, the Academy Award-winning actor almost played Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Why was Leonardo DiCaprio Interested in Playing Lex Luthor?
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, director Zack Snyder discussed potential candidates who could have played Luthor in BvS. After host Josh Horowitz mentioned Tom Hanks and Adam Driver as potential Luthor candidates, Snyder revealed he had a conversation with DiCaprio about playing Superman’s arch-nemesis.
“Leonardo DiCaprio, I talked to about it,” Snyder said. “I think DiCaprio, he had a lot of great ideas actually just in the meeting. I think in the end, he was like, ‘I don’t know.’ But he was really smart about the material and really smart about the character.”
Snyder eventually cast Jesse Eisenberg instead of DiCaprio as Lex Luthor. Yet, DiCaprio’s meeting with Snyder impacted the director’s choices in future films. According to Snyder, DiCaprio suggested a major plot point involving Superman, which became the basis for Justice League.
“I think he [DiCaprio] was the one who mentioned to me this idea about Superman fighting the Justice League at some point,” Snyder added. “I was like, ‘OK, that’s good, then. I’m gonna put that over there.'”
Watch the entire interview with Snyder below.
