The Casting Choices That Almost Changed Movies As We Know Them

After Rocky (1976), it made sense that doors opened for Sylvester Stallone. He had just turned a bruised, working-class fighter into a national symbol of endurance, and the idea of him wanting Superman was not as random as it may seem. He had the body, the fame, and the momentum. What he did not have was the particular softness the role needed. Superman in Superman (1978) needed innocence, calm, humor, nobility, and a Clark Kent awkwardness that felt genuinely sweet rather than performed.