Chris Meloni Wished the Rumor About Him Being This Superman Villain Was True
The Superman movie Man of Steel featured several veteran actors, including Law & Order star Christopher Meloni. But when he was first announced to do the film, audiences initially thought he was cast as a major character.
Christopher Meloni would’ve enjoyed being Lex Luthor
In Man of Steel, audiences saw Meloni playing military general Nathan Hardy. It was a role that Meloni didn’t even have to audition for. The film’s director Zack Snyder simply thought he’d be right for the part.
“Zack Snyder thought it was a good idea and I got offered the role. And I couldn’t have been happier. It’s not often that you have a C or D storyline that has a nice arc to it, and I thought that for a character that’s not one of the top three guys, my journey was good. It had resonance,” Meloni once told Rolling Stone.
When news of his casting first broke, though, there was speculation that he could’ve been playing Lex Luthor. Lex was revealed to be portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg in Batman vs Superman. But when asked if a small part of Meloni wished that he ended up as Lex, Meloni gave a very honest response.
“Sure! Of course. You want to be recognized as a franchise name, but Colonel Nathan Hardy, I enjoyed his arc. I thought it was an important arc,” Meloni once said to Vulture.
Playing the character had even more of an impact on Meloni when he learned the name was based on a true hero.
“And when they told me he was named after a Navy SEAL who had lost his life in combat, I was really honored and I felt kind of a sense of importance and duty or something to approach it respectfully,” Meloni said. “It really added a sense of gravitas to what I was doing, because I felt like I was carrying along a real person. And the Air Force gave me all the information, if my character was what he was, where he was, what his educational trajectory would have been, what he would have accomplished, so that helped. And I researched my guy, because they were using his name out of a sense of respect, to honor him in a small way.”
Chris Meloni felt great just being a normal civilian in ‘Man of Steel’
Meloni has been used to being the lead on a project before. But with Man of Steel, he was portraying an ordinary man in a world of super beings. Meloni, however, didn’t mind being a regular civilian. Especially seeing what Henry Cavill had to endure while dressing up as Superman.
“I arrived on set and I saw Henry Cavill in his Superman getup in ninety degree weather and I was like, ‘I’m glad you’re Superman and I’m not.’ I actually felt really great that, as a quote-un-quote civilian – even though I’m a military guy – that, instead of the usual Batman-save-us-from-the-bad-guys stuff, they incorporated humans to have some value too,” Meloni said.
How Zack Snyder helped relieve Christopher Meloni’s nerves about starring in a blockbuster Superman film
There was a bit of pressure when it came to starring in a Superman movie. The Oz star was joining a cast featuring a few acclaimed actors along with Superman himself. And because this was the first Superman film in years, the expectations were high. But Meloni felt Snyder helped create a a calm environment on set with his approachable personality.
“And then you bump into Zack Snyder, who’s in charge of this multi-million machine, and everyday he’s like this. ‘Hey, how’s it going? How you doing?’ I never did not see a smile on that guy’s face and I went, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be okay,'” Meloni once said on Katie.
