Henry Cavill On How "The Almost Parts" Kept Him Going

Henry Cavill has not had it easy in Hollywood. He came close to landing roles in Harry Potter, Twilight, James Bond and Bryan Singer's Superman but couldn't close the deal. Well, lucky for him he's the kind of guy to use those failures as motivation. “The funny thing is, that the roles I almost had are the ones that kept me going,” he says. “Because almost getting Bond or the previous Superman were a sign, to me, that I should keep on pluggin.’ And I was right. It’s turning into a GREAT year.”

When testing for Theseus in Tarsem Singh's Immortals, here's what transpired as recounted by Henry.“When Tarsem [Singh, the director] and I first met, I did a screen test and he said, ‘OK, let’s take the shirt off [Editor's Note: awkward]. By the way, you know if you get this part, a six-pack won’t be good enough. You’re going to need an eight-pack.’ I was far from having even a six-pack, then. But I took it as a challenge. ‘No more excuses for not getting into shape. I am doing a job that requires me to be in this kind of shape, so … hell-bent-for-leather, let’s do it!’”

And apparently, Immortals in shape is nothing compared to the training it took to sculpt his Man of Steel physique. “The amount of back squats, the amount of time I spend hobbling around a set because my trainers beasted me with leg work is just uncountable,” Cavill says with a laugh. “I may be a crippled Superman, but at least I’ll have great-looking legs.” So, I thought Superman would be going topless in Man of Steel, not bottomless?

All jokes aside, Cavill took his role in Immortals very seriously and in previous interviews he seemed pleased with how his portrayal turned out on the big screen. Reflecting on the heart of the story, “There’s a similar message in all the stories of Western mythology: The hero rising from nothing to greatness, against all odds,” Cavill says. “These are idealized characters who triumph over repressive regimes, tyrants. Modern myths work the same way as the ancient ones. The setting changes, the story doesn’t."

And what's Cavill's dream role?

“I’ve always had a soft spot for Alexander the Great,” Cavill says. “It’ll be years before anybody tries that again...

Man of Steel is an upcoming American superhero film under the development of Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Superman, the film will be a reboot of the Superman film series. Using Chicago as a backdrop, and with production to be based in west suburban Plano, the film entered principal photography in August 2011, for a planned theatrical release on June 14, 2013 by Warner Bros., which also includes IMAX venues.