Brendan Fraser Compared J.J. Abrams' Abandoned Superman Script to Shakespeare

There are plenty of unproduced scripts available online for your reading pleasure. That can be a great resource for writers, as reading other screenplays will help make you a better screenwriter. It also scratches an itch for superhero fans, such as myself. I’ve read an abandoned Batman & Superman script that ends with Batman asking Superman, “What is it with you?” My eyes have seen the script for Justice League Mortal, the team-up movie that George Miller almost gave us. And, I’ve read Superman: Flyby.

Flyby was a Superman script written by Mr. Felicity himself, J.J. Abrams. The film was supposed to be produced y Brett Ratner and, at the time, was courting all manner of Hollywood hunk to appear as the Big Blue Boy Scout. I was stuck at work early one morning, years ago, and read this screenplay that garnered so much interest, and I remember thinking it was fine. Part of me was not happy to be at work, so I’m sure that colored my perception, but I didn’t react to it the way Brendan Fraser did.

Fraser was one of the aforementioned hunks who tested for the role in the early 2000s, and, as he recently explained to Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, he was a fan. “I loved that screenplay,” the actor noted. “They let me read it. They locked me in an empty office in some studio lot, I signed an NDA. It was printed black on crimson paper, so you couldn’t photocopy it or sneak it out the door inconspicuously. I mean, it was Shakespeare in space. It was a really good screenplay.”

At the time, Fraser was certainly up for it, even overcoming the idea of the dreaded “Superman Curse.” “You feel a little certain anxiety anyway when you’re going up on some big job,” he explained, “but I also remember thinking: ‘If I do get this job, then, well, I think Superman’s gonna be chipped on my gravestone.’ There’s an element of, you are that for the rest of your days, your career. And that’s not a bad thing; I’m not saying it’s gonna kill me anytime soon, but it is something that becomes part of your entire brand, who you are. And I don’t know if I was ready to take that on then. I mean, I felt I was because [it was a] big opportunity, and excitement, et cetera, et cetera.”

With the Mummy actor having such confidence in the script, it’s a bummer that the project never went anywhere with him. He would have been a great fit for the role. And while I have a soft spot for Superman Returns (though I haven’t watched it in years), I would have been plenty happy to see a world where Brendan Fraser got to slap on the red and blue tights. Something tells me it would have felt similar to David Corenswet’s take on the character.

Alas, it would become the first of two J.J. Abrams Superman movies that wouldn’t get made (though he would have only produced the second). Hell, it’s one in a long list of unmade movies about the character. But it’s pretty cool that we live in a world where someone can mention a screenplay that was so secretive it was printed on funny paper, and you can easily go find and read that screenplay. Then… you can decide if it’s Shakespeare or not.