Henry Cavill’s Terrible Audition Haunted Him for Years Before Superman Stardom

Henry Cavill is now best known as Superman and Geralt of Rivia, but it took a long road to get there. Before the cape and the silver wig, he spent years as a “nearly man,” coming close to roles that went to somebody else.

Those near misses are among Hollywood’s most famous what-ifs. He was a finalist for James Bond, the author of ‘Twilight’ wanted him as Edward Cullen, and he was in line to play Superman a full decade before ‘Man of Steel’. Each time, the part slipped away.

One audition from early in his career still stands out, though, and Cavill has said it haunted him for years. It’s the one he botched in front of an actor he idolized.

Cavill has described auditioning for a project opposite Patrick Stewart when he had been acting for only about three years. He was so nervous about performing in front of an actor of Stewart’s caliber that he spent weeks learning his lines, then worked himself into a frenzy by the time he walked in the room. He has said he flubbed the audition and left mortified.

He didn’t let it end there. Cavill went back for a second audition, and Stewart told him he was glad he had returned. That encouragement stuck with him, and he has said it gave him strength throughout his career. He has also admitted that auditions are terrifying and that sometimes the acting is just bad.

It’s a humbling story from a star who now headlines blockbusters. It also fits a pattern in Cavill’s career, where the bad days came early and the successes came later.

The biggest near miss was ‘Casino Royale‘. At 22, Cavill made it down to the final stage of auditions, but Daniel Craig got the part. Director Martin Campbell later said Cavill looked great and his acting was tremendous, but that he was ironically too young. Campbell also said eight people auditioned and that the process was democratic.

Cavill has been more critical of his own prep. He told Men’s Health that he could have done better and that he didn’t know how to train or diet back then. He said he was glad Campbell told him the truth, because he responds well to honesty. His screen test later leaked online, giving fans a look at how close he came.

The pattern continued elsewhere. Cavill lost the lead in 2006’s ‘Tristan & Isolde’ to James Franco, though he got a smaller role. He lost both Cedric Diggory in ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ and Edward Cullen in ‘Twilight’ to Robert Pattinson. Author Stephenie Meyer called him her perfect Edward on her blog, but he was considered too old for the teenage vampire by the time the film was made.

Superman also got away from him early. Cavill was set to play the hero in McG’s ‘Superman: Flyby’ in 2004, and he even did a screen test in costume. McG left the project, Bryan Singer took over and cast Brandon Routh for ‘Superman Returns’.

That setback hit hard. He has said he was so used to disappointment from the acting business, and from boarding school, that the rejection wasn’t new to him. At one stage, he considered joining the armed forces if his next movie didn’t do well.

The ‘Casino Royale’ screen test changed his mind. He realized his name was out there, so he decided to stick around. His persistence paid off when Zack Snyder cast him as Superman in ‘Man of Steel’, announced in 2011 and released in 2013.

Since then, Cavill has played Geralt in ‘The Witcher’, Sherlock Holmes in ‘Enola Holmes’ and a key role in ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’. Few actors have turned early frustration into such a long run of high-profile parts.

The story is a reminder that even stars with the right look and a famous role in their future can have a terrible day in the room. Cavill’s willingness to tell those stories is part of why they remain so relatable.

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