Luckily, Cavill still got to play a genre icon in 2013’s Man of Steel.
Henry Cavill as sparkling vampire? It could have happened!
When Summit Entertainment optioned the film rights to Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling Twilight novels in 2007, the author celebrated the news on her blog, while reflecting on MTV and Paramount’s failed attempt to bring the fanged romantic saga to the big screen (all five films are now streaming on Peacock).
Twilight author Stephanie Meyer originally wanted Henry Cavill to play Edward Cullen on the big screen
Most notable among Meyer’s regrets was the fact that a pre-Man of Steel Cavill, her personal choice for the role of lead bloodsucker Edward Cullen, had become too old for the part. “The most disappointing thing for me is losing my perfect Edward,” she wrote. “Henry Cavill is now twenty-four-years-old. Let us have a moment of quiet in which to mourn…” She then wanted on to suggest that he played Cullen’s father, Carlisle.
It is worth noting that Cavill was never officially offered the role of Edward, which ultimately landed at the feet of another future DC star, Robert Pattinson (Peter Facinelli, meanwhile, landed Carlisle). “I didn’t know about the movie,” Cavill admitted during an interview in 2022. “I didn’t know about them wanting to cast me and the internet wasn’t quite the tool that it is now, and so I only found out afterward. I was like, ‘Oh okay, that would have been cool.'”
Surprisingly, he did once go up against Pattinson for the job of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (watch it on Peacock right here), though he couldn’t remember much about the audition. “[It] may have gone well, it may have gone terribly,” he added. “I’m sure someone out there has footage which hopefully is locked away and will never be seen. But yeah, I didn’t get it. It wasn’t right.”
Cavill will return to theaters early next month as the titular super-spy in Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle. Based on the novel of the same name by mysterious author Elly Conway, the film also stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2), John Cena (Fast X), Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Dua Lipa (Barbie), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Samuel L. Jackson (Secret Invasion), and Vaughn’s actual pet cat, Chip.
