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News/ Matt Bomer: The Real Reason He Never Played Superman (No, It's Not Because He's Gay!)

by Marc Malkin                                                                         Tue., Oct. 23, 2012 1:21 PM PDT

Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com

If an actor is gay, does it mean he can't play Superman?

Nope!

Just ask White Collar hottie Matt Bomer.

Unfortunately, Jackie Collins recently started a rumor that's spreading across the web that Bomer's sexuality cost him playing the Man of Steel in director Brett Ratner's 2003 project, Superman Flyby.

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Collins told Gaydar Radio earlier this month that producers gave Bomer the boot when they found out he was gay. "They said, 'No, no, we can't cast you,'" the best-seLling author said. "The reason he didn't get cast was because he was gay."

However, a source tells me Bomer's sexuality had nothing to do with it.

"Matt was Brett's Superman," the source says. "He would never have not cast Matt because he's gay. Brett knew Matt was gay. They're good friends. Matt not being Superman had nothing to do with his sexuality. It was because the director changed."

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The project was eventually retooled by director Bryan Singer as Superman Returns with Brandon Routh in the starring role, but it ultimately failed to revitalize the superhero franchise.

Bomer confirmed in a 2010 interview with MTV News he had landed the much-coveted part.

"I actually screen-tested for Superman, and there was a time when Brett Ratner and I were going to work together on it," he said. "That particular incarnation of that franchise sort of fell apart, and then it became a whole different beast."

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His audition included Superman's iconic body-hugging suit. "I was in full tights," Bomer also told MTV. "I was rocking the rights, the Speedo, all of it."

Collins says a "Hollywood exec" told her the story about Bomer "ages ago."

"You can't trust them I guess," the author said in a statement this morning. "I have more faith in Santa Claus now than I do an exec."

Bomer's rep did not comment for this story.