Recently, Kevin Smith opened up about whether he had any major regrets in his 30-plus years making movies, and his answer was—expectedly—not making Superman Lives. While the DC Universe is littered with scrapped film and television projects, none are more infamous. The unmade film would have starred Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel, and one of the candidates to direct was Robert Rodriguez. Notably, the film suffered a lot of production setbacks, including multiple changes in directing and writing staff. This ultimately affected Smith himself when new project director Tim Burton chose Wesley Strick to replace him.

Nearly three decades later, Smith still speaks of Superman Lives as a great what-if. He explained: “If I could make anything that didn’t happen, happen, I think it would be that.” He then clarified that he felt this was largely “because [he] didn’t have the pressure of directing the movie” himself. Smith described the combination of his writing and Rodriguez’s directing as “a wonderful marriage of material.” The Dogma director heaped praise on Rodriguez, calling him “one of [his] generation’s greatest and absolutely-f*cking-on-point visionary action directors.” Smith also was not shy about the potential this film had for his career:

I ain’t saying that’s the greatest script — but dialogue was sharp in that f*cking script. And this was pre-Avengers, you know, before that became the norm and stuff. So I would have benefited, as a screenwriter guy. “Hey, he wrote that!” It probably would have opened more doors or created more opportunities. And those things never happen in a silo, so I imagine there would have been a couple Supermans, and, even if I didn’t write the next two, you still get a taste if it’s based on your script.

Additionally, Smith lamented that writing a film for someone else to direct would have been an interesting change of pace. He concluded: “All the pressure and responsibility would have been Robert’s, and I could have hung out on set, f*cking scooping it on the Internet. I don’t ask for much. Put me in the motherf*cker. Maybe I could have played Perry White or something like that. I was probably too young at that point. I could have played somebody.”

What Kevin Smith’s Comments About Superman Lives Mean

Without a doubt, a Kevin Smith-Robert Rodriguez Superman film would have been different from any big-screen adaptation of the character so far. His script reportedly included Brainiac, Doomsday, and Lex Luthor in an adaptation of “The Death of Superman,” a story that would later be used in the DCEU. By the time Strick rewrote the script, many of Smith’s original ideas were scrapped, including his suggested casting. Both the former and Burton eventually departed the project due to clashing with the studio, and it failed to secure another director.

While there is a lot more to why Superman Lives didn’t pan out, and Smith had already been replaced by the time it was scrapped, his comments regarding his career trajectory remain true. The filmmaker has a following among those who enjoy his brand of stoner comedy and shared universes. Having written a Superman film inevitably would have made him a more mainstream screenwriter.

Our Take On Kevin Smith’s Comments About Superman Lives

Regardless of not being made, Smith’s Superman Lives remains a fascinating case of what could have been. He’d initially pitched a lineup of Ben Affleck as Clark Kent/Superman, Linda Fiorentino as Lois Lane, Jack Nicholson as Lex Luthor, Famke Janssen as Mercy Graves, John Mahoney as Perry White, and most bizarrely, Jason Mewes as Jimmy Olsen.

Between Smith’s writing and Rodriguez’s directing, Superman Lives would have been memorable to say the least. Nonetheless, Smith has created a niche fanbase for himself and seems content, even praising the direction James Gunn is taking Superman in for the DCU.