The dream role Amy Adams auditioned for three times for three different movies
Ironically, the role that Amy Adams pursued the most is one of the worst of her otherwise excellent filmography.
It almost goes without saying that she is one of the best actresses working today, showing unparalleled depth and range, with the sheer number of contemporary classics that she has appeared in continuing to draw speculation on when Adams might finally win her first Academy Award, despite being nominated for Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, American Hustle, and Vice.
Adams’ trajectory has been slightly off as of late, as some of her recent role choices have been disappointing, even if her performances have never been subpar, and one of the most unusual aspects of her career was her role as Lois Lane in the DC Extended Universe, which she reprised in several films.
While it seems odd that she would work so hard to be in a comic book franchise, she claimed that it was a role that she had desired for quite some time, saying, “Superman is a touchstone of my childhood. Some of the films I’ve done have been quiet, affecting dramas, but I grew up watching big movie spectacles like Superman and Star Wars. It was where my education and love of film came from.”
The attempt to get a new Superman film off the ground had been an ongoing process for Warner Bros for many years, given that he is perhaps the most famous superhero of all time. Adams first read for the role of Lois Lane for director Brett Ratner, who was working on a reboot called Superman: Flyby, which ultimately never ended up happening.
After years of developing different iterations of what their superhero reboot would be, Warner Bros finally moved forward with Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, which was released in 2006, for which Adams once again auditioned but ended up losing out when the part went to Kate Bosworth. However, she was not dismayed in her pursuit and decided to try again when Zack Snyder began working on the new reboot called Man of Steel.
“I was just going to throw my hat in again, because I did love these superhero movies and I just never saw myself as any other character than Lois Lane,” Adams said, “I figured it was a very Lois-y thing to do to try again.”
Although Man of Steel was a critical disappointment, it performed well enough to inspire a sequel, which meant that the actor could reprise her role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, as well as Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a four-hour extended cut of the film that featured reshoots done by the director.
Of the many issues with the DC Extended Universe, Adams’ performance isn’t one of them; she’s adequate in the role of a whipsmart reporter, and her lack of chemistry with Henry Cavill can be blamed on the script. However, the increasingly toxic nature of Snyder’s vision eventually led Warner Bros to scrap its initial plans and start a new DC Universe, which meant that Rachel Brosnahan replaced Adams as the new Lois in 2025’s Superman. Notwithstanding, she will soon be able to fulfil a different childhood dream, as she is part of the cast of the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter.
