Snyder Reveals Jimmy Olsen's "Batman v Superman" Role, Details of Eisenberg's Audition

CBR

By Meagan Damore

Published Mar 25, 2016

Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen did indeed appear in "Batman v Superman," and the "Man of Steel" director revealed that Jesse Eisenberg almost played him.

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."

Move over, Batman! Superman's best pal Jimmy Olsen is in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." Director Zack Snyder discussed Jimmy's role during an interview with Entertainment Weekly, but the details of his scene do include some pretty big spoilers for the film, so proceed with caution.

As played by "Smallville" alum Michael Cassidy, Jimmy Olsen appeared in one of "Batman v Superman's" opening sequences, though he was never named. True to form, he accompanied Lois Lane on an interview with an African warlord. The warlord's men quickly discover that Jimmy has a CIA tracker in his camera, and he is promptly shot in the head for his betrayal.

"We just did it as this little aside because we had been tracking where we thought the movies were gonna go, and we don't have room for Jimmy Olsen in our big pantheon of characters, but we can have fun with him, right?" Snyder said of Jimmy's part. On the R-rated edition of the film, the scene will be extended, so that Jimmy can introduce himself.

Snyder also revealed that Jesse Eisenberg -- who went on to become Lex Luthor -- originally auditioned to be Jimmy.

"I thought, if it were Jesse Eisenberg and he got out and he goes, 'I'm Jimmy Olsen,' you'd be like, oh my God, we're gonna have Jimmy Olsen in the whole movie, right?'" Snyder explained. "And then if he got shot, you'd just be like, 'What!? You can't do that.'"

However, after Eisenberg's audition, Snyder had a different idea. "I was like, 'Wow, that guy is crazy... Debbie [Snyder, his wife and producer], what about Jesse as Lex?'"

Eisenberg eventually beat out several other actors, including "Breaking Bad's" Bryan Cranston, for the role. "We talked about the usual suspects that you would imagine; any actor who has been bald, probably," Synder revealed. "Bryan Cranston would have been great, right? And by the way, he's an amazing actor. Can you imagine how different the movie would be?"

Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Laurence Fishburne, Amy Adams and others, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is now in theaters.