After being tapped by Zack Snyder to play Deathstroke in his cut of Justice League, the stage was supposed to be set for Joe Manganiello to star in both Ben Affleck's The Batman and in a solo outing for the Terminator helmed by The Raid's Gareth Evans. Unfortunately, things didn't pan out that way, and the actor seems to be making a habit of missing out on big roles.
The Magic Mike star recently took to social media (via Toonado.com) to reveal that he came close to playing fan-favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character Casey Jones in a movie for Paramount Pictures around a decade ago.
Responding to screenwriter and director Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun), who revealed he also pitched a standalone Casey Jones movie five years ago, Manganiello said: "About ten years ago, Paramount wanted to make something with me and I said I wanted to play Casey Jones...I would have done this in a heartbeat."
So, that's two Casey Jones movies we've missed out on over the past ten years, though we can probably hazard a guess as to why this didn't happen.
In 2014, Paramount released the Michael Bay-produced live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and the decision was made to introduce Casey in the 2016 sequel. In that, he was played by Arrow star Stephen Amell, so we're guessing there just wasn't room to make Manganiello's dream a reality.
It's unclear whether a role in Out of the Shadows was ever offered to him, but we'd say the former Deathstroke made the right decision if he passed on that dismal blockbuster.
As for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, those characters will return in this August's CG-animated Mutant Mayhem from producer Seth Rogen.
Do you think Manganiello would have made a good live-action Casey Jones?
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