In recent years, super-hunk Henry Cavill has revealed more of his hidden nerdier side, such as when he built a computer from scratch during lockdown. But it’s also fun to be reminded that he missed Zack Snyder’s call offering him the role of Superman because he was playing World of Warcraft.
Cavill has recounted the tale a couple of times, while promoting both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, showing that his inner geek has always been present.
He told Conan O’Brien in 2016; “The first time I got the call, I actually missed it. I was playing World of Warcraft at the time and I had my priorities straight. I was in an important part of a particular dungeon that I was going through – it’s cool now that I’m Superman – and I looked across at the last moment and saw Zack Snyder’s name on the phone. So I grabbed the phone and I missed it. So I called him back and said ‘I’m really sorry, I was saving someone’s life, which I do all the time.’ So there it is.”
And he told GQ in 2013; “I haven’t played them (my brothers) in a while. They’ve been busy. So I’ve been playing a lot of the single player games, like Skyrim. Goodness me, that’s a great game.” Cavill’s dad got him and his four brothers into computers when they were young and they had five PCs lined up next to each other on the dining room table; “we’d all play network games together, which, as you can imagine, my mother was overjoyed about.”
When Snyder called to offer him the role of Superman, Cavill says, he was in the middle of an intense session of World Of Warcraft. “And I saw it was him [calling], but the thing is, you can’t save World Of Warcraft, you can’t pause it. It’s live.” When this story was told later to Snyder, he laughed; “Haha, that’s awesome! So, he was like, ‘Who the f*** is this bothering me? I’m playing World Of Warcraft!’ That’s great. Oh, he’s a nerd. That’s why we get on so well.”
Since then, Cavill has fulfilled a long-held dream to play Geralt in The Witcher – which is adapted from both a series of books and (the reason that Cavill loved the character) a series of videogames.
Given that videogames are currently being snapped up for adaptation on a seemingly daily basis, The Witcher may very well not be the last time Cavill appears in a show or movie based on one.
Curious for the latest World of Warcraft news? Check the PCGamesN guide to the WOW Plunderstorm.