Brandon Routh is "SUPER, thanks for asking"-Man

Poor BRYAN SINGER...

You get sued by ONE group of 15-year-old boys for forcing them to strip naked for a shower scene and then watching uncut versions of the scene at orgies in your own home and IMMEDIATELY, you're labeled as some pervy, self-serving, sexual Machiavelli.

After that above mentioned debacle that occured during the production of APT PUPIL, the USUAL SUSPECTS director has found himself in hot water for casting, well, "the usual suspects" (read: fellow gays) in his big budget epics, most recently SUPERMAN RETURNS.

In an exclusive (and hastily reported) gossip item in RADAR MAGAZINE ONLINE, actor ALEX BURTON claims that he received his role in the original X-MEN film only after engaging in a hot tub tryst with the COLIN DUDICK-lookalike director. The non-shocker has lead many to believe that complete unknown BRANDON ROUTH may have scored the lead role in the upcoming $200 million blockbuster through similar means:

Did director Bryan Singer’s penchant for casting with the lensman in his pants influence his choice of Brandon Routh to play the Man of Steel in Superman Returns? Ever since the unknown 26-year-old actor—whose career highlights consist of a season on One Life to Live and an episode of Will & Grace—landed the part over Warner Brothers’ reported favorite Jim Caviezel,fanboy bloggers have been wondering whether the famously beefcake-friendly filmmaker’s decision had more to do with his libido than his director’s eye.

Of course, if Singer cast an object of his desire in a role, it wouldn’t be the first time. According to Alex Burton, the unknown who played Pyro in Singer’s first X-Men blockbuster, he was given the part after a hot-tub session with the director at a Hollywood party. “Bryan created that role especially for me,” says Burton, who went on to act in exactly zero films post-X-Men.

Further, some are speculating that Singer hired a closeted actor specifically to have him come out of the closet during the '06 media blitzkrieg to promote the movie.

Personally, I think it's all a preposterous rumor. For one, everyone knows that AARON STANFORD, not ALEX BURTON, played PYRO, and that Pyro didn't appear until the SECOND X-MEN feature, X2: X-MEN UNITED. (Right, Joe Venti?!) So the reporting in this story is questionable at best.

Secondly, I'll refer to my belovedly busted econ professor ERIC SCHULCZ's favorite expression: "The proof is in the pudding," which, come to think of it, is pretty gnarly given the subject matter of this story.

If Bryan Singer only likes to hire gay actors, where are they in his other movies, huh? Surely you're not suggesting that KEVIN SPACEY in THE USUAL SUSPECTS is? Well, uh, what about IAN MCKELLAN in APT... HUGH JACKMAN is most definitely not -- d'oh!.

ALAN CUMMING?