Sunday, July 11, 2010

Superhero casting and more Hobbit trouble

Things are a little busy with my parents visiting, but I have time to share a few news items, some of which are getting a little old. Most of these are about superhero movie casting, actually.

First, Tommy Lee Jones has joined the cast of Captain America: The First Avenger (Variety). He will be playing U.S. Army Colonel Chester Philips. He joins Chris Evans as Captain America, Hugo Weaving as Red Skull, Stanley Tucci as Dr. Abraham Erskine, as well as Hayley Atwell and Sebastian Stan.

This news is old by now, but Andrew Garfield has been cast as the new Spider-Man (IMDb). He is a relative unknown, though he had roles in Lions for Lambs, The Other Boleyn Girl, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and will soon be seen in The Social Network. Hopefully he'll do well in the role, and the revival of the not long gone franchise will be good.

I'm not freaking out yet, but it looks like The Hobbit might lose Ian McKellen (Studio Briefing). He's an actor with other things to do, particularly some stage shows, and he can't wait around forever for the stalled movie to get moving. The delays in production (tied to MGM's troubles) have already forced planned director Guillermo del Toro to step down. I really hope we don't lose more people.

Lastly, this is a bit of new news. Apparently, Ed Norton will not be joining the cast of The Avengers as the Hulk (Hitflix). The studio said that the decision was not based on money, but it sounded like they weren't satisfied with Norton's willingness to act as a team player. I like Edward Norton, but I can imagine that it can be difficult with so many big names on a team in one movie, especially if many of them had their own starring movies first. We'll have to wait and see who will be replacing him to join the Avengers along with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, me and the husband are both unhappy about the Ed Norton problem. He really was wonderful in the Hulk. Sometimes I wish actors could do things for the good of the story, but I guess they are people too. Hopefully they will find a way to make it work well, I'm very excited for Avengers!

Rosalind
Girls Are Geeks

Eleni said...

I know, I'm so excited especially because Joss Whedon is directing. I hope they work it out or find someone good to replace Norton.

Kara said...

I'm really sad that Norton's gone, as he was a really great Banner, but depending on the angle, if it's more Hulk and less Banner, it won't matter as much.

I'm just hoping that *maybe* Whedon will find a way to put Fillion in the movie. Rumors have been hinting to Hawkeye or Hank Pym.

And I really hope Whedon gets his hands on the script. His true brilliance is in writing.

Eleni said...

Oh, I'd love to see Nathan Fillion in it. My understanding was that Jeremy Renner had been given the Hawkeye role, but maybe there's still a chance for Fillion.

And yes, Joss is so clever and funny in his writing. He'd better get a hand in the script!