Hollywood rumor mill spits out “Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor” for our Saturday enjoyment
Meanwhile, James Gunn declares "only one person has been cast in Superman: Legacy, and it isn’t any of the regular players in the Superman world"
Aux News Lex Luthor
Few projects in Hollywood at present are in more of a “We know nothing, but gosh would we like to” holding pattern than Superman: Legacy, James Gunn’s attempt to simultaneously revive the Superman film franchise, and firmly establish his and Peter Safran’s leadership at DC Films, and, we don’t know, cause Warner Media CEO David Zaslav’s black little heart to finally grow three sizes on the day it finally comes out. Despite his typically verbose nature, Gunn has been very quiet on the all-important subject of casting for the film, to the extent that pretty much the only person we don’t know will be playing Superman in the movie is former Snyderverse Supes Henry Cavill.
But oh, do you hear that tinkling, jangly sound, coming down the road? That’s right, kids: It’s the Hollywood Rumor Man! And he’s here to spread a little speculative magic on this high-profile film. See, THR has a new piece today quoting several anonymous people of deeply unknown provenance, all of whom have suggestions about who DC might be looking at/auditioning/screen testing to play the key trio of roles—Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor—in Gunn’s film, which will reportedly serve as a “Young Clark finds his legs in Metropolis” kind of story.
The Clark and Lois stuff all feels wildly speculative, even by the standards of the usual rumor mill: Pearl’s David Corenswet is supposedly “among the top contenders” for Superman, while the Lois Lane names are a real grab-bag, including Sex Education’s Emma Mackey, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan, and Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynover.
The more interesting bit—not least of which because it feels both a bit more solid, and totally plausible—is the idea that Renfield star Nicholas Hoult is being seriously looked at to play the villainous Luthor. The logic, at least, tracks: Hoult apparently has long-running appreciation from Warner for his (bald!) part in Mad Max: Fury Road, he’s a great actor, and he’s got the name recognition that the part of Metropolis’ richest megalomaniac generally demands.
Gunn, being Gunn, has obviously already responded to all this speculation, writing on Twitter that, “For all of you asking, I would never comment on who is or isn’t AUDITIONING for a role. That’s the actor’s business only & isn’t something I’d make public unless they did it first after the fact.” He then viciously teased the assembled internet by noting that “only one person has been CAST in Superman: Legacy, and it isn’t any of the regular players in the Superman world.” He followed that with a merman emoji, so, you heard it here first, folks: Eugene Mirman is the bad guy in the new Superman movie, playing himself. (THAT’S A JOKE, TRADES, DO NOT PICK THIS UP.)
6 Comments
Hoult apparently has long-running appreciation from Warner for his (bald!) part in Mad Max: Fury Road,
Witness Me!!!
I heard someone say Dave Bautista would be good on the role and now I wish they really got him to be Luthor. It’d give Bautista a chance to play a more brainy character, and Luthor is frequently portrayed as trying to achieve human peak physical hability and still being weaker than Superman helps fuel his resentment.
i like bautista (and agree he would be good) but i think their whole thing here is going with people who won’t basically be in their 60s when a sequel comes out. also, frankly, let’s keep bautista away from long-running superhero roles. i wanna see him work with more interesting directors on interesting projects. he’s really got such a unique screen presence. would be a shame for him to spend the next 10 years yelling about superman.
Well, I’m being a realist here. I’d like to see Bautista do non-franchise drama movies, but I don’t see that happening.Same as I don’t see this DC Universe lasting more than 5 years past the release of its first movie.
Knock at the Cabin is a non franchise drama.
After seeing the names being speculated:
– For Superman: that’s the most challenging casting, not only because it is the main character but because anybody who would ever get this role will be compared to and measured by Christopher Reeve (let’s stop pretending this is not true). Also, as much as people try to say it doesn’t really matter, phisicality and looks matter (Tyler Hoechlin is a great actor, but he never fullfilled the classic visuals of the character). Whoever gets the role needs to work both as Superman and as Clark Kent. So, from the 4 names in the article, my absolute favorite is David Corenswet. At 1.92m (6.33 feet), he’s properly towering. He is also a talented actor, and has the face and hair to play Kal and Clark. The only thing he lacks is mass muscle, but a proper training regime could fix that. Second choice would be Tom Brittney. The only things against him is that he reminds too much of Henry Cavill and would also be another Britanic playing a role strongly tied to American culture. The other 2 names may be good actors, but lack the visual.- For Lois Lane, absolute top choice is Emma Mackey. She is talented, looks the part and her role as “Maeve” in “Sex Education” proved she can pull off the “strong and independent woman, but with a soft spot”. Rachel Brosnahan isn’t a bad choice, but as pointed in the article a bit over the intended age. Also, I think Emma is a better actress. As for the other 2 names, could we stop casting fair haired people in classic brunette roles, as if all talented brunette actors have vanished?- As for Lex Luthor, despite being the only name suggested, I’m totally ok with Nicholas Hoult. Lex is another character that requires a visual fit, plus the complication of ideally being bald and not as buffed up as Superman, but still being intimidating and a challenge for him. While not all actors would work wiht a head shave, Hoult’s face and eyes could, and he’s just 2cm shorter than David Corenswet. And he has already proved his talent.