New Superman is cast....and is British!!
By
2short2care,
Posted on: 2011-01-30 11:53 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
Wow, that younger Harrington shot from The Hole, with those eyes, made me think of Terrence Stamp as Zod immediately. Perhaps that's why he's stupping Brandon Routh's Girlfriend.
Anyways... I was first introduced to Henry Cavill through his portrayal of The Count of Monte Cristo. He did an excellent job, so I know he has some acting chops.
I'm looking at the photos of him and have to say he's more physically fit than Brandon Routh was, so he's got the looks.
I'm not going into it with any heavy expectations. If it's good, then I'll applaude the performance. If it sucks, I'll say so.
I will say that Brandon Routh's performance wasn't so much Brandon's fault as it was the script, directing, and writers. The movie just plain disappointed.
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Saturday January 29th, 2005 (12:37 PM) ~ Monday August 9th, 2010
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I think the problem always stems from Christopher Reeves.
He was just so damn good as Superman that unfortunately every other actor is going to have to live up to him, some have been good at playing Superman, others good at playing Clark Kent but apart from Reeves no actor has ever perfectly nailed them both.
Good to see this film moving forward. Congratulations Mr Cavill, now.. off to the gym with you. 
Christopher Reeve was a great Superman for that time. He was the best personification of the character when "comic book heroes" were supposed to be somewhat comic. Things are different today.
As good as Reeve was, the earlier Superman movies had terrible writing and plots, with stupid plot holes and devices. Even the first two "iconic" ones.
All I want is a well written, well directed and acted film with a coherent plot and some great action and special effects. If they can do that, they could cast Jim Belushi as Superman . . . well, maybe not, but the casting isn't nearly as important as the rest. Give me a good story. Without any "throwing the S" or "you can't change the past, but if you do, nothing will happen."
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
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YEY another boy to play the MOST powerfull man around...MAAAAAN not boy.
It's gonna be one of those teen girl's wet dream casting....sigh !
CoX for life !!
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Originally Posted by Nericus
Problem is that no matter who is cast, there will always be the "he's no Christopher Reeve".
Not saying that you are like that, just making a simple statement. |
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Originally Posted by Dr_Mechano
I think the problem always stems from Christopher Reeves.
He was just so damn good as Superman that unfortunately every other actor is going to have to live up to him, some have been good at playing Superman, others good at playing Clark Kent but apart from Reeves no actor has ever perfectly nailed them both. |
At least in the long history of Superman we've already had at least 6-8 different guys play the part so I think it's easier in the minds of everyone to ultimately accept yet another actor for the role. As for this new guy I think it's funny that some people in this forum are saying he's "too skinny" to play the part. As far as "Hollywood magic" goes that's the kind of thing that can easily be corrected for so that's hardly a reason to think he couldn't do it.
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The main problem with some things about Superman 2 was due to Donner being pulled off the project after most of the movie was filmed. Things like "throwing the S" and the Amnesia Kiss as I recall were not part of Donner's version.
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Originally Posted by Local_Man
Christopher Reeve was a great Superman for that time. He was the best personification of the character when "comic book heroes" were supposed to be somewhat comic. Things are different today.
As good as Reeve was, the earlier Superman movies had terrible writing and plots, with stupid plot holes and devices. Even the first two "iconic" ones. All I want is a well written, well directed and acted film with a coherent plot and some great action and special effects. If they can do that, they could cast Jim Belushi as Superman . . . well, maybe not, but the casting isn't nearly as important as the rest. Give me a good story. Without any "throwing the S" or "you can't change the past, but if you do, nothing will happen." |
Tom Welling has been playing Clark Kent for a whopping 10 years now. I guess I don't understand why they didn't just use him in between shooting for smallville season 10.
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The same can be said of casting for Batman. Remember all the split opinions about Keaton being cast in the role until the movie came out? I thought he was good in both roles, Kilmer was better as Batman then Bruce and Clooney was better as Bruce. |
Originally Posted by Lothic
This is more or less the same problem they'll have to overcome when they choose the next actress to play Wonder Woman. Everyone looks to Lynda Carter as pretty much the literal "personification" of the character and I think that's been part of the reason it's been decades since the last Wonder Woman show/movie. It's as if no one seems to be able to move past having Lynda play the role.
At least in the long history of Superman we've already had at least 6-8 different guys play the part so I think it's easier in the minds of everyone to ultimately accept yet another actor for the role. As for this new guy I think it's funny that some people in this forum are saying he's "too skinny" to play the part. As far as "Hollywood magic" goes that's the kind of thing that can easily be corrected for so that's hardly a reason to think he couldn't do it. |
I think also the fear of being typecast cannot be denied either. For all that happened to Christopher Reeve, whenever I hear his name I still think Superman first. Adam West is still remembered for Batman despite other things he's done. I enjoyed the episode of Batman TAS that played up on the typecasting issue with that episode of Adam West as the Grey Ghost. Lynda Carter, despite anything she's done since is still remembered more for Wonder Woman.
Harrison Ford: to me he's escaped the typecasting of Han Solo and Indy. Mark Hamil seems to be remembered as both Luke and the voice of the Joker. James Earl Jones has done a lot but is he remembered more as the "voice of Vader" or for his other performances?
Not to mention the cast of the original Star Trek. Granted the talent level varied among the cast. Still, typecasting occurred with them too.
Typecasting can be a curse that is hard to escape, though some have made it work for them.
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The first film was great . . . until the end of the Helicopter scene. As soon as the "comic" elements of a goofy Lex Luthor and a horrible Lois Lane were added the film went down hill. The main problems were a dumb plot, a goofy villain with his goofy henchmen and the "deus ex machina" plot device of going into the past to save Lois . . . but nothing else and no consequences.|
Originally Posted by Nericus
The main problem with some things about Superman 2 was due to Donner being pulled off the project after most of the movie was filmed. Things like "throwing the S" and the Amnesia Kiss as I recall were not part of Donner's version.
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The second film was both better and worse. Better because it had real super villains, with good actors to play them. But it wasn't just things like "throwing the S" or telekinesis finger spray. It was the core of the plot . . . giving up his powers "forever" to boink Lois, and then getting them back with no consequences. And then re-wiring the Fortress to de-power Zod and friends? Zod and company were 2-dimentional villains. Lex was still goofy. Both movies were just plain bad writing. I think most of those decisions were made before Donner left the project.
And as bad as the plots were for those two (and I still like the movies mainly for Christopher Reeve), Superman Returns was even worse. I strongly disliked the "super kid" and the "stalker Superman" and the "lets redo the same plot as the first movie." I went from "Dislike" to "hate" for that film when Singer put in the "look at me, I'm Christ" moment as Supes fell back to Earth. Cheesy, manipulative and just plain bad.
I want a good story, without huge plot holes and good dialogue -- a little bit of suspension of disbelief is OK, but no more "WTF" moments. I want a good Lois Lane -- Erica Durrance has been the best so far, with the other TV versions a little bit behind. I want a villain with interesting character and understandable motivations who is not an idiot -- Braniac would be a good choice, but we have had too much of Lex Luthor. I want some good action that is going to challenge the Man of Steel. I have some confidence that Chris Nolan and Zack Snyder can deliver these things better than previous film versions.
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Quote:
Well had the green crystal been destroyed along with all the others when Superman was depowered then I think he would have been depowered forever. |
Originally Posted by Local_Man
The first film was great . . . until the end of the Helicopter scene. As soon as the "comic" elements of a goofy Lex Luthor and a horrible Lois Lane were added the film went down hill. The main problems were a dumb plot, a goofy villain with his goofy henchmen and the "deus ex machina" plot device of going into the past to save Lois . . . but nothing else and no consequences.
The second film was both better and worse. Better because it had real super villains, with good actors to play them. But it wasn't just things like "throwing the S" or telekinesis finger spray. It was the core of the plot . . . giving up his powers "forever" to boink Lois, and then getting them back with no consequences. And then re-wiring the Fortress to de-power Zod and friends? Zod and company were 2-dimentional villains. Lex was still goofy. Both movies were just plain bad writing. I think most of those decisions were made before Donner left the project. And as bad as the plots were for those two (and I still like the movies mainly for Christopher Reeve), Superman Returns was even worse. I strongly disliked the "super kid" and the "stalker Superman" and the "lets redo the same plot as the first movie." I went from "Dislike" to "hate" for that film when Singer put in the "look at me, I'm Christ" moment as Supes fell back to Earth. Cheesy, manipulative and just plain bad. I want a good story, without huge plot holes and good dialogue -- a little bit of suspension of disbelief is OK, but no more "WTF" moments. I want a good Lois Lane -- Erica Durrance has been the best so far, with the other TV versions a little bit behind. I want a villain with interesting character and understandable motivations who is not an idiot -- Braniac would be a good choice, but we have had too much of Lex Luthor. I want some good action that is going to challenge the Man of Steel. I have some confidence that Chris Nolan and Zack Snyder can deliver these things better than previous film versions. |
As to the whole "give up the powers" thing, I suppose it comes down to not being able to have his cake and eat it too.
Rigging the Fortress though, makes sense. Superman needed some kind of an edge to defeat them and aside from donning a lead suit and holding kryptonite in his hand, his options were a bit limited.
Superman Returns: ugh. Designed to be a "spiritual successor" to Superman 1 and 2 and failed. The superkid was a bad idea given that Lois was memory wiped, thus she knows Superman is the father, but doesn't remember the when and where the kid was conceived, or that Superman is Clark? Plus rehashing Luthor's real estate plot was bad.
I'm with Local on a lot of those points about the original movies and the Singer version. I think a lot of people over romanticize the Donner films because they come from their childhoods and tend to only remember how good Reeves was and forget how bad the movies were (I know I did). At the time they were a phenomenon but after watching part 1 recently, they are really dated and their plots were weak due to constraints with the technology of the time, which we don't have now.
My wish is the writers/directors decide to forgo the need to once again tell the origin story (something both Donner and Singer handled fine). Between those films and Smallville, I think we all get it by now. What would be nice is to finally have a super hero movie where the most powerful takes on 'a' most powerful, without all of the psycho-analyzing of "what it means to be a hero" or "how lonely it must be to be so powerful" or "I'm different, nobody understands me". We've had many movies (Watchmen, Kickass, Ironman, Nolan Batman) the last few years tackle and handle those questions just fine. I'm not saying I want a Bay mouth breather 'splosion fest. You can still write an interesting and intelligent action movie without rehashing a lot of what is overdone at this point.
(My personal wish for the Nolan world)
We see in his Batman movies, Bruce Wayne is willing to step away from vigilantism if he can find a suitable replacement. And what if the threat becomes "too big" for his un-superpowered self. What if the element of the "unrealistic" was brought into the very realistic world of the Nolanverse. Much like the creation of Dr. Manhattan in the Watchmen, once a hero shows up with incredible power, the masked vigilante finds themself of little use. So make the introduction of Superman the "end" of the Bat franchise and the lead in to the Superman reboot. But maybe a sequel or two down the road, make it where Batman has to return and save Supes and show that his real value is in his ability to plan and that he is needed after all. You can always throw in him holding onto some Kryptonite just in case Superman ever goes rogue.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
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I'll sign onto this point as far as Superman is concerned. I don't mind "origin stories" for superheroes but if there's any superhero out there that even the general public already knows the origins of it's Superman. Can we go at least another decade or two without having to "reintroduce" him or "reanalyze" what motivates him please? |
Originally Posted by MentalMaden
My wish is the writers/directors decide to forgo the need to once again tell the origin story (something both Donner and Singer handled fine). Between those films and Smallville, I think we all get it by now. What would be nice is to finally have a super hero movie where to most powerful takes on 'a' most powerful, without all of the psycho-analyzing of "what it means to be a hero" or "how lonely it must be to be so powerful" or "I'm different, nobody understands me". We've had many movies (Watchmen, Kickass, Ironman, Nolan Batman) the last few years tackle and handle those questions just fine. I'm not saying I want a Bay mouth breather 'splosion fest. You can still write an interesting and intelligent action movie without rehashing a lot of what is overdone at this point.
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Please let this not be another movie where his main villain is Lex Luthor and Krytponite. I would love to see a movie that is not animated where he fights, actually physically fights someone, and Lex Luthor did not have his hand in it, (like that stupid sun guy, I forget his name but he was stupid). I forget if it's Superman 2 or Superman 3 when General Zod was in it, but even then the actually fight scene was well it sucked while General Zod is awesome they didn't really fight, and Lex Luthor was there, he has other enemies other then Lex. :P
Cancel the kitchen scraps for widows and lepers, no more merciful beheadings and call off christmas!
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As I recall, Superman Returns began with a paragraph or two on the screen that summarized things before the movie started.|
Originally Posted by Lothic
I'll sign onto this point as far as Superman is concerned. I don't mind "origin stories" for superheroes but if there's any superhero out there that even the general public already knows the origins of it's Superman. Can we go at least another decade or two without having to "reintroduce" him or "reanalyze" what motivates him please?
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A similar paragraph intro that summarizes his origin would be acceptable, then on with the movie.
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Last I remember, DC doesn't have any plans on connecting their movie character's universes. They *could* do it, of course, but last I remember they've publicly come out against it. Prolly just waiting to see how it works out for Marvel before they change the way they approach their movies.
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Originally Posted by MentalMaden
I'm with Local on a lot of those points about the original movies and the Singer version. I think a lot of people over romanticize the Donner films because they come from their childhoods and tend to only remember how good Reeves was and forget how bad the movies were (I know I did). At the time they were a phenomenon but after watching part 1 recently, they are really dated and their plots were weak due to constraints with the technology of the time, which we don't have now.
My wish is the writers/directors decide to forgo the need to once again tell the origin story (something both Donner and Singer handled fine). Between those films and Smallville, I think we all get it by now. What would be nice is to finally have a super hero movie where the most powerful takes on 'a' most powerful, without all of the psycho-analyzing of "what it means to be a hero" or "how lonely it must be to be so powerful" or "I'm different, nobody understands me". We've had many movies (Watchmen, Kickass, Ironman, Nolan Batman) the last few years tackle and handle those questions just fine. I'm not saying I want a Bay mouth breather 'splosion fest. You can still write an interesting and intelligent action movie without rehashing a lot of what is overdone at this point. (My personal wish for the Nolan world) We see in his Batman movies, Bruce Wayne is willing to step away from vigilantism if he can find a suitable replacement. And what if the threat becomes "too big" for his un-superpowered self. What if the element of the "unrealistic" was brought into the very realistic world of the Nolanverse. Much like the creation of Dr. Manhattan in the Watchmen, once a hero shows up with incredible power, the masked vigilante finds themself of little use. So make the introduction of Superman the "end" of the Bat franchise and the lead in to the Superman reboot. But maybe a sequel or two down the road, make it where Batman has to return and save Supes and show that his real value is in his ability to plan and that he is needed after all. You can always throw in him holding onto some Kryptonite just in case Superman ever goes rogue. |
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Oh, it was in no way a prediction. As I said, it was just my wish for the frachise, but I in no way think it would happen that way.|
Originally Posted by Furio
Last I remember, DC doesn't have any plans on connecting their movie character's universes. They *could* do it, of course, but last I remember they've publicly come out against it. Prolly just waiting to see how it works out for Marvel before they change the way they approach their movies.
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[Sidenote rant- I'm getting pretty sick and tired of typing out a post only to have the forums eat it and forget who I am. Fix the forums!]
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Henry Cavill is 28 - Christopher Reeve was 26 in the first Superman movie.
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Originally Posted by StarCrusader
YEY another boy to play the MOST powerfull man around...MAAAAAN not boy.
It's gonna be one of those teen girl's wet dream casting....sigh ! |
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Those pictures don't say "Superman" more "Invincible." |
Originally Posted by Ironik
They invented this thing called weightlifting. It's kind of amazing in that it makes your muscles bigger.
Check out a pic of him as Theseus in the upcoming film Immortals. He's not huge, but he's freakin' ripped. |
Weightlifting worked for Chris Evans and Christian Bale, but until I see the stills, he's fricking "Supertwink."
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Of course there'll be people (like me I guess) who'll argue that Superman would not have to be a super-huge Hercules looking guy to be believable. It's his "powers" that make him super-strong, not his basic muscle mass. |
Originally Posted by Divus
Those pictures don't say "Superman" more "Invincible."
Weightlifting worked for Chris Evans and Christian Bale, but until I see the stills, he's fricking "Supertwink." |
Put another way would you argue that Supergirl
has to look like Chyna
to be acceptable? I didn't think so.
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I would "argue" that Supergirl has never been depicted as being muscular. That's Power Girl's shtick. Although I would have used pictures of Zap from American Gladiators (http://www.rayehollitt.com/gladiate/PGladiate.html) instead of Chyna.|
Originally Posted by Lothic
Of course there'll be people (like me I guess) who'll argue that Superman would not have to be a super-huge Hercules looking guy to be believable. It's his "powers" that make him super-strong, not his basic muscle mass.
Put another way would you argue that Supergirl |
From his first appearance Superman has been a muscle man. Not Ah-nuld, but he wasn't thin and ripped. Although given the success of JMS's "Superman for the Twilight generation" Warner will go for a thinner Man of Steel.
Power Girls isn't really muscular either - she's just robust - strong, but still feminine.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Quote:
My point clearly was that a guy who's got superpowers based on his alien DNA does not really have to look like a non-green version of the Hulk to be believable. As long as an actor is fit and "in the ballpark" comic book image wise it'll be doable. I'm quite sure the magic of Hollywood is quite good enough that even Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman) could pull it off if given half a chance. |
Originally Posted by Divus
I would "argue" that Supergirl has never been depicted as being muscular. That's Power Girl's shtick.
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My point was with the character's depiction in the source material. |
Originally Posted by Lothic
My point clearly was that a guy who's got superpowers based on his alien DNA does not really have to look like a non-green version of the Hulk to be believable. As long as an actor is fit and "in the ballpark" comic book image wise it'll be doable. I'm quite sure the magic of Hollywood is quite good enough that even Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman) could pull it off if given half a chance.
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As for Hollywood magic, the can be better spent on more special effects and not just special effects for pecs.
Eh, I can live with the decision.
Would still rather have had Desmond Harrington.
He falls right into Chris Nolan's preference for English actors because this guy's totally from England. Well New England. But that's better than old England, isn't it?
Oh, BTW. The girl his character was stupping in Season 4 of Dexter is in actuality Brandon Routh's girlfriend... so he's already got ties to the franchise!
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