Henry Cavill, best known for playing Charles Brandon in The Tudors, has been cast as Superman in Zack Snyder’s upcoming reboot. This follows with what we’ve been hearing since Snyder was announced as director that a relatively unknown was to replace Brandon Routh.
Despite the inherent flaws of Superman Returns I was a big fan of Routh, so it will be interesting to see Cavill’s take on the iconic role. What are your thoughts?
January 30, 2011
#1
Why can’t anyone see that Tom Welling is by far the best Clark Kent/Superman? Routh was mediocre at best, and who the hell is Charles Brandon? Every other successful hero franchise had a name actor: T.Maguire/Spiderman, C.Bale/Batman, R.Downey Jr/Ironman, etc. Why do these arrogant directors think they need to, or even can, make an unknown succeed as the greatest superhero ever?!?!
January 31, 2011
#2
I’d say that Routh was a good choice stuck in a bad movie. When you look at Batman Begins and compare the two, it was clear that Superman: Returns had the potential to be a great movie, but just lacked good creative direction and a good script. I think Spacey, while a great actor, lacked the certain ‘suave evil’ that exudes from Luther in both the original movies and the comic books.
I would have been happy with Routh being left in, and I agree that Welling is a GREAT choice – he’s been especially good in this last season. I can just say that this new guy doesn’t do it for me. He’s scrawny and lanky. I don’t look at him and think “Oh that’s Supes” as I did with other actors in similar roles (as cahbishop said).
January 30, 2011
#3
HAHA! I have to agree with you about the arrogance of always trying to find the best unknown. Welling is really solid and it would be great to see him play Superman in a movie but, and this is a big BUT, Snyder/Nolan and Warner Bros are hoping for a complete separation from all other versions of Superman so Welling was never even given a chance. To Cavill’s credit he was fantastic on The Tudors (Charles Brandon was Henry VIII’s brother-in-law, I know, I’m a dork for knowing that) so maybe he will nail the role. My biggest concern is Snyder: an overrated director that should stick to mindless action movies. We will see. Hell, as long as Lex Luthor doesn’t try another god-awful real estate scam I will be happy.
January 31, 2011
#4
@ Cabishop1 – I believe that Tom Welling is a good choice for the next Superman role, however I also understand why Z. Snyder may have reservations about casting him. The Smallville series has cemented Welling’s portrayal of Superman as belonging to THAT series. To watch him on the big screen playing a “different” Superman might be a little distracting from the tone and feel of a totally different Superman story ascompared to the Smallville series. This of course is not to detract from Welling’s superb acting on the series.
I just hope that the next Superman movie will at least feature a different villain!