The Daily Planet - Superman News and Speculation Thread

[Deck Rickard]

Glad we got some Ma Kent casting! I’m not familiar with Neva Howell’s work but she definitely has the look of an older Ma Kent. She reminds me a bit of Phyllis Thaxter, who will always be Martha to me. “Always remember.” Makes me tear up every time.

Anyway, I’m just breathing a sigh of relief because having Jonathan’s actor announced but not Martha’s yesterday got me worried that Martha was going to be dead in this version and I would not be happy about that. So I’m glad that’s not the case. Best of luck to our new Ma Kent!

 

[Chip Chipperson]

She’s like a sweet, wholesome Ann Dowd

 

[Deck Rickard]

She’s like a sweet, wholesome Ann Dowd

To be fair, Ann Dowd can come off sweet and wholesome right before she cracks you in the back of the head with a billy club and sacrifices you to King Paimon.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I stand by what I said lol.

 

[flickchick85]

She’s like a sweet, wholesome Ann Dowd

When I was trying to think of character actors like Pruitt that I'd like to see as Martha, Ann Dowd was near the top of my list, so I'm good with this.

 

[3rdstone]

I'm perfectly happy with these releases for the Kents. The actress playing Ma Kent happens to be unfamiliar to me, but Pruitt Taylor Vince is one of those actors one've seen in various productions. As a huge fan of The Mentalist (been watching reruns recently) I of course remember him as J.J LaRoche. Hence I totally love to see what he could bring on here as Pa Kent.

Personally, these actors instantly feel way more natural as Superman's adoptive parents than the last decades of Hollywood attractive actors (even though I thought they mostly did fine). Of course we'll have to wait and see if it works out, but these actors feel way closer to the Kents I grew up with in the comics.

But yeah, that's just me.

 

[Cap2024]

Does it worry anyone at all that there is no names with serious star power? I myself prefer picking the best actors that suit the role, but the other day I was talking about this movie with my sister and she asked who was going to be in it, and I was like, "Probably not a single person you would know."

It worries me that there is probably a large number of people that would look at the cast and lose interest because it has no actors that they know other than probably Nicholas Hoult.

Daniel Craig had basically zero to no star power prior to becoming James Bond. He almost came out nowhere due to mostly being (I think) in indie movies before then. The first I heard of him was The Constant Gardener.

Hugh Jackman wasn't even in an American movie (to my knowledge) prior to playing Wolverine in 'The X-Men;' it was Russel Crowe (originally cast for the role and then dropped out, I think) that suggested him due to knowing about him from Australia. Now look at where he is.

I might be wrong, but did many people know of Christopher Reeves?

Who was Chris Hemsworth prior to playing Thor? Etc. I would reckon even Jeremy Renner was more well known in comparison at least in the U.S. than him.

Star power doesn't seem to be that big of a deal breaker. Studios also go with actors who have less credits so they can retain them for longer; this is part of the reason why James Bond keeps getting re-cast - it allows the producers to not have to continually increase how much they pay the Bond actor (which was why they let go of Sean Connery).

On a different note - perfect Martha.

 

[Lily Adler]

IDGAF what you say Lily Tomlin could play Ma Kent and beat Lex Luthor to the ground and use a shotgun!

 

[Chip Chipperson]

IDGAF what you say Lily Tomlin could play Ma Kent and beat Lex Luthor to the ground and use a shotgun!

Just as long as David O. Russell isn’t screaming at her off set, that still bums me out

What a jerk

 

[Lily Adler]

I'd been hoping they would cast homely looking actors, too.

 

[Lily Adler]

I need Ultraman or Lex to have such a quotable moment:

 

[The Batman]

This statement makes me both angry to think about and sad at the same time. You may be right, but I would hope not. Personally, I was starting high school when Keaton did Batman 89, so my childhood was Christopher Reeve as Superman as well as Challenge of the Superfriends. To think of another hero dethroning Superman is just personally tragic to me

I think at this point, Superman definitely isn't Batman or Spider-Man in terms of brand popularity.

You mention Reeve Superman and Challenge of the Superfriends. A big problem is that those shows/movies were 40+ years ago, and IMO, no Superman media has had that level of pop culture ubiquity since.

Older generations may still view Superman as the king, but Millennials and Gen-Z? I think most of them would consider Batman or Spider-Man the top superhero. A lot of them would probably even choose Iron Man before they choose Superman.

 

[Babillygunn]

I need Ultraman or Lex to have such a quotable moment:

When my now 16 year old was 5 years old and saw this line in the trailer, he thought Zod yelled “I DON’T LIKE HIM!” And he said “wow, Zod is really mean!”

 

[flickchick85]

Posting Superman pages/panels I love every day until we get our first official look at David Corenswet as Superman, Day 16:

 

[7heBoss]

Daniel Craig had basically zero to no star power prior to becoming James Bond. He almost came out nowhere due to mostly being (I think) in indie movies before then. The first I heard of him was The Constant Gardener.

Hugh Jackman wasn't even in an American movie (to my knowledge) prior to playing Wolverine in 'The X-Men;' it was Russel Crowe (originally cast for the role and then dropped out, I think) that suggested him due to knowing about him from Australia. Now look at where he is.

I might be wrong, but did many people know of Christopher Reeves?

Who was Chris Hemsworth prior to playing Thor? Etc. I would reckon even Jeremy Renner was more well known in comparison at least in the U.S. than him.

Star power doesn't seem to be that big of a deal breaker. Studios also go with actors who have less credits so they can retain them for longer; this is part of the reason why James Bond keeps getting re-cast - it allows the producers to not have to continually increase how much they pay the Bond actor (which was why they let go of Sean Connery).

On a different note - perfect Martha.

There are more people in the movie than just the lead actor. Christopher Reeve wasn't famous, but Marlon Brando sure was. Gene Hackman as well.

Hugh Jackman wasn't famous, but Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen were. Anna Paquin was an academy award winner. Thor had Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins, might even throw Stellan Skarsgard into that category.

Casting famous people around an unknown lead actor is common, but this movie isn't doing that. I'm happy with all the casting, I was just saying that, to the general audience, having big names lend the illusion of legitimacy to a production. I am just a little nervous that regular people are going to dismiss the movie because they don't recognize anyone.

 

[Cap2024]

There are more people in the movie than just the lead actor. Christopher Reeve wasn't famous, but Marlon Brando sure was. Gene Hackman as well.

Hugh Jackman wasn't famous, but Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen were. Anna Paquin was an academy award winner. Thor had Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins, might even throw Stellan Skarsgard into that category.

Casting famous people around an unknown lead actor is common, but this movie isn't doing that. I'm happy with all the casting, I was just saying that, to the general audience, having big names lend the illusion of legitimacy to a production. I am just a little nervous that regular people are going to dismiss the movie because they don't recognize anyone.

True with them being surrounded by big names in supporting roles.

Then again, as said - look at the history of Bond films. Every Bond actor has been largely unknown. The villains usually are as well.

Here it’s the brand (Superman) that sells.

Have a solid Superman movie that’s well reviewed and well regarded, audiences aren’t largely going to care if it stars a big name or Joe Somebody off the street.

Another instance - Star Wars, particularly Rogue One which brought in over a billion.

It has established brand name recognition.

Adding: per X-Men, Patrick Stewart was big in fan circles due to Star Trek - but outside of that? Wouldn’t say by much. Ian McKellan is big now, but circa 2000 he wasn’t in X-Men or Lord of the Rings yet. That is to say given the time period I wouldn’t call either “big names” to the masses rather just Stewart to fan communities - there’s a difference. If we’re going by just fan communities, Nathan Fillion is literally in the film. I’m guessing you mean to general audiences though which - as said - isn’t really Stewart or McKellan to my knowledge circa 2000.

 

[Invader Joker]

Today, hopefully.

 

[Glassjaw]

She reminds me a lot of Phyliss Thaxter, S: TM's Martha

The homeliness is going to be off the charts!

 

[Superchan]

I appreciate your concern about derailing threads. I try to be conscientious about that too. But it’s a bit of a “rigged game” if quickie/causal — and off-topic — complaints about Snyder are readily indulged as fair comment while those who might be inclined to challenge those complaints feel an onus to behave, keep quiet and not derail.

I generally liked the Snyder Trilogy. But I don’t think the movies are perfect. So I’m happy to engage in a respectful discussion/debate on their pros and cons — in, of course, the appropriate thread. Unfortunately, those threads don’t seem to be the preferred locale for such discussions. Rather, random critiques of Snyder tend to pop up in random areas. Case in point: in this thread, it was a photo of Brandon Routh (not Cavill) that somehow (?) prompted a specific critique about BvS. Now by my reckoning, that’s a curious non sequitur. Be that as it may, the comment was made here so I responded here.

It's not so much about derailing threads (although there is that!) but rather....well like flickchick put it "exhaustion" from the never ending discussions that we all had for 8 years about the Snyderverse and all the nonsense surrounding it and at the end of the day such discussions led nowhere and managed to generate nothing but arguments, hostility and name calling.

See for every Snyderverse fan like you who is willing to engage in mature discussion there are 10 Snyder cultists who go apes**t when ever someone dared to criticize their Lord and savior Zackaria son of Jesus (they literally have pics of Snyder as Jesus, which never ceases to be creepy).

Look Dr. if seeing a passing remark or backhanded comment about the Snyderverse bothers you can probably just ask the person making the comment to go to the BvS or MOS forum and continue the discussion there, although I really doubt anyone is going to oblige because as I said before it's a total waste of time.

 

[GreenKToo]

There are more people in the movie than just the lead actor. Christopher Reeve wasn't famous, but Marlon Brando sure was. Gene Hackman as well.

Hugh Jackman wasn't famous, but Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen were. Anna Paquin was an academy award winner. Thor had Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins, might even throw Stellan Skarsgard into that category.

Casting famous people around an unknown lead actor is common, but this movie isn't doing that. I'm happy with all the casting, I was just saying that, to the general audience, having big names lend the illusion of legitimacy to a production. I am just a little nervous that regular people are going to dismiss the movie because they don't recognize anyone.

So am I. I have no idea of course, but my gut says this will be a critical hit with critics, and a hit with the public.

I think we MAY very well see see a batman begins type of situation here, ie, a pretty good take Financially, but not until post release.
It will be the hunger for more of "superman" that will really sell the sequel and the DCU as a whole.

Remember, Batman Begins got it's trilogy while superman returns did not, even tho SR made more $$$.

Will it be a mistake to not cast one single A lister in this? No idea, but if it's a really good film, it wont matter.
we will find out soon enough either way.

 

[AverageMan]

April 18.
D-Day (or potential suit day).
What we saying guys? Yes or no?

 

[Silvermoth]

I like the new Kents. I like that they look so normal

 

[Nemeres]

You probably have seen Pruitt Taylor Vince in something, but don’t remember it. He’s been in a ton of famous movies.

Found one, an episode of House MD (S3E6) as the main patient, an obese man, firefighters think he's dead, they cut a hole in the wall to remove the body, they hear him be gassy and realize he's alive. I rewatched just for him and now I may do a House binge.

 

[Adrian Chase]

Today?

 

[Adrian Chase]