The Good Citizens of Metropolis: The Casting Thread

[Eddie Dean]

I'd like the Kents to be more normal folk this time around. Get some believable Kansans in there. I'd go John Hawkes and Margo Martindale.

But of course this is pretty hypocritical of me because I was saying Brad Pitt should be Pa Kent in ten years just a few pages back. Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I’d love to see John Hawkes in a CBM but I’d much rather see him play a villain. All that intensity would kinda be wasted on Jonathan Kent. I know he doesn’t always play villains but the dude is so good at it.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I like him way better as a nice guy.

 

[Vaibow]

Jim Caviezel for Jon Kent

Halle Berry for Ma Kent.

Clark Kent was adopted.

Yup, it just plays into the whole different but not different angle. Clark knows he was adopted even at a young age, I like the fact they raised him knowing they took him in and it makes him stronger knowing that. Makes it easier for him to embrace his alien heritage when it starts happening.
It's almost like Jon drip feeds him his whole child hood, so that it's no big deal - also opens up the possibility to include in cannon, super boy esq moments and stories, where he embraces his powers and had adventures of sorts with Lana.

 

[MilkmanDan]

I'd like the Kents to be more normal folk this time around. Get some believable Kansans in there. I'd go John Hawkes and Margo Martindale.

But of course this is pretty hypocritical of me because I was saying Brad Pitt should be Pa Kent in ten years just a few pages back. Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

I think that makes sense. The Clark Kent side of Superman is supposed to humanize him. That might work better if, for example, Pa Kent isn't some idealized Marlboro Man/Kevin Costner version of all-American masculinity. Jor-El should feel larger than life, but Jonathan Kent can afford to be more relatable.

 

[batman44]

John Hawkes and Margo Martindale as the Kents is pretty inspired casting I'd say.

 

[fan4stic]

Jim Caviezel for Jon Kent

Halle Berry for Ma Kent.

Clark Kent was adopted.

Yup, it just plays into the whole different but not different angle. Clark knows he was adopted even at a young age, I like the fact they raised him knowing they took him in and it makes him stronger knowing that. Makes it easier for him to embrace his alien heritage when it starts happening.
It's almost like Jon drip feeds him his whole child hood, so that it's no big deal - also opens up the possibility to include in cannon, super boy esq moments and stories, where he embraces his powers and had adventures of sorts with Lana.

I don't see Halle Berry or Caviezel working on a farm, to me.

 

[fan4stic]

Ethan Hawke as Jonathan Kent
Bridget Moynahan as Martha Kent

 

[Vaibow]

I don't see Halle Berry or Caviezel working on a farm, to me.

That's because they are actors.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Halle Berry could play Ma Kent but you’d have to age her up a lot; she could pass for a woman 20 years younger.

I could also see Halle as Cat Grant.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Halle Berry can only play Ma Kent if she looks like this:

 

[SwordOfMorning]

John David Washington as Clark
Bradley Cooper as Lex Luthor

Gonna second John Hawkes as Jonathan Kent. Absolutely inspired.

 

[Sawyer]

I kind of want old Kents again. Between Smallville and MOS, Jonathan and Martha have kind of been a believable age to be Clark’s parents for awhile now. Kick it old school. Give me some septuagenarians again.

 

[Sawyer]

In fact, I just found a good pair looking at the 1949 births on IMDB.

Jeff Bridges and Sissy Spacek.

 

[BobJM]

There are so many different ways to go with the Kents--

For an older couple, I think both Don Johnson (70) and Geena Davis (64) would fill the roles quite well:

If you're going younger, Hugh Jackman (51) and Sandra Oh (48) -- fan casting this with a 25-30 year old Superman (i.e. David Corneswet) in mind.

 

[BobJM]

Nicholas Hoult was up for Bruce Wayne, was there something there that Matt Reeves saw that could lend itself well to another billionaire CEO, Lex Luthor?

We know that the decision was close, and it even came down to costume tests. I think Hoult can be play smug & slimy quite well--he looks good in his new Hulu show with Elle Fanning. He was in line for McQuarrie's villian in MI-7 & 8 too, but had to drop out due to schedule conflicts.

The Tenet trailer has John David Washington on my mind for Lex too. I like the idea of his father, Deznel, taking the role too, and maybe that's perfect for Luthor casting? Though I don't know if I necessarily want to visit Lex's dad drama--I just want us to get classic Post-Crisis business tycoon Luthor with a trajectory towards the White House.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I usually am all for race changes, but I think Lex as anything but an entitled white guy right now is a missed opportunity.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

Honestly I couldn't agree more. We need a superman movie. There are so many parallels that can be made.

 

[Silvermoth]

Noah Galvin would be a fun Jimmy Olsen

 

[fan4stic]

I usually am all for race changes, but I think Lex as anything but an entitled white guy right now is a missed opportunity.

Honestly I couldn't agree more. We need a superman movie. There are so many parallels that can be made.

I don't see why certain current issues, need to define the approach to the character or have parallels be made to. Lex is fictional. To write him as anything than the character and not an analogue to something else, I think is a missed writing/storytelling story potential. Even non comic accurate portrayals, excluding BvS, have had more interesting things at play, than an analogue, to me, to other things.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

No one is saying lex needs to be changed to fit the analogue of what he could represent because the basis of or that he is defined by it. But the parallels have been written into the character for decades. And i doubt a writer today could ignore the striking similarities.

 

[Jekecy]

I usually am all for race changes, but I think Lex as anything but an entitled white guy right now is a missed opportunity.

At this point I feel like that angle has gotten a bit stale. Even excluding the current state of the world.

If anything, recent current events have shown xenophobia isn’t exclusively a white mentality.

With the right actor to give it a layered performance, I think having Lex be a person of color could be extremely rewarding.

I’m just not completely on board with Washington until I see more. His pops in his prime years would have been magnetic in this role. Remains to be seen whether he can exude the same charisma and authority required for Lex.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I don't think it's stale at all. It's just in the DNA of the character.

 

[Jekecy]

I don't think it's stale at all. It's just in the DNA of the character.

The entitlement? Sure. The white entitlement? Not so definite, though they are adjacent concepts.

I think it's more interesting to play with it for a colored character, which hasn't been really been touched upon on film.

But it takes a very special actor to make that work beyond the page, so I'd be absolutely fine if they stick with Luthor being white too.

 

[Vaibow]

I usually am all for race changes, but I think Lex as anything but an entitled white guy right now is a missed opportunity.

Very original and only goes further to affirm the racial stereotypes. no thanks.

Let me guess, clark being the misunderstood immigrant that is actually the champion of the people? This just further divides people when they see it play out on the big screen 'rich, white dude, bad... immigrant a hero!'. Can't you see how it's problematic?

I would steer clear away from Lex in the next movie, reboot, retcon or sequel regardless.