The Good Citizens of Metropolis: The Casting Thread

[batman44]

Gotta be honest, Routh just doesn't do it for me as Superman. If you're doing a Kingdom Come Superman, I don't know why you don't go after someone like Jon Hamm.

 

[SupermanFan]

Jon Hamm is typical fan casting for Superman, he sort of resembles the look of KC Superman so he gets chosen. Sure he’s a decent actor but in terms of how he performs he just doesn’t come across like Superman at all for me. It’s like the whole anyone whose bald for Lex thing we see I with fancastings.

The most important aspect of KC Superman is he feels like he has a history, which Brandon Routh has. Plus he has that factor that presence that belongs to Superman so I’d take him anyway over Hamm.

 

[batdude]

Oh I don't know. I still would have liked to have seen Routh do one with Sophia Bush as Lois. maybe Bruce Willis as Lex.

 

[SupermanFan]

Oh I don't know. I still would have liked to have seen Routh do one with Sophia Bush as Lois. maybe Bruce Willis as Lex.

See I don’t think Willis is right for Lex at all

 

[Captain Tired]

Yeah. I like him well enough as a movie star (with stuff like Die Hard under his belt, how could you not), but Willis as Luthor sounds like it'd be a little much thug, and not enough intellectual.

 

[BobJM]

Jon Hamm is typical fan casting for Superman, he sort of resembles the look of KC Superman so he gets chosen. Sure he’s a decent actor but in terms of how he performs he just doesn’t come across like Superman at all for me. It’s like the whole anyone whose bald for Lex thing we see I with fancastings.

The most important aspect of KC Superman is he feels like he has a history, which Brandon Routh has. Plus he has that factor that presence that belongs to Superman so I’d take him anyway over Hamm.

Routh was fine as Superman Returns—unfortunately, it was a case of an actor outshining the rest of the film around him. Sure he has history, but if you’re putting him up against Hamm I think it’d be a no-brainer to pick the bigger name (who just also happens to be critically acclaimed).

 

[SupermanFan]

Routh was fine as Superman Returns—unfortunately, it was a case of an actor outshining the rest of the film around him. Sure he has history, but if you’re putting him up against Hamm I think it’d be a no-brainer to pick the bigger name (who just also happens to be critically acclaimed).

Big names and Superman don’t go together, it’s always better if it’s an unknown, lesser known or sone one whose played the role before. Jon Hamm would be a Jon Hamm in a Superman outfit.

 

[BobJM]

Big names and Superman don’t go together, it’s always better if it’s an unknown, lesser known or sone one whose played the role before. Jon Hamm would be a Jon Hamm in a Superman outfit.

Maybe it’s time to change that. WB had good luck with an unknown exactly once: Christopher Reeve. 40 some years ago?

Routh didn’t get a sequel, and who knows what Cavill’s future is with the DCEU. Blame doesn’t lay fully with these two actors, of course, but we can’t pretend they were a smashing success with audiences or WB wouldn’t be so gun-shy in green-lighting future Superman projects with either of them attached.

They never went for an unknown for Batman—those movies are Hollywood legends, for better or worse. Since Superman II, has any Superman film done anything to make waves?

 

[SupermanFan]

Maybe it’s time to change that. WB had good luck with an unknown exactly once: Christopher Reeve. 40 some years ago?

Routh didn’t get a sequel, and who knows what Cavill’s future is with the DCEU. Blame doesn’t lay fully with these two actors, of course, but we can’t pretend they were a smashing success with audiences or WB wouldn’t be so gun-shy in green-lighting future Superman projects with either of them attached.

They never went for an unknown for Batman—those movies are Hollywood legends, for better or worse. Since Superman II, has any Superman film done anything to make waves?

Routh didn’t get a sequel because of circumstance and Cavill has had sequels.

It goes back to what Richard Donner talked about an actor has to pop off the screen and say Superman for it to work. If you out known actors there you don’t see Superman but that actor in the outfit. Going to un/lesser known for is character has worked since the characters live action debut with Kirk Alyn right through to Henry Cavill.

The reason it works for Batman is the mask and the character himself, he’s not someone you have to believe as a good nature whole hearted character.

Also it’s not about the actors why the films have disappointed, it’s because of creative decisions with the story and direction. You’ll often find people who have issues with Superman Returns or Man of Steel/BvS don’t have an issue with the casting of Superman. You change the actors in those films to known actors not only do you have the same issues with the direction, you also have issues with the casting on top.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I honestly don't buy that argument very much. I think the name Donner brought up as an example of an actor who was too recognizable is Robert Redford, but are you telling me Robert Redford couldn't have made an amazing Superman? The job of an actor is to convince you that they're the character, suspending your disbelief is part of going to the movies.

 

[SupermanFan]

I honestly don't buy that argument very much. I think the name Donner brought up as an example of an actor who was too recognizable is Robert Redford, but are you telling me Robert Redford couldn't have made an amazing Superman? The job of an actor is to convince you that they're the character, suspending your disbelief is part of going to the movies.

You can apply it because it was a correct statement, they realised you couldn’t cast a known star as Superman. It’s not the case of who the stars were it was Redford, Voight and several others. The fact that directors keep on casting unknowns and lesser known for movies and tv tells the story that it’s the correct formula.

There are certain characters that you just can’t cast stars in the role cause there has to be an air of believability about the actor in the role. One of those is Superman.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I don't agree!

 

[SupermanFan]

I don't agree!

Well if they ever cast a star we can revisit this but there’s a reason they go back to unknowns and it’s because it’s a formula that works for Superman. A star would go in the face of that.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I don't think Cavill was really an unknown either. He had already been the lead of a big budget movie like Immortals and was a main cast member of a very successful cable show for years.

 

[SupermanFan]

I don't think Cavill was really an unknown either. He had already been the lead of a big budget movie like Immortals and was a main cast member of a very successful cable show for years.

He was lesser known, he’d been in the Tudors but he wasn’t a star, he was known by comic fans and that’s about it. Also he got Superman before Immortals came out. Heck Reeve & Routh had done tv work prior to Superman too on soap operas.

 

[Captain Tired]

Can it really be called a correct formula for film when it's only ever worked that one time for Reeve?

Just playing devil's advocate there. I also think an unknown is probably best for Superman.

 

[SupermanFan]

Can it really be called a correct formula for film when it's only ever worked that one time for Reeve?

Just playing devil's advocate there. I also think an unknown is probably best for Superman.

But again let’s look at it this way, Superman Returns and Man of Steel weren’t flops despite what people say. Also the castings of Superman in those films were not the problem, most people liked the actors in those roles. So while those films might have disappointed the castings weren’t why, it’s always been down to the direction and story.

Also you can switch it and go to TV where it’s been very successful, George Reeves, Gerard Christopher, Dean Cain, Tom Welling & Tyler Hoechlin. Tyler’s probably the most known when cast as Superman than the others but even he has a fan base based off Teen Wolf, it’s Teen Wolf fans and comic fans who know who he is. General audiences certainly don’t know him. All I know or lesser known, certainly not stars and all have been successful from one degree to another.

 

[Captain Tired]

Yes I'd agree it's been successful for tv, but for film I'd still argue that it's only worked the once. I wouldn't say that most people like Routh or Cavill in the role. They have vocal followings on this forum, sure, but generally speaking, I'd say the response to both has been very mixed at best.

 

[SupermanFan]

Yes I'd agree it's been successful for tv, but for film I'd still argue that it's only worked the once. I wouldn't say that most people like Routh or Cavill in the role. They have vocal followings on this forum, sure, but generally speaking, I'd say the response to both has been very mixed at best.

We’ll have to agree to disagree on that, I see most often even from people who don’t like those movies that those two were fine in the roles. I know a ton of people who hate the Snyderverse and yet they want Cavill to continue in the role. I don’t spend a lot of time here either, I’m mostly on social media where I see a lot of this. Plus a lot of YouTube content.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Those aren't very good comparisons. A big star wasn't going to be in a low budget television show in the 50s or even the 80s. Tom Welling was playing the role of a teenage Superman, there's not really many big teenage stars that are going to sign on to an ongoing series on the CW. Every person who get a teenage role on the CW is an unknown. And Tyler Hoechlin has been acting since he was a child.

 

[SupermanFan]

Those aren't very good comparisons. A big star wasn't going to be in a low budget television show in the 50s or even the 80s. Tom Welling was playing the role of a teenage Superman, there's not really many big teenage stars that are going to sign on to an ongoing series on the CW. Every person who get a teenage role on the CW is an unknown. And Tyler Hoechlin has been acting since he was a child.

They are good examples because they were stars. Tom Welling despite not ever wearing the suit is known as Superman. Hoechlin may have been acting since he was a kid but he’s still not a star. Unknowns/Lesser knows are always cast as Superman. There’s a reason for it.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Yes, the reason is that big stars didn't taking leading roles in television back then. It wasn't even an option. Cary Grant wasn't looking for pilots to star in. Even now Will Smith isn't going to be in a CW show.

 

[SupermanFan]

Yes, the reason is that big stars didn't taking leading roles in television back then. It wasn't even an option. Cary Grant wasn't looking for pilots to star in. Even now Will Smith isn't going to be in a CW show.

Irrelevant they could have gone looking for tv stars, but they didn’t. Stars aren’t just in movies ya know.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Tyler Hoechlin is a television star. He had a main role in Teen Wolf for three years before being cast as Superman. Also Seventh Heaven when he was younger.

 

[SupermanFan]

Tyler Hoechlin is a television star. He had a main role in Teen Wolf for three years before being cast as Superman. Also Seventh Heaven when he was younger.

He’s well known by Teen Wolf fans and comic book fans but outside of that he isn’t that well known. He wasn’t starring in a major ratings project like Game of Thrones. He was a supporting character in Teen Wolf, hence not a star. He’s not synonymous with a specific role either.