I have absolutely no preference for the role, so my comment is just a comment on whether an actor can "do comedy" or not. I'm an old guy (57 years old).....all the time I was growing up, there was a very serious actor that did tons of work. He was the general, police detective, lawyer, doctor....who never cracked a smile and never said anything funny in his movies. Then one day I hear about this comedy he is going to star in.....it's going to fail I and many others said, because he just can't do comedy. The movie was AIRPLANE. Today.....all that Leslie Nielson is known for is comedies...hardly anyone remembers his serious work.
So when I keep reading that so and so can't be funny because he has never done comedy....it just means you have never "seen" him do comedy.