Why A-Listers Shouldn’t Be Cast in Iconic Movie Roles
There’s so many iconic characters that have been recast and rebooted over the years. Whenever a character like Batman, James Bond, Superman, or Spider-Man doesn’t have an actor playing them. People start fancasting and wondering who should play the next version of the character. Oftentimes, people fan cast A-listers to play these characters, but I don’t like that. I don’t want that to happen. Why? Well, here’s my thoughts and reasoning for that. Let’s get started!
Why Shouldn’t They?
- I feel like the answer here is very simple, the more recognizable a face the more you associate them with an iconic character. The main example I’m going to use here is Henry Cavill. He’s a fan favorite on the internet, people love him and want him to succeed. There’s even a batch of people who are mad that James Gunn didn’t keep him around as Superman. With the role of James Bond being open, he’s the top fan caster for this James Bond. I’m not a big fan of Henry Cavill, he seems like a very down to earth chill guy. But I don’t want to see Superman as James Bond. If you didn’t know he auditioned for James Bond the same time that Daniel Craig was auditioning. Obviously, Craig got the role but Cavill didn’t. Cavill was on The Graham Norton Show and was asked about James Bond and the early stages of his career. “Early on in my career I got The Count of Monte Cristo and a couple of movies after that. And then I was auditioning, I was always aiming for leading roles and all the right things were being said to me afterwards by the casting directors. Saying ‘you were great, the best person that walked into the room. But you’re not a name and we need a name.’ And so that was a thing and I thought well this seems like a bit of a catch-22 scenario and I became a little bit disenchanted with the whole thing and I thought well you know I’m going to give it a little bit more time and then I’m going to follow my original course which was go join the armed forces. And it was then that I got the Bond screen test and that was the thing that put me in Variety and then my name was in Variety. And then more people started pursuing me and then I wasn’t a name as such but I had least been put in Variety,” said Cavill. That’s what helps these up and comers get movie roles, where they audition for a lot of things. To what Cavill said, all of the right things were being said but he was too young or wasn’t famous enough. Even in that same interview that I mentioned before, Cavill said that he would be interested in James Bond, he’d have a conversation with them. Do I think Henry Cavill will be a great James Bond? Yes. He’s a great movie star that can be serious and charming, he has the physicality of the character. But I don’t want to be watching a James Bond movie and see Superman. I wouldn’t be mad if he was cast, but I think with casting an established A-list it’s taking that opportunity for an unknown to be James Bond and propelling them to the A-list. When it came around to audition for Zack Snyder about Superman, he built goodwill with people in Hollywood. All of the casting directors knew that he was talented and wanted him to succeed but were trying to find the right role for him.
- I think those are the types of people that I want to be cast in big movie roles, not these established A-list movie stars. We’re now three years from Daniel Craig’s last James Bond movie, probably going to be another three to four years before the next James Bond movie. I want them to cast this up and coming actor. Somebody who you might not think to be James Bond, but they fit that role perfectly. Daniel Craig was not an A-lister prior to being James Bond, he’d been in movies and people in Hollywood knew he was talented but Bond propelled him to being this A-list movie star for nearly 20 years now. No matter what else he does in his career with getting Oscar nominations or what not James Bond will be the role that he’s most associated with.
- So many of these modern day A-list movie stars started from being in comic book movies. Christian Bale was a respected actor prior to Batman, of course he did American Psycho, but the movie star that we know him to be today started with Batman Begins and Christopher Nolan taking a chance on him. Bale’s portrayal as Batman is one of the best portrayals in comic book movie history, it’s iconic to this day. Chris Pratt for a long time was primarily known for being the fat chubby side character on Parks and Recreation, he was cast in Guardians of the Galaxy and people were wondering whether or not he could lead a big blockbuster like that. Well 10 years later, it’s very clear that he’s a great movie star. So many A-list actors have become famous through comic book movies and most of them their most iconic characters will be associated with this genre.
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