MORE SUPERMAN RETURNS CASTING: PERRY & RICHARD WHITE

[MattBrady]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Bryan Singer is staying a little close to hom for his next two castings for Superman Returns. The trade reports that both James Marsden (Cyclops in the X-Men films) and Hugh Laurie (Dr. Gregory House on the Fox drama House, which Singer executive produces) have signed for parts in the film.

From THR: Marsden will play Lois Lane's love interest, Richard White. Laurie is in final negotiations to play Perry White, editor in chief of the Daily Planet. The two characters are related, though the studio declined comment on if they are father and son.

[SpyGuy]

Hey, I dig Hugh Laurie as much as I do other great Brit character actors, but for Perry White? Are you kidding me with this, Singer? Of course, considering that Steve Martin's name was being run up the flagpole there for a while, it doesn't surprise me that they would miss the mark with Perry. I mean, even Michael McKean makes for a better Perry than Hugh Laurie...

[Blind Assassin]

Originally posted by SpyGuy
Hey, I dig Hugh Laurie as much as I do other great Brit character actors, but for Perry White? Are you kidding me with this, Singer? Of course, considering that Steve Martin's name was being run up the flagpole there for a while, it doesn't surprise me that they would miss the mark with Perry. I mean, even Michael McKean makes for a better Perry than Hugh Laurie...

did you see the screen test, the readings, etc?

How can you know who would make a better anything, unless you were working on the picture.

Jeez, are we that cannabalistic a community, that everytime a 'comic book movie' is made, we have to trounce whoever is cast in it..every time?

[SpyGuy]

Originally posted by Blind Assassin
did you see the screen test, the readings, etc?

How can you know who would make a better anything, unless you were working on the picture.

Jeez, are we that cannabalistic a community, that everytime a 'comic book movie' is made, we have to trounce whoever is cast in it..every time?

Yes, as much as we have to trounce whoever trounces whomever is cast...

And as someone who is a fan of Hugh Laurie, as well as a Superman fan of thirty years, I feel capable of forming an opinion (and I stress the word there) of whether he is appropriate for the role or not.

[Amoebas]

Apart from having to sit thru Stuart Little with my kid a few years ago I had never heard of Hugh Laurie.

But then came HOUSE.

This guy is SO good in that show that I have ZERO doubts he can do Perry White (or Lex or Jimmy or, heck he wouldn't look the part but with his acting ability I'd say he's capable of being Lois .

Just wait - I'll bet with this Superman movie, you'll believe a man can edit!

[bob_at_york]

Am I the only one who finds it funny that they are copying Spider-man? Hey lets have the boss/newspaper editor have a son who is going out with the hero's love interest! That hasn't been done before!

Reminds me of how Smallville has turned the Luthors into the Osborns.

[MattBrady]

Originally posted by SpyGuy
Hey, I dig Hugh Laurie as much as I do other great Brit character actors, but for Perry White? Are you kidding me with this, Singer? Of course, considering that Steve Martin's name was being run up the flagpole there for a while, it doesn't surprise me that they would miss the mark with Perry. I mean, even Michael McKean makes for a better Perry than Hugh Laurie...

Yeah! Damn straight! If anyone needs an example of what he's talking about...just consider, would you cast this dork:



to be J. Jonah Jameson?

I mean, really...it's nonsense. I've seen him on Law & Order and in other movies...he's a softie! A cheeseball sofite that would never be fit to play...what? What's that?



Oh. Nevermind.

Can we please find some other form of exercise today instead of jumping to conclusions?

MattB

[bigstumpy]

Seem like fine choices to me.

[chap22]

Originally posted by MattBrady
Yeah! Damn straight! If anyone needs an example of what he's talking about...just consider, would you cast this dork:



to be J. Jonah Jameson?

I mean, really...it's nonsense. I've seen him on Law & Order and in other movies...he's a softie! A cheeseball sofite that would never be fit to play...what? What's that?



Oh. Nevermind.

Can we please find some other form of exercise today instead of jumping to conclusions?

MattB

obviously, Matt, you never watched Oz on HBO.

the last thing I would call him after that role would be either a dork or a softie.

[SpyGuy]

Originally posted by MattBrady
Yeah! Damn straight! If anyone needs an example of what he's talking about...just consider, would you cast this dork:



to be J. Jonah Jameson?

I mean, really...it's nonsense. I've seen him on Law & Order and in other movies...he's a softie! A cheeseball sofite that would never be fit to play...what? What's that?



Oh. Nevermind.

Can we please find some other form of exercise today instead of jumping to conclusions?

MattB

Actually, I was making my Hugh Laurie/Perry White comparison based on Hugh's previous work, his background, his comparative appearance to Perry White, along with similar traits for other actors that I feel would be better suited to the role. It seems a bit of a jump to say that expressing an opinion is "jumping to conclusions," don't you think?

And I think it's rather a harsh assessment to label J.K. Simmons a "dork" and a "softie," but I respect your opinion on the matter regardless.

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by SpyGuy
Actually, I was making my Hugh Laurie/Perry White comparison based on Hugh's previous work, his background, his comparative appearance to Perry White, along with similar traits for other actors that I feel would be better suited to the role. It seems a bit of a jump to say that expressing an opinion is "jumping to conclusions," don't you think?

I'm with you there. Well said.

[MattBrady]

Originally posted by SpyGuy
Actually, I was making my Hugh Laurie/Perry White comparison based on Hugh's previous work, his background, his comparative appearance to Perry White, along with similar traits for other actors that I feel would be better suited to the role.

Right, and I was doing the same with Simons, who, to date, was probably best known to the widest audience as the kindhearted, liberal-leaning psychologist on Law & Order who was balding with reddish hair. His background, his comparative appearance to JJJ led me, and others, to think that Simons was waaay miscast for the character, and in the end, his was perhaps the most dead-on casting decision in the entire movie(s).

Originally posted by SpyGuy
It seems a bit of a jump to say that expressing an opinion is "jumping to conclusions," don't you think?

No, not when the conclusion inherent in your opinion is that casting an actor whose breadth of work you don't know, and whose screen test you haven't seen is a mistake.

MattB

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by bob_at_york
Am I the only one who finds it funny that they are copying Spider-man? Hey lets have the boss/newspaper editor have a son who is going out with the hero's love interest! That hasn't been done before!

Reminds me of how Smallville has turned the Luthors into the Osborns.

Well, in case you didn't know Perry White had a son before now. His name was Jerry. That's one thing.

And, don't you think it's a "bit" hard to something new and original nowadays? Everything's been done, one way or another, be it comics, books, movies, etc. For me, it's only a matter of how they're going to do it. If Singer made a blatant rip-off I'll be the first to shout the loudest but I don't think this will be the case.

[SpyGuy]

Originally posted by MattBrady
Right, and I was doing the same with Simons, who, to date, was probably best known to the widest audience as the kindhearted, liberal-leaning psychologist on Law & Order who was balding with reddish hair. His background, his comparative appearance to JJJ led me, and others, to think that Simons was waaay miscast for the character, and in the end, his was perhaps the most dead-on casting decision in the entire movie(s).

No, not when the conclusion inherent in your opinion is that casting an actor whose breadth of work you don't know, and whose screen test you haven't seen is a mistake.

MattB

Matt, as I stated above, I'm a fan of Hugh Laurie's work. Apart from seeing him in various BLACKADDER episodes, I've watched him in 101 DALMATIONS, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, STUART LITTLE, and most recently, HOUSE and FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX. With that in mind, are you telling me that I'm not allowed to form my own conclusion of whether I think he's appropriate for the role until I see a screen test?

As for J.K. Simmons, being familiar with his "breadth of work" on OZ, I always felt that he would make a great Jonah as soon as he was confirmed for the role. Of course, that was another conclusion on my part.

[ManofTheAtom]

While I like the idea of the possibility of Perry White's son being in the movie (hopefully he'll be revealed to really be Lex's, heh), the idea of him dating Lois reminds me too much of Spider-Man 2.

[y2auld]

Originally posted by SpyGuy
Matt, as I stated above, I'm a fan of Hugh Laurie's work. Apart from seeing him in various BLACKADDER episodes, I've watched him in 101 DALMATIONS, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, STUART LITTLE, and most recently, HOUSE and FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX. With that in mind, are you telling me that I'm not allowed to form my own conclusion of whether I think he's appropriate for the role until I see a screen test?

As for J.K. Simmons, being familiar with his "breadth of work" on OZ, I always felt that he would make a great Jonah as soon as he was confirmed for the role. Of course, that was another conclusion on my part.

I agree with you 100%.

Most of the roles that Hugh Laurie had played does not make him castable as Perry White compared to J.K. Simmons who played a neo-Nazi prisoner in OZ for seven seasons on HBO and was castable as J Jonah Jameson.

[kalorama]

Maybe Singer gave Marsden a role in Superman to make up for basically reducing him to a cameo in X2.

[kalorama]

Originally posted by y2auld
I agree with you 100%.

Most of the roles that Hugh Laurie had played does not make him castable as Perry White compared to J.K. Simmons who played a neo-Nazi prisoner in OZ for seven seasons on HBO and was castable as J Jonah Jameson.

How does playing a neo-Nazi make him "castable" as Jameson? Granted, Jameson is a jerk, but a Nazi?

[Noreikas]

I was really hoping that Steve Martin would get the Perry White job, but this should be interesting. Hugh Laurie is a good actor.

I like Marsden - okay actor, nice eye candy, etc... but on first read, this seems like a character we could do without. I can almost see his plotline right now. Superman's been a way a while, Lois is dating Richard White. Superman comes back. Lois is torn. Richard is either (a) posturing only to lose in the end or (b) turns evil. Lois eventually goes back to loving Superman.

I'd rather see some "real" characters from the comics show up - Lana Lang, Ma & Pa Kent (if they're alive in this movie continuity), Pete Ross, Maggie Sawyer, Dan Turpin, Emil Hamilton, Kitty Faulkner...anyone like that.


But - I'm sure it will be fun, even if it's predictable.

Pre-Crisis, by the way, Perry and Alice White had 3 sons.

I'm wondering since Lex has been de-aged to about 5-7 years older than Clark if he is still considered to be the biological father of Jerry White in post-Birthright continuity.

[StoneGold]

Originally posted by kalorama
How does playing a neo-Nazi make him "castable" as Jameson? Granted, Jameson is a jerk, but a Nazi?

He's got the mustache for it!!!

[ManofTheAtom]

I just realized who Hugh Laurie is, Stuart's dad from Stuart Little, right?

I can see why some people might find his casting as Perry to be weird.

It's gonna be interesting to see what he does with the part.

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by Noreikas
Pre-Crisis, by the way, Perry and Alice White had 3 sons.

I had no idea about that. The only one I knew was the post-Crisis eternally in trouble Jerry (Perry Jerome White Jr. )

Originally posted by Noreikas
I'm wondering since Lex has been de-aged to about 5-7 years older than Clark if he is still considered to be the biological father of Jerry White in post-Birthright continuity.

It could go any way. If no one's changed it, so remains. Or it could be ignored, what with the continuity changing the way it is. Who knows.

[aphterburn]

The Lois/Superman/Clark "are we in love or aren't we even though we're dating other people?" crap is PLAYED.....OUT.