Remember when director Joe Johnston said in early February that he would have a casting announcement within “a couple of weeks”? Here we are over a month later and “Captain America” is no closer to picking who will suit up. The film hasn’t even started shooting yet, but we’re getting seriously tired of writing about it. The merry-go-round of contenders that have included John Krasinski, Mike Vogel, Garret Hedlund, Chris Evans, Scott Porter, Chace Crawford, Michael Cassidy and Dane Cook can now add Ryan Phillippe to the list of competitors for the role.
The addition of Phillippe is interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, at 35 years old, he’s got a clear decade on the rest of actors vying for the role. The film is supposed to be an origin story with fairly young Steve Rogers who is rejected when goes to enlist in the Army to help fight Nazis. Phillippe is certainly not old, but clearly Marvel are opening up their options when it comes to stars to lead the film. Additionally, while Phillippe hasn’t had a lead role in a strong film — either commercially or critically — in quite some time, even for him, the rumored $300K salary might be too chintzy. So are Marvel opening up their wallets?
But what exactly is going on with “Captain America”? Other than Hugo Weaving being cast as Red Skull, there is still much work to be done if the film is to get in front of cameras in June and make its July 22, 2011 release date. We’re guessing that Johnston, who obviously wanted his Captain America chosen last month, was probably hoping to be in pre-production by now or at least know who he was working with. With leaks springing forth from this production unlike any comic film we’ve seen before, it us makes question just how stable a project this is.
This won’t be the last word on this project, and as publicists for these actors continue to try and push their clients into front runner status, we hope Marvel makes up their minds soon.
I think their problem is quantity over quality. Lots of great actors, but next to none of them are right for this role.
Eh this movie seems to be going down. Might as well just scrap the entire idea.
Not all superheroes are meant to be made into a movie.