We’ve been hearing rumors about The Fantastic Four reboot casting for a while now, and I don’t want to jinx it, but… these seem legit. As in they come from Variety, an actual reputable news source, which says Kate Mara has already signed on the dotted line to play Sue Storm, Michael B. Jordan “has been attached for some time to play” to play Johnny Storm, and the actors up for Mr. Fantastic and The Thing have all but officially signed on as well.
So who’s your entire Fantastic Four team (probably) going to be? Read on, gentle geeks.
[UPDATE] Not so fast! Mara told MTV that she hasn’t been told yet whether she got the part: “According to Twitter, I am [in the movie]. I literally have not heard a thing, which is alarming. Last night in bed, I was scrolling through movie news. I was like, ‘What? I got the part?’ I still haven’t heard. I want LA to wake up so that I can make some phone calls and figure this out… I literally don’t know 100 percent that I have that part.”
[UPDATE #2] Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm: confirmed.
[Update #3] Kate Mara is now official.
You might as well title this one The Fantastic Four: Everyone’s Young and Hot, because that’s the direction they’re going with casting. For Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic we have Miles Teller, who’s done some fairly high-profile indie films (Project X, The Spectacular Now with Mary Jane Watson, I mean Shailene Woodley), and will play the baddie Peter in Divergent and its sequels.
Taking over from Michael Chiklis for the big, buff Ben Grimm/The Thing is… Jamie Bell?
He’s a few decades out from being “The kid in Billy Elliot,” and he’s done a lot of good acting since that excellent first film. But… what the what? That’s not Jesse Eisenberg-as-Lex Luthor strange, because what is, but it’s definitely odd. Then again, Bell has mo-cap experience from his work on The Adventures of Tintin, and in my view a person’s body type is pretty damn low on the list of things that affect how good they’ll be playing a certain role. (Yes, I am talking about Gal Gadot.)
Bell’s “expected” to play The Thing, though he’s not been officially offered the role yet, and Teller “has an offer to play Reid Richards/Mr. Fantastic, but deal points are a little further away from being completed.” Mara, best known currently for her work on House of Cards, is reportedly already on-board as Sue Storm. Variety doesn’t explicitly say Jordan’s signed on as well, but they treat it like a done deal, which makes sense when you consider he’s literally the only actor whose name has been attached to the part throughout this whole, long rumor process. And he and director Josh Trank already worked together on Chronicle. I’d say it’s all over but the press release.
So. Thoughts? I’ve made my view on this site well-known that I think having Johnny and Sue as multiracial siblings is pretty damn cool, though I understand and sympathize with those to whom it reads as an attempt not to cast multiple actors of color. Mara and Bell are both good actors; I’ve never seen Teller in everything, but I’ve heard good things. It seems like this could be the Tiger Beat of superhero movies, what with its exclusively young, hot main cast, but… I might be OK with that? Chronicle essentially looked like the “teen movie” take on the superhero genre, and it was excellent.
Also relevant: I honestly don’t care about the The Fantastic Four. I respect those that do, and I respect their opinions. (Well. Maybe it depends on the opinion.”But it wrecks suspension of disbelief to have Sue and Johnny as different races!” Not respecting that one.) But “[This actor] is good, but he’s not [this character]!” Pssht. Whatever. Bring it. As long as it’s good. Suddenly I’m taking this movie much, much less seriously than I did before (which I didn’t think was possible), and that mindset is generally conducive to me enjoying a film more. Low expectations are way underrated.
Again, that’s my own personal opinion. What about yours? Spill.
(via: Geekosystem)
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