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UPDATES Who Will Be Captain America?
EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios and director Joe Johnston want to be really sure they’ve found the right actor to star in The First Avenger: Captain America. Marvel has slightly expanded its search — adding actors that I’m told include Chris Evans, who already logged Marvel Comics superhero time as Johnny Storm/Human Torch in two Fantastic Four films. Of the original contenders, two are still in serious contention: Mike Vogel (Cloverfield) and Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy). Hedlund was on Marvel’s original wish list but didn’t test at first. Scheduling was th reason, but I also heard his reps balked when Marvel informed them that the job would include options for 9 future films and a salary of only around $300,000. It’s not going to work out for the other actors who tested: Chace Crawford (CW’s Gossip Girl), John Krasinski (NBC’s The Office), Scott Porter (NBC’s Friday Night Lights), Michael Cassidy (CW’s Privileged) or Patrick Flueger (Brothers). Paramount Pictures will release the film July 22, 2011. Hedlund can be seen in Disney’s new trailer for Tron Legacy, which you can watch here.
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Krasinski as Captain America? He has all the intensity of a post-it. I can’t imagine him as a Superhero – maybe Green Hornet, because that’s better than Seth Rogen.
If you’re going to throw out Alexander Skarsgard as Cap then you have to include Teddy Sears. Skarsgard may be better known but Sears is bigger and, yes, American.
I know the money enters into the picture but Matt Damon from Invictus pretty much IS Captain America.
Now all they have to do is somehow computer-generate the image of the drug addict Matt played in that military movie into this one, for the before and after effect. I’m sure they can do that. LoLs!
Matt Damon for CA! 2010!
Krasinski’s still in it. Watch and see. By the end of next week, JK will be CA.
begging for this to be true
I’m defending Krasinski a lot in these comments, but he’s not really my first choice.
I just would prefer him over any of the Zack Effron look alikes that are in the running.
Any of those other actors would look like Iron Man’s “little buddy” sidekick in the Avengers. They are baby faced kids.
Krasinski at least is tall and not a teenager.
I remember when they announced Heath Ledger as The Joker. Everyone was crying and bitching about that and look what happened. Whoever they pick, give them a shot. Imagine if you all had a say in who got cast….Ledger as The Joker might never have happened.
I will go see it regardless of who is cast as Captain America. Who plays who does not matter to me, if the story is good and all then ill go.
I don’t recall Ledger’s name being mentioned in conjunction with his girlfriend having a close friendship with Chris Nolan though.
Heath Ledger had proven his acting range a bit more at that point than Krasinski. I mean, people threw a fit when Michael Keaton was cast as Batman, and you know what … they were right! HE SUCKED!!!
Also, I liked Ledger, but he was by no means _great_ in that film (nor was the film particularly great). He definitely reinterpreted the role and made it his own, much different from all other incarnations of Joker I have seen.
Still, we all know that if he hadn’t died, it still would have been a hit, he still would have garnered praise, but he wouldn’t have won an Oscar, and people wouldn’t be mythologizing his performance as some kind of transcendent stroke of artistry. Please.
His performance was great. Whether he had passed away or not wouldn’t have changed how great his performance was. If you can honestly watch that film and say his performance was anything else than great then you, sir, have little credibility when it comes to judging talent.
I’d like to know who the “we all know” are that you refer to.
I agree with Brooklyn Transhumanist about Ledger. As for you “someone who comprehends talent”, you’re just another Dark Knight fanboy too immature to handle someone with an opinion that doesn’t gush with praise over that muddled, ponderous wildly overpraised and overrated movie. Okay, you loved it and some of us didn’t. The people who dislike it have reasons: only two interesting characters (the Joker and Harvey Dent and only Dent was three dimensional), NO interesting supporting characters (who? The Mayor? The Judge? The generic ethnic stereotype crime bosses?), returning characters with nothing new about them, doing the same thing they did in the first movie (Jim Gordon,Alfred, Lucious offering avuncular advice) or doing less (Rachel Dawes was a total nothing in the story this time), a love triangle with no dramatic tension or interest or passion (I couldn’t tell if Harvey and Rachel had been dating for 6 months or 6 days, nor did she seem in any way torn between Harvey or Bruce; it was a stillborn love triangle), and a third act clusterf**k that felt rushed and overblown. The people who like it have nothing but hostility to anyone who challenges them.
Correction. I said nothing about the movie. Only about Ledger… I’m not a Dark Knight Fan Boy by any stretch of the imagination.. or a Ledger groupie as I originally doubted his casting. But feel free to litter Finke with your one paragraph coverage of The Dark Knight to prove to the industry that you know movies.
lol how much time has passed? move on with your life dude
THIS IS FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA, GO TO THE DC COMIC CHANNEL IF YOU WANNA FIGHT OVER THE JOKERs AND BATMANs!!!
Nicely said Darth Ritis. I mean, Michael Keaton as Batman???? Or how about that goofy Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man? Insane ideas. Ben Affleck is perfect as Daredevil, because he is big and strong. Now that makes sense.
First of all, I don’t support the portrayal of two superheroes, a la Ryan Reynolds, so I don’t support Human Torch guy getting the part. Second of all, we need a younger version of Dolph Lundgren!
I can say with astounding confirmation that Krasinski is still in the mix. He is the top choice for many, but not all (thus the continuous go-round of casting news & auditions). I think my grandmother could get an audition at this point, just to give the execs “another look.”
I 100% value Mike Fleming, and Nikki Finke’s insight, but I promise you right now, that Krasinki is in, Hedlund is still in, as is a handful of others. Evans is a late addition, who will not get this role. The only thing that will alter this decision is one of the studio, exec, or directors egos adjusting in one direction or another.
younger actors, I’d go with Chris Pine
but I’d really like Viggo Mortenson
Captain America is not a kid. He’s a badass super soldier. Matt Damon could do it.
How about Paul Walker?
Awesome suggestion. If he can’t do it, get Stiffler.
Talk about limited acting ability! Paul Walker?!
The Teddy Sears suggestion is a great one. He has the size, the twinkle in the eyes, the jawline, American and to top it all off is a good actor. Marvel get on it before someone else does.
John Cena
John Cena
John Cena!
If I say it enough – it may happen.
No. This will never happen. They are going to cast an actor for the role. I promise.
Damn i was rooting for Porter. Evans has a lot of charisma i suppose he could pull it off. He could probably stand shoulder to shoulder with Downey Jnr better too.
I hope to god Krasinski is truly out of the running. What a stupid idea.
I vote for Eureka’s Colin Ferguson, but I’m starting to think John Krasinski could pull it off.
They must be blind if they can’t find a Captain America – turn on any TV and you’ll see him. His name is John Cena.
Probably the best they could do would be Steven Strait–he performed well in 10000 BC and looked good all cleaned up in The Covenant. Most importantly, he has the voice quality to be a superhero.
I like John also, and to be honest i say he would be good as captain america, i mean lets look at Tobey . Before spiderman, would you have put him as a super hero. so lets give him a chance
Commenter CST is absolutely correct. When Stan Lee re-engineered comics back in the Sixties “Silver Age” he wanted to have heroes who were different than the “god like” DC characters, so he gave them very human frailties, likes/dislikes, highly verbal stuff. At its worst it veers into parodic angst, but at its best Marvel heroes show the human side more than the DC ones.
Iron Man (and Downey nails it) is not a hero because he feels a call of duty like Superman, he’s a hero to atone for his drunken stupidity, as part of his twelve-step program.
Cap is Marvel’s Superman, but he has to be a guy who leads by example, toughness, character, and vision. Superman leads DC heroes because he is the most powerful. Cap isn’t the most powerful — that goes to the Hulk, or Iron Man, or Ghostrider, or any number of other heroes.
He is the most experienced, in fighting and in leadership. He commands the most respect (he’s the oldest, still fighting half a century later). He knows how to have his team win without most of them getting killed.
And it is the leadership quality that is essential. Almost no male actor in America has this ability, to project leadership on-screen. Damien Lewis (a Brit) was great as Captain/Major Ed Winters in Band of Brothers, and that is what is needed [he'd be great BTW, if you've seen him in "Life" that mixture of toughness and tenderness is required.] Over twenty years of blow-dried, ab-toned pretty boys without any ability to inspire guys to follow them over a hill into the teeth of the enemy has left American actors with a serious deficit of toughness.
Krasinski can get into a gym. Get built, and the suit can do the rest. Look at Bale, he’s not naturally a guy who looks like a bruiser. But can Krasinski (or any of these other guys) make me believe that men will follow him into battle?
Whiskey, you are a true idiot. Your blog is the worst that I’ve seen. Maybe it’s time to lay off of the booze.
What happened to Ryan McPartlin? He’d be perfect. Hands down.
nbc picked up the office. do you all REALLY THINK marvel wants their entire franchise plan to hinge upon his nbc sitcom schedule. krasinski is not happening.
What are hiatuses for again?
They need to give this to Mike Vogel. He has the chops to pull it off and deserves to get his shot. He has been on the shortlists for big roles like this for years.
Damn, Krasinski’s a good, versatile actor, and has the Captain America look. I was rooting for him.
With the casting of Heath Ledger as the Joker, many “fanboys” reacted negatively based on their perceptions of Ledger’s acting ability; not necessarily whether or not he could pull of the visual look or aesthetics of the Joker.
With Krasinski, the issue seems to be his appearance and not necessarily his acting. It’s not that he isn’t buff (that can change) but that he doesn’t look the part. Captain America is one superhero character which has a particular look attached: blond hair, blue eyes, all-American, strong features, physical perfection, etc. Similarly, most people have a particular mental image of Superman; to which, Nicholas Cage most likely does not correspond.
Its funny, I was just watching the movie Push and was like Chris Evans might make a good cap. Besides him and JK, I don’t think any of the others would look right as cap they all look like little boys. and would have to pick Evans over Krasinski if I had my choice.