Monday, June 28, 2010

"When Captain America throws his mighty shield..."

"...all those who chose to oppose his shield must yield ♪ ♫"

He lost his headwings

Today Captain America: The First Avenger is supposed to start Principal Photography. Or that's what they were saying a month ago, June 28th. Just thought you'd like to know.

I'm still confused about the Marvel movie universe logic wherein Johnny Storm, "The Human Torch" is also Steve Rogers, "Captain America". Perhaps Chris Evans is like Sybil, Eve or (The United States of) Tara and he has multiple (heroic) personalities within? Maybe he should star in The Crowded Room next? That movie feels like it's never going to get made. Development hell for, what, 8-10 years now?

But... superheroes. Remember when they used to have to pad the superhero costumes so the actors looked cartoonishly fit/muscular? Now they just cast people like Evans and Ryan Reynolds. No special effects required.

On the less bulky front, over the weekend the finalist list for the new Spider-Man was talked up. Exactly how many times are we going to hear that there's a final -- this time they mean it! -- finalist list before someone is cast? This is, what, the third time? On that list we encounter the same Chris Evans multiple personality problem.

A type emerges...

I am apparently the only person alive still bothered by an actor starring in multiple similar franchises. They're considering Chekov/Kyle Reese, Percy Jackson and Kick Ass to play the webslinger here. When I go to the movie theater to see Spider-Man I don't wanna be thinking about Star Trek, Terminator or Kick-Ass. I wanna be thinking about Spider-Man! Why is this a difficult concept? It'd be like if Sarah Michelle Gellar was asked to star in a werewolf hunting role. No, no, no. She kills vampires, see? I'm fully willing to enjoy her as another character besides Buffy but not another powerful woman in some supernatural setting, you know?

This is why, as previously stated, I can't stand seeing Samuel L Jackson anymore despite once enjoying him. He's starred in so many actual or would be f/x action franchises now (10+ by my last count) that he takes me right out of whatever movie I'm watching, even non-franchise movies. He's a factory worker and all genre movies coming down the conveyor belt must be fitted with some Jules Winnfield before they are shipped out to the public. It makes everything generic/interchangeable.

So I'm rooting for Jamie Bell or Andrew Garfield as the new Spidey because they don't have much baggage and they only really make me think of Jamie Bell and Andrew Garfield and those aren't unpleasant reference points at all. Though if they wanna hand us Michael Angarano (who we were just watching) or Ehrenreich I suppose that'd be okay, too.

23 comments:

Volvagia said...

The logic is: Those movies didn't happen in this universe they're crafting. And (sigh) I know how dumb that sounds. (See also: Probability of a 3rd Hulk.)

Amir said...

nathaniel, do i sound really dumb when i say this?
i still don't know why the Spider Man franchise is being renewed when it was just with us only a few years ago and totally doesn't need to be renewed, btu something like Superman doesn't get continued or renewed.

i don't know the studio backstory and why that franchise stopped, but if someone explained it i'd be really happy.

Erik said...

I'm with you RE: Evans as both the Human Torch and Captain America. Wrong wrong wrong. Particulary since Marvel Ent. is trying for the '70s-era continuity thing with "Avengers." If you're going to have continuity you can't have this.

As for Spidey, I'm disappointed in the very idea of a reboot this soon into a successful franchise. "3" notwithstanding.

Volvagia said...

4, Supergirl, Returns. That's three duds in a row. Spider-Man 3 wasn't a "dud", but the domestic grosses were getting lower every film, even if the overall was raising. (I think it's the lack of humour in the Spidey films, done because humour standards vary by country and to include it would risk the foreign markets.)

NATHANIEL R said...

volvagia -- i get the logic but i'm playing dumb because i hate the logic. argh. it still doesn't explain samuel l jackson being ok for every movie which uses a greenscreen. I'm totally surprised he wasn't in Avatar.

amir -- i think it's because raimi had difficulties with a lot of difficulties with the studio on 3 (he wanted only 1 villain because he's smart. and those problems would surely only continue on to 4) combined with the high cost of delivering RAIMI/MAGUIRE/DUNST again. I'm sure that's VERY much more expensive than rebooting with younger unfamous (by comparison) directors and stars.

i suppose this will be a test case for the public's willingness to go to a remake of a blockbuster that's not quite 10 years old. If the public goes in droves (which i expect they will because spider-man is sort of the most popular hero... give or take batman) be very very afraid. if it goes over big expect a reboot of iron man by 2015 since RDJ is 45 now.

Mirko S. said...

Chris Evans for THE CROWDED ROOM? Great!!! I wanna some Oscar Buzz for Johnny Storm :D
pity that development hell for so many years! the book is great...I hope Joel Schumacher could achieve his dream project one day!!!

NATHANIEL R said...

@Mirko -- and joel schumacher isn't the only one who's been attached to it. seriously, how many people's dream project is that movie?

Mirko S. said...

several people I think...but it seems Schumacher is the one who insisted more...and according to imdb he hasn't given up yet...I know Schumacher is not a popular name but I won't be disturbed if he will score it one day. some of his movies are quite interesting, some...

Volvagia said...

Some end up like The Number 23. Why oh why did they insist on taking that film seriously? I understand he got flack for the campy humour of Batman and Robin, but c'mon: If there's one movie genre that deserves mockery, it's the often way too serious noir (Wilder wised up with dark comic noir (Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole) before easing out (Sabrina).

Anonymous said...

Awww, no Donald Glover. Too bad he was never seriously considered for the role. He's not a homogenized white American/British male after all. Whatever. Like I was going to see a damn "Spider-Man" reboot anyway.

NATHANIEL R said...

i'm not even sure who Donald Glover is? is he a tv person... is that why i don't know him? But i did hear people chatting him up for the role on Twitter.

I also heard unfortunately dumb racist remarks like "these people have no respect for literary integrity" as if comic books, which regularly pretend that their own storylines / characters / plots / twists didn't happen so they can make stuff up as they go along have that much 'integrity' that you couldn't change ethnicity.

anyway... i just want it to be Jamie Bell. He deserves a bigger career.

Volvagia said...

Donald Glover is a regular guy. To more accurately question this campaign: Just because we'd like to imagine being Spider-Man every once in a while, that doesn't mean we should support anyone, regardless of race, who has no credentials.

Kyle said...

Volvagia

I don't mind a black guy playing Spider-man, but I would like a good actor to play him...Donald Glover doesn't hold a candle to most of the choices on the finalist list..especially not Jamie Bell or Aaron Johnson.

Volvagia said...

Believe me, neither do I. I did say "regardless of race."

Kyle said...

And that's what I get for reading too fast ;-)

Clover said...

I get what you're saying, but that would be like complaining Jennifer Aniston switches romantic interests in movies way too often!

I'm kidding, I really find this stupid. There are so many talented (and good looking) actors who would kill to be cast as one of these superheros, but they choose someone who has done it before.

chris na Taraja said...

Wow, i thought it ws in their contracts that actors could not play another super hero once they've been some previous iconic hero.

I like Chris Evens, but are there no other actors who can pull it off.

I think he's a hottie, but he was wrong for the Human Torch, who is supposed to be a boyish blonde, and probably not right for Captain America either. I don't know....am i sounding like a comic book geek!?

Kyle said...

Chris,
If you had seen the list of the people that they were considering, you'll realize how lucky we were to get Chris Evans. (Channing Tatum??? Ryan Phillippe??) *shudder*

Danielle said...

Andrew Garfield, please God. That man is brilliant.

Anonymous said...

Donald Glover isn't just a "regular guy." He's one of the stars on NBC's "Community" and has worked as a writer on "30 Rock." He'd be just as qualified as any of those white guys to do a "Spider-Man" reboot. It's called thinking outside of the box for once, Hollywood. Not that that will ever happen anytime soon. He would have been a great choice.

Anonymous said...

Wow. These are some of the most ignorant comments I've seen. Not stupid. Just ignorant. Unfortunately not many of you really know what you're talking about and you can't be blamed for that. Its ok. If you look on the Captain America IMDB page, a lot of these same issues/questions are addressed/answered.

1) Chris Evans playing Captain America after playing the Human Torch is not that big of a deal. Marvel Studios is creating their own "Marvel Movie Universe." This MMU includes both Iron Man films, The Incredible Hulk (the one with Ed Norton), Captain America and all those upcoming Avengers type movies. They DO NOT INCLUDE however: Fantastic 4 (and the sequel), Ghost Rider, Blade, Daredevil, Elektra, Hulk (2003), the Spiderman series or any of the X-Men films(spinoffs included.) Different production companies own the rights of these film properties. Sony owns Spiderman. Fox owns X-Men, Fantastic 4, Daredevil and Elektra. Columbia owns Ghost Rider and New Line owns Blade. These movies are not considered in the same continuity with the newer MMU films.

2)As for the Spiderman Reboot, I think Nathaniel was right, I believe the reboot had something to do with Raimi having difficulties with the stuido and the studio having problems with Tobey. (I enjoyed the movies but I never cared for Tobey as Spidey myself. I can live with a reboot.)

3)This is only my opinion but bash it as much as you like. Thank God no one ever took Donald Glover seriously as a contender to play Spiderman. I enjoyed his stuff on Derrick comedy, and I heard he's pretty good on Community but he is not Spiderman. I love Denzel Washington, Benicio Del Toro and Ken Watanabe but does that mean they would make a good Spiderman? Hell no. Not to mention he's way too old to play a Spiderman, who is supposed to be in High School. I even thought Tobey was too old to play him. As for the whole race thing goes... changing some characters like the Kingpin or even Heimdall is one thing, making a clearly white super hero black is stupid. Making a clearly black character white like Fox in Wanted is also very stupid. Changing the race of an iconic character is stupid and will only create problems. Making characters like Foxy Brown and Dolemite white would no doubt enrage countless people just the same way that making Spiderman black would. You may not like it, or agree with it, but thats the way people are. You're really kinda naive if you believe otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for enlightening the unwashed, ignorant masses, jackass. I'm not naive of anything, nor do I need to troll the awful IMDB boards for my information. I just wanted to see a new version of "Spider Man" that was color-blind. There's no set rule that says the character must be white. That's just a convention that's never changed in the comic books or the films. As for age, okay, if they're setting it in high school, then maybe they should go younger than Donald Glover. But there are 30 year olds on "Glee" acting as teenagers, so if your suspension of disbelief is intact for that, then it'll be the same for this too. They're not doing it, so whatever, it's all good. But if the idea was to expose this film to a new audience that wouldn't have bothered with it otherwise, then it could have been a legitimate direction to take with the reboot.

Sam said...

And they chose Andrew Garfield. Meh. He'll be ten times more interesting in "Never Let Me Go." And if this is suppose to be set in high school, then he's too old for this too. But this will be high exposure for him, and that'll lead to more work, so silver lining.