A lot of times on the internet, speculation and the wishes of fanboys can get pretty out of hand in a hurry. Some putz writes that he’d love to see this or that actor playing a role, then it’s all over the blogosphere before anyone realizes it’s just wishful thinking. Case in point, how about the $50 million offer Christian Bale would get to replay Batman. This was only speculation that got around the world of cyberspace fairly quickly.
So now that Batman Vs Superman is shaping up, for a second we thought that Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad was really going to play Lex Luthor, but again, this is fanboy wishful thinking. In fact, Collider even posted a story headline begging the geeks to “stop asking Bryan Cranston to play Lex Luthor.”
As Collider writes, “Fanboys tend to have limited vision in their casting, and these kinds of stories only play into confirmation bias. These fans look for physical resemblance first, and talent second. Cranston couldn’t fit more perfectly into a simplistic ideal of what Lex Luthor should be.” Terrific actor for sure, but the role needs more than that, and the baggage he has from the series could work against the character.
One reason I’ve been very down on the recent Superman remakes is that the 1978 movie had a perfect cast that can’t be repeated or topped. You couldn’t have picked better actors to play those roles. Christopher Reeve was one of the best debuts in cinema history, and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor? C’mon! Terence Stamp was an inspired choice for General Zod, not to mention Superman had the last good performance from Marlon Brando as Jor-El.
Then again, Bryan Cranston could end up being a very good choice to play Superman’s arch nemesis, and his onscreen baggage from Breaking Bad could even work in his favor, making his role more fun in a wink-wink, nudge-nudge kind of way. Just fanboy wishful thinking, but it’s fun to play fantasy casting director, no?
