With Twentieth Century Fox about to start production on X-Men: First Class next week, their next Marvel film will be the reboot of Fantastic Four. We’ve heard rumors of Alice Eve and Amber Heard in the running for the role of Sue Storm and we already know from our own chat with someone inside the Fox SFX department that The Thing will be entirely CGI this time around, but now we finally have some info about the leader of the team: Mr. Fantastic.
According to my sources, Fox is currently pursuing high caliber talent to play the man whose ability allows him to not only act as the local genius, but to be completely elastic. The two actors in the running for Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards are Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Adrien Brody.
Adrien Brody is currently a hot item and his name has already been associated with the lead role in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man for Marvel Studios. With Fox interested in the actor who can be seen in the recent releases of Predators and Splice, it seems sooner or later Brody will be a super hero. Meyers on the other hand, who played the lead alongside John Travolta in this year’s From Paris With Love and star of the hit series The Tudors, hasn’t been mentioned for other major comic book properties.
If Fox can nab the Oscar-Winning Brody to play the lead in Fantastic Four, taking over for Ioan Gruffudd who played Richards in the previous two installments, this will certainly make a statement in terms of the quality of films they’re trying to offer in their upcoming Marvel-based movies. We already see this with the cast of X-Men: First Class as well as its director and producers so let’s hope they find a good director to helm Fantastic Four as well. I’m liking the idea of either playing the part though.
In other news, the title of the film will not be “Fantastic Four Reborn” and while I don’t know the title, I’ll just stick with Fantastic Four until we hear otherwise. The film is targeted to hit the summer of 2012.
I’m pretty hopeful for the relaunch of Fantastic Four – I think there’s potential for these characters to work well if the tone of the film is different than what we got with Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Share your thoughts in the comments and with us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant.
‘Anchorman 2′ Trailers Tease the Return of Ron Burgundy’s News Team [Updated] 
Hugh Jackman Reveals Summer Start Date for ‘Wolverine 2′ 
‘Walking Dead’ Season 3 Preview Reveals The Prison & Michonne [Updated] 
‘Breaking Bad’ Season 5 Premieres July 15; Concludes Summer 2013 
Loading ...
I’m a fan of Brody, but please, no.
If I had to pick I would choose Meyers ..Brody does not come across as the super-hero type at all and his acting has never really been that impressive to me..
why not james franco.
I think Brody might work. I dunno about the other guy.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers all the way.
I pick Jerry O’Connell as Mr. Fantastic he was also screen tested to play Superman before Brandon Routh.
oh this fiasco just keeps getting worse..
Jonathan Rhys Meyers is perfect for Prince Namor The Sub-Mariner. Him or Brody portraying Dr.Reed Richards would be an incredible miscast.
yea he would be good for namor.
Neither of them work for the part not to mention I can’t stand Brody. The other other guy doesn’t fit he strikes Me as a tough bad boy James dean type which Mr Fantastic is not. We need a guy who isn’t beefed up and looks believable as the smartest man in the world or at least believable as one of the smartest men lol.
Honestly either of these guys could pull this character off but it all rest on what type of script they have to work with. If the dialog sucks then there is no amount of acting that will fix that
Not Brody … PLEASE no!!!
Am I the only one who thinks that Jaime Kennedy would be perfect?
I believe so.
we dont need thar fool around, nor a reed richards pretending to be black, like kennedy seems to do in everything he does
Oh Hell naw!!! I’m not even fond of the choices for Sue.
I’m gonna guess yes your the only one wanting Jamie lol. He’s not a good actor and is not believeable as moderately smart let alone smartest man alive.
LOL Jamie Kennedy=smart FTW!
How dare you mock the great and amazing Jaime Kennedy!!! He shall come and smite you all in his mighty greatness!!
Ha Ha, how awesome would it be if I was actually serious
you probably are?
Neither actor (amazing as they are) should be cast as Reed Richards only to attach a big name to it. If they do it right, the cast should be in thier 30′s and not be an origin story. Reed could be in his 40′s even. A tall, skinny, not so attractive, brainy type would be ideal.
@St,Rukos That’s Guy Pearce.
imo Brody would be great for the Role.
i dont like Meyers
Adrian all the way!!!!
I hope Brody gets the role. From the two actresses that FOX is considering I prefer Alice Eve.
Comic Book Movie is reporting Kevin Pennington is up for Human Torch. He has the perfect look, so I’m OK with that.
Now we just need to know who’s going to be the Thing and Dr. Doom.
Isnt the Thing going to be all CGI?
Thing is, but they still need an actor for human part and/or voice.
My vote for the voice is either Christian Slater, Bruce Willis, or Michael Madsen,
How about no actors at all and Marvel and Fox forget about the reboot all together. I’m for that.
Ford Prefect:
thats called ‘just dont watch the movie.’
I’d be good with either of them. I like Brody, and judging from MI3, Rhys Meyers can actually do computer nerd pretty well (Although the picture posted of him at the top really doesn’t do much to sell him for this role, lol.). I just don’t know if a) Fox is going to make the cast way too young looking to be “hip” or b) if Fox can make a good movie at all anymore. I guess we’ll see.
And on another note, I’m really glad it’s not going to be called “Fantastic Four Reborn”. That’s a pretty dumb name for it. All it does is bring more attention to the movies that you’re trying to completely ignore.
i’m sorry but yeah there may have been a few bad things with the last two films-the thing being the main issue and the lack of a better or more interesting story for the second one. But to do a total reboot after just 2 films,is a bit ridiculous..the casting was only half bad with the last two. Evans was perfect as Johnny Storm and Ian Gruffud was great though not perfect as Reed Richards,though had their have been a better script that gave him more to do than just spout cheeesy lines and make faces-I think he would’ve been better and more memorable..Myers is a good choice but I can see him as the next Tony Stark before being Reed Richards.Brody only if they CGI’d his nose smaller…then i can see him as richards..
I saty bring back Gruffud…and get Alice Eve in there..for johnny storm-Paul Walker or hmm can’t think of anyone else at the moment but definitely not Neil Patrick harris..
How about Fox give up all the rights to Marvel and convince other major studios with upcoming Marvel movies, to give up their rights to Marvel and then, the Marvel movie universe fans will be the happiest people alive!!! Don’t you think?
I think Brody is fine… have him lose some pounds and they dont even have to worry about special effects to get his nose to grow….
this comedian^^^
Colin hanks as mr fantastic.
actually to correct one omission in the story,
in 2007, Jonathan Rhys Meyers was CAST to play Lee (phantom) Falks, ever elusive Mandrake the Magician.
whose power is that he can hypnotise you in less time than it takes you to blink. Any rhys meyers fan knows his eyes can do that…all the time
At the time, Chuck Russell was at the helm, F and Cris Angel was cast to play Mandrake’s ageless father,
And what happened with that movie?
to correct one error in the story
In 2007, Jonathan Rhys Meyers was CAST to play Lee (phantom) Falk’s, ever elusive Mandrake the Magician
who has evaded the screen for decades. Attempts by Frederico Fellini and later David Bowie failed to capture the 1934 mastermind often credited as the first superhero.
At the time, JRM was cast, Chuck Russell was at the helm, Falk was listed as writer and magical Cris Angel was on board to design the film’s illusions and cast to play Theron, Mandrake’s ageless father.
Sadly, it appears that the project fell apart. Russell disengaged, Angel went off to do the effects for Michael Jackson’s ill fated tour and, last I heard, Hayden Christianson had replaced Jonny as Mandrake and the project has go nowhere since.
Too bad cause Mandrake’s power is that he can hypnotise you in less time than it takes you to blink. Any Rhys Meyers fan knows HIS eyes do that…in a heartbeat..and as Russell said of Rhys Meyers: One of the most exciting things for me as a director is when I know I have a star who will make an indelible impression on a role, become the catalyst for an entire film.”
sorry rob,
my comment got printed before I finished it…have reposted the sad fate of Mandrake
Sadly, it appears that the whole project fell apart. Russell disengaged, Falk who’d been listed as writer did too, Angel went off to do the effects for Michael Jackson’s ill fated tour and, last I heard, Hayden Christianson had replaced Jonny as Mandrake and the project has gone nowhere since.
A loss cause cause it looked like a terrific team and, as Russell said of Rhys Meyers, “One of the most exciting things for me as a director is when I know I have a star who will make an indelible impression on a role, become the catalyst for an entire film.”
Brody so I can see how far his schnoz will stretch across the screen to save the day