While the selection process for the title role in The First Avenger: Captain America winds down, we now at least have what may become the first official casting addition for Marvel’s World War 2 era epic.
According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog, actor Hugo Weaving is in final talks to play the lead villain know as the Red Skull in the Captain America origins film.
The ball started rolling for the production of Captain America last month when director Joe Johnston was doing press for his the long-delayed release of The Wolfman which also stars Hugo Weaving. In interviews and Q&A sessions, Johnston revealed several major details about the Captain America film and casting process of the title character, notably that the Red Skull would be the feature villain of the movie as expected.
While not yet finalized, we can expect an announcement regarding Hugo Weaving’s involvement to be made soon and hopefully that will come with news of who they select to play Steve Rogers as well. Speaking of the star-spangled Avenger, as far as we know, the final candidates for Captain America currently include Wilson Bethel, Mike Vogel, Garrett Hedlund and Chris Evans but it’s very possible there are others still reading for the part or being considered.
We all know Mr. Weaving for his trademark voice and dominating screen presence as a villain in The Matrix trilogy and a hero in Lord of the Rings, and many comic book fans had him as a favorite for the villainous role of Sinestro in DC Entertainment’s Green Lantern. Mark Strong got that role instead and Marvel Studios gets to take advantage with Weaving’s talent.
Weaving is no stranger to taking on roles where his face is concealed and where the audience is subject only to his voice. We saw this in V for Vendetta and more recently as the voice of Megatron in both Transformers movies.
For me this is a great choice of an actor to join the Captain America cast and it fits in line with Marvel’s strategy of choosing a relative unknown as the lead to be surrounded by a supporting cast of known and experienced actors.
If you’re looking for my guess at who they are leaning towards for Cap, there’s an obvious interest in Garrett Hedlund who hadn’t even tested for the part and that no doubt comes from the higher ups at Disney who have him as the lead in Tron Legacy. That’s easy cross-marketing but I’ve not lost confidence that Robert Buckley is still involved in the process, possible to play the role of Bucky if not the Captain himself.
What are your thoughts?
Iron Man 2 opens May 7, 2010, Thor opens May 5, 2011 , The First Avenger: Captain America hits July 22, 2011 and The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012.
Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes
Source: THR
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Oh god yes. I'd watch anything with Weaving in it.
I was rooting for Christophe Waltz but this is awesome too!
I hope this news is true. He'd be a great choice.
I love hugo weaving! and he certainly looks the part,
But would he have to put on a german accent? Would people care if the red skull wasnt german?
Love Weaving, glad he got the role! He'll do fantastic like always.
i dont know who red skull is but i dont care. i loved weaving in matrix. thought his voice acting as megatron was very good and as V from vendetta he was brilant.
I am a huge Hugo fan. I love this news. Please let it be true. ~crosses fingers~
Great news! He is one actor who always makes a part his own and lawyas gives a great performance, plus he worked with Johnston on Wolfman so they obviously have a good working relationship.
It is kind of a shame that Weaving is so often associated with villainous roles, he was by far the best actor in The Wolfman, make a spin off with that character now!
I really like the idea of hugo weaving as the skull, hes one of the few people who can make the charachter have some depth. as far as cap casting is concerned im 100 percent for Mike Vogel, he's blonde, has the “look”, is midway between downey jrs height and hemsworths , and he has the acting ability (he was runner up to play kirk in the new star trek but they ended up choosing pine) so i think hes pretty much the best choice they have.
good news on the actor, but i really hope they go with mark millars new introduction of the red skull rather than the old nazi theme, that shits too old. we have been bombarded with nazi stuff for years, or atleast go with the russian version of the red skull. or Uffk it why not modernise him and make him taliban? lol. For those that havnt read the new mark millar stuff i wont ruin it for you (incase it does get used for the film) BUT IT WOULD ROCK TO SEE IT ON SCREEN!!!
i would prefer it if he wasnt german. mark millars version or the russian version would be alot better im tired of the old nazi/ german stuff.
Of course he has to be German-but only for this film, really. It's just what fits with WWII. Millar's version is just…ugh. Ultimates is really suffering these days.
I think this is a great choice for the Red Skull. At least much better than Scott Paulin who played it for some reason the “Italian Red Skull” in the laughable Captain America movie. Let’s hope the deal gets inked, they create a Red Skull Mask this time that actually resembles.
smart lipo
todays news keeps getting better and better
I must say, the original movie, while being cheesey and awful, is still quite entertaining.
Word!
Great, great casting. Hugo is a great actor and I see him fitting into the role perfectly
I'd like to believe this is true, and I hope that it is. However, I'm not sure what casting news is believable anymore for this film. At one point, Jensen Ackles was a front runner to play the lead, I think Chris Pine was in there for a heartbeat, then John Krasinski, and now Chris Evans. Plus, in Joe Johnson's world, March 1st is at least 2 weeks behind the rest of the world's schedule. But, it could be as much as a month or two. Only time will tell how off his calendar is and if his internal calendar is that far off, what does that say for the July 22, 2011 release? What I'm getting at is…JUST TELL US WHO IS CAST AS CAPTAIN ALREADY, JOE JOHNSON! And stick with Hugo Weaving as Red Skull…that's good casting.
Oh dear, the credibility of this movie just did leaps and bounds if this happens.
Give cap to Wilson Bethel,or Mike Vogel,but great choice for red skull.
They might make a spinoff, remeber Hugo's character was bitten. People must also remember that The Wolfman started off in other hands and switched positions on who'd be doing what so it already was going kinda wiry.Aside from the fact the original Wolfman movie wasn't a great movie it was considered good for it's era. Watch it now and it's huh, that was horrible.Alas it is still a classic.
Save that for the future Cap stories. It worked for Iron Man but won't for Cap's origins.Right now we need to stick with to cannon.
The original Wolfman wasnt great even at the time, compared to 30's era Frankenstein and The Invisible Man which still hold up well today.
I still think Jensen Ackles is the best bet for Cap, but I'd be happy if Chris Pine got the gig, just so long as he sticks with Star Trek as that is way more important.
Same here.
Good choice. I was always thinking that Colm Feore could possibly be playing the Red Skull in Thor since his role in that movie has not been announced yet.
Cool beans. Love Hugo in everything he's done.
And if they're still stuggling to find Steve Rogers, I'll bite the bullet and do it. Twist my arm.
Hugo will BE… the Red Skull. Great casting, this movie just went up a notch. It makes me think of all the villains for Thor, CAP & Iron Man.
Loki , Red Skull and (eventually) Mandarin. It's looking more and more like the acts of vengence villain team-up. Maybe the Avengers main villain will be all three.
Unfortunately movies tend to kill all the best villains at the end (Green goblin, joker, two-face, doc ock, deadpool, etc.) , instead of implying an eventual return. But… Loki's a god, kinda hard to kill, Mandarin wouldn't be introduced until Avengers or Iron Man 3, and Red Skull will sell his grandma to scientific testing to live another day and murder another enemy of the furher. So a villain team-up is just the thing that would require the Avengers forming in the first place.
Oh and you might want to find a Steve Rogers.
perect fit he is such a awsome actor