Over the weekend we discussed the issues surrounding the casting of a key character in Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn’s upcoming X-Men: First Class. Ben Walker had been one of the first actors signed for the project to play the character of Beast, but due to Fox exec Tom Rothman’s demands to recast him, Walker was recently let go for what appears to be concerns over his age.
After testing a few other candidates for the role, the offer went to… Ben Walker… again. Needless to say, with an already rushed production start to meet a rushed release date of early next summer, it’s not comforting to see studio execs meddling with key casting decisions by the filmmakers.
According to Showbiz 411, Walker made the decision to pass on the (second) offer and stick with his broadway gig as a stage performer in the upcoming musical “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.”
What does this mean? Fox has to go through the casting process again to figure out who can play one of their key X-Men characters in the franchise prequel within a very limited timeframe and secondly, they really need to sort out the age dilemma between the character of Beast and the rest of the characters in the film.
With casting Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy as Magneto and Professor X respectively, we’d expect them to be aiming for a young principal cast of mutants and so far, the only real young mutant character cast has been Caleb Landry as Banshee (a character who is actually much older in the comics strangely enough).
For the record, I liked the idea of Walker as Beast. The character brings a higher level of wisdom and intelligence in not only his abilities, but his demeanor, and he works as a more mature X-Men character within Professor X’s first class of mutants. It also plays well into the rest of the series where we see him leave the team for politics, only to return in the dumb battle at the end of X-Men 3: The Last Stand.
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@Alex R. Wolverine does have a ‘berserker rage’ if you didn’t know.
@everyone.. All in all, what I think we should gather from this is that we cannot stop what is being done. Matt was right when he said “to each his own”. Some of us fanatics have different views and opinions concerning the things we love such as comic-adapted movies. What we have to do is just wait this one out and see whats next. And by the way Great post Rob Keyes.
Thanks! I appreciate the comment
Quite a different tone than the other Darren who went full-troll in his comment
Haha, don’t worry about it bud
All I can say is did Hugh Jackman really do the roll of Wolverine justice in the first place?
Three strikes! Your out should be the motto! DAREDEVIL foul ball!,ELEKTRA strike ONE!, X-MEN 3 strike TWO!, XMO-WOLVERINE, strike THREE!!! your out. “WTF,Hey Fox why are you still standing here at the plate? Get your ass back to the dugout.
@ David Let me just first start off by saying that I don’t want too try and convince anyone otherwise of what they think. I think that I should respect another persons opinion without having to bash them
For me, I think that in the latest installment of the X-men franchise-Origins- Hugh really did nail it for me and speaking on behalf of other fans as well.
Let me say what I noticed… first of all Hugh was in better shape than ever than the previous installments. If anyone noticed, his hairstyle was totally different, giving the character a more realistic approach. Hugh’s hairstyle in the trilogy was unquestionable, it showed us that ‘yes Wolverine’s hairstyle could be done’. It seemed a little awkward at first but then again, it suited his physic. I think that it seemed a little to ‘farfecthed’ as to say that it was deliberately done to accommodate what Wolverine looked like in the comics and cartoons, but in this movie it was just natural( of course with a little gel) and realistic. His sideburns or muttonchops were different too. In the trilogy it was sort of rough looking but in Origins it was neat and ‘smooth’, so to speak. His acting was so much better this time around. He did justice to the rage of Wolverine that we all wanted to see in the previous movies. For me: Yes Hugh did do justice in that role for me
torriderthe thing I didn’t like about Hugh Jackmans portrayal of the character, was simply the fact that he didn’t physically fit the character. That was my initial response. Being a fan of marvel for most of my life I expected a physically larger than life type of character. I expected him to be a little shorter alot stockier and less approachable characteristically.
The approachability part could be my imagination. I just felt like I would have had no reservations about approaching him in a public setting. He was not visually or physically intimidating to me. Hugh did intimidate as far as acting the part. After I got over the hump, in regards to the above, which took all of five minutes, I thought he did an excellent job in his portrayal of Wolverine. I did enjoy all the X-Men movies as well as Wolverine. Overall it worked out and didn’t ruin my enthusiasm for future endeavors.
Good response buddy, I respect that. Hey we all are fans are Screenranters at the ending of the day; practically family. Thanks to Vic
David, I agree, Hugh did a pretty good job as Wolverine but much was still lacking because of Hugh’s stature. Don’t get me wrong I understand that it may be almost impossible to find a descent or great Caucasian male actor that is 5’3″ but much of Wolverine’s character was lost by casting a 6’2″ actor as Wolverine.Why? Because Wolverine is very much like the “Wolverine” animal.Wolverines have been known to fend off and attack animals 3-5 times their size like bears for instance.That’s why Marvel’s Wolverine was loved so much because he was the “little guy”/”the underdog” who would fight guys WAY bigger and stronger than him with no fear. Marvel moved away from the typical traditional tall handsome superhero with Wolverine and that’s what was so different and cool about him besides him being such a badass! So much of the “character” was lost with Wolverine especially being that he actually was taller than almost if not EVERYBODY else in the movies. In no way is Sabertooth supposed to be smaller than Wolverine.
If Marvel Comics were to put out a comic book series based on these dishonest movies versions, it would FAIL miserably.
These characters have been popular for decades because of the comic books not the other way around.
I think they might have half a chance if they did it as satire. But, I’m just trying to be amusing…
@ the old man
As a satire? That’s funny. Adam West could be cast as Prof X along side Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Tina Fey and Joan Rivers as Emma Frost.
I don’t know why I just made that list up. Just feeling kinda silly.
Professor West X
yeah that could work. Now Tina and Joan? You talking young/old Emma?? Steven Colbert as president would make it complete. Mel Brooks at the word processor cuffed to Stan holding a Nerf bat with only the Not Brand Echh series as a refrence…
Ohh HAaa I’m with ya now! It’s all just lolz. Like Fox and Sony’s efforts…
I’m sick and tired of these reboots/prequals!!!……As much as i like Wolverine the movie freakin SUCKED!!….There should be a Xmen-4!!…
Polo.
I so agree with ya on that one, Reboots especially im tired of. I wished they focused on X-men 4 before the good actors get too old or not wanting to return. If X-men franchise gets rebooted which im sure it will one day, then like the Spider-man franchise i hope Marvel somehow aquires the rights since i think they can do a better job. Besides i want to see the X-men in their prime and take on other menaces other than Magneto.
It’ll be interesting to see if they stay true to the original source material *i.e. big dumb beast, snowball throwing ice man, Lame angel with battering ram* or if they play it close to the chest with a laymen xmen fan concept of how the first books were. The whole thing smacks of “money machine” to me
Sad to say but at the end of the day it’s always going to about the money so I am not looking forward to any upcoming Marvel movies unless they are actually made @ Marvel Studios. Iron Man and The Hulk remake showed us that leaving it to the originators will result in good films. As mush as I love Sony and hate Fox, they should give up the rights to make films for these huge franchises and work out some deal where both parties as well as the audience can be happy.
i used to love the x-men films well the first two. now i have began to hate them. i think marvel/disney need the rights back so we get a chance to see some really great films. besides x-men being comics to film the only other i really want to see done right are spiderman with some new doc ock,and lizard,and a sequel to marvels hulk with leader,AND SOME MORE ABOMINATION. so lets see them do spidey right,and marvel get the x-men and do them right,and some more hulk then im done with comic book films and i want more monster/sci fi thrill/killer animal films with great story,acting,and cgi/practical effects. like splice 2, steve altens the loch,remakes to island of dr moreau,creature from the black lagoon,resident evil like the first game,a prequel to underworld the rise of the lycan about the corvinus family origins,andsequel to unbreakable and a prequel to signs,and a dino crisis film,ohhh and some great not sci fy channel but great killer animal flicks.
I am SOOO glad I have my 20,000+ worth of comics to venture to for the real taste of fandom to rinse my mouth from the taste of the hokeywood “adaptation” errors. As the taste worsens from fast-food to garbage, I lovingly embrace my bagged and boarded heirlooms with even more intensity. Wake me when SOMEBODY/ANYBODY gets their crap together.
@ IRONMAN2YOU
Wow! 20,000+ comics. That’s impressive. Makes my collection of 5,000+ seem rather small.
“taste worsens from fast-food to garbage”
Classic line, I couldn’t agree more.
Thanks Mr.Magnetic Eye for the kind words! I enjoy reading your respectful and coherent posts. I guess we keep voicing our opinions and keep our fingers (and toes) crossed. Considering my eyes are already that way from reading so many diverse comments. CHEERS!
How about the X-Men versus the Sentinels? Now that is a fight I’d like to see (although I wonder how/if it could be fit into the timeline structure of the previous X-men movies? Now that would be a super-feat indeed!).
I can’t see anymore Fox X movies doing anything but failing. They have dropped the ball from day one. Horrible casting on nearly all characters. Campy, cheesy finish to all of the films. Detachment from realism when they are trying to imply that these mutants are existing in our reality. XMO Wolverine was probably the worst with horrible attention to detail and rushed, half ass post production… not to mention “cool for the sake of cool” shots (i.e. Wolverine hacking away at the ladder Gambit was trying to climb, also, why the hell was Gambit trying to fight Wolverine when clearly Wolverine was trying to kill Sabertooth who was after Gambit at one point?). This movie was sloppily written, cast and produced… sloppy at almost every level.
fox has ruined this franchise now they are making it more for kids,well not mine i will be skipping this one and me and my kids will watch something else. marvel/disney need the rights back so we will get a story driven x-men remake with the emotional feeling of the hate and fear of humans and mutants that we had in x-men 1,and x-men 2.REMAKE…….tear rolls down my face lol. no really.remake..
Is X-men: First Class rushing to it’s doom?
That’s the question people lets remember what we’re replying to here. and yes X-men: First Class is rushing quickly to it’s doom. We as fans of these characters need to stay away from franchises Marvel doesn’t have the rights to. Hopefully somehow Marvel can get the rights for the X-men and Spiderman back.
Change the title to
X-Men : Half-A$$ed
if this Twilight direction is true I hope it flops and the rights revert to Marvel..Hell maybe the financial juggernaut that is Disney will just throw some cash at FOX to let the rights go to Marvel studios.