X-Men: First Class — Casting News Heats Up!
August 18th Casting Update
X-Men: First Class has more mutants in it than prom night in Chernobyl. Because of this the casting process, by which we will finally arrive at a complete X-Men team, is long, and I mean long. Take a look at this post! We’ve been updating it for the last two months and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. If anything, the updates are coming faster and more furiously, more Vin Dieseley if you will. The latest casting updates have replaced She’s Out of My League hottie Alice Eve – who was slated to play Emma Frost – with January Jones. The Mad Men actress, best know for her icy 60s housewife character Betty Draper (despite her brilliant turn in American Wedding) is a definite for taking on the part of The White Queen. Also joining the cast is the genetically blessed Zoe Kravitz (daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet) who will be taking on the role of Angel. Angel, also referred to as Tempest is, power-wise, basically the X-Men version of Seth Brundle with all of the genetic gifts of the common housefly. Rounding out the additions are Bill Milner and Morgan Lily who will be playing adolescent Magneto and young Mystique respectively.
August 16th Casting Update
This may come as somewhat of a surprise, considering what a big name Matthew Vaughn is in action films, but the guy has only made three films. Layer Cake, Stardust, and most recently Kick-Ass are Vaughn’s sole directing credits. So, it’s not a huge surprise that the Brit is going to his well of actors (a shallow one at that) to cast the latest X-Men film. Jason Flemyng, one of those actors whose face you know but you would have difficulty recalling his name from memory, has appeared in all of Vaughn’s films and apparently X-Men: First Class will be no exception. Flemyng is slated to play Azazel, a non-humanoid Neyaphem, who is the demonic father of Nightcrawler. For those of you unfamiliar with the character, Azazel is like Nightcrawler on steroids: He can teleport, shoot blasts of energy, shapeshift, oh yeah . . . and he’s immortal. No word yet on what sort of role he’ll be playing in the new film, but I think it’s a safe bet that he’s not playing one of our heroes.
The next piece of casting news is more rumor than fact, but if it gets us a step closer to a completed cast list we obviously won’t ignore it. Rose Byrne, who played Briseis in Troy, is talking with producers to potentially play Dr. Moira McTaggert. This hasn’t been confirmed yet, but if she is talking about appearing in the film that would mean that Rosamund Pike is being ditched in favor of the Australian.
We’ll bring you more X-Men: First Class news as it becomes available.
August 9th Casting Update
Between doing press for his new film Chatroom, beginning filming for The Phone, and tending to his comedically older fiancee and their newborn daughter, Aaron Johnson has no time to be shooting plasma from his eyes as Cyclops in X-Men: First Class. The role is still open and we’ve have been given no indication that Matthew Vaughn and producers of the new film are close to casting a new Scott Summers.
What we do know is that now the role of Mystique, formerly occupied by Amber Heard, now belongs to one Jennifer Lawrence. Ms. Lawrence has appeared on The Bill Engvall Show which aired from 2007-2009 and more recently Sundance favorite Winter’s Bone. Check out her IMDB page here.
July 29th Casting Update
With Taylor Lautner being ruled out as the heir to the Wolverine throne, Twi-hards have had little to get excited about regarding the latest installment in the X-Men franchise. It looks like this apathy towards Xavier’s school for the gifted is about to end because [deadline] is saying that Edi Gathegi is set to join that cast. Gathegi played a dope gangster in the Boston crime drama Gone Baby Gone, but is best known for his portrayal of Laurent in the Twilight series (yeah, the first vampire you’ve ever scene with some Rastafarian dreads). Gathegi is continuing his supernatural legacy by taking up the role of Darwin, an X-Men with an impressively adaptable superpower skill set. Darwin gets his name from his mutation, the ability to genetically adapt his body to any situation or environment. Throw him from a plane, he’ll sprout some wings. Dump some acid on his skin, it will release a basic chemical to balance the ph. It’s a pretty useful power that makes trying to kill him basically impossible. If you are looking to bone up on the recent addition to the cast of X-Men: First Class you can read more about Darwin here.
July 19th Casting Update
While he may be every teenage girl’s dream man, Taylor Lautner is not particularly well known by the average comic book reader. So when it was rumored that the Twilight star might play a young Wolverine in X-Men: First Class, the Marvel community was justifiably baffled. While Lautner is skilled at standing around with no shirt on, I’m not sure he looks too much like Hugh Jackman (Logan is all grown up by the time he meets Prof X).
Thankfully, Lautner is officially out. Slightly terrifying is the news that the rumor had a factual basis; film producer and director of the first two X-Men movies Bryan Singer apparently wanted Lautner in the movie, ignoring the fact that Wolverine was born in 19th and not 20th century. Luckily, it seems like someone making casting decisions had their mind in the right place.
Two new rumors have also emerged. Singer says that Meagan Good may be playing a young Ororo/Storm, although nothing is confirmed. Another rumor pertains to Kevin Bacon, who signed on as an unnamed villain. The newest report claims that Bacon will play Sebastian Shaw, no not the wrinkled prune in the Vader suit, the mutant businessman with the power to convert kinetic energy into raw strength.
With Comic-Con starting later this week and production on the film slated to begin in a month or so, we can hope to get final confirmation on the cast soon.
July 9th Casting Update
It’s a good week for the casting details of X-Men: First Class. We now know that Nicholas Hoult (Clash of the Titans) will be taking over for Ben Walker, who earlier turned down the offer to play Beast. Hoult may have some Taylor Lautner-esque beefing up to do if he hopes to accurately portray the barrel-chested McCoy. Also confirmed is Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee. You may remember Jones from his role in No Country for Old Men, when he gave Javier Bardem his shirt because the killer had a bone sticking out of his arm.
Another report claims that Lucas Till, who starred in Hannah Montana: The Movie, will play Cyclops’ younger brother, the plasma blaster Havok. Wait, they’re letting a Disney Channel actor play a mutant superhero? Oh, he was also in a Taylor Swift music video, so he must be mutant-material. Rounding out the cast, Amber Heard (Never Back Down) will play Mystique and Rosamund Pike (Surrogates) will play geneticist Moira MacTaggert.
July 8th Casting Update
As any Marvel fan knows X-Men: First Class will chronicle the foundation of Charles Xavier’s school for mutants and the eruption of the war between Xavier and Magneto. The movie is slated to be released in the summer of 2011, which means they’re going to finalize casting and start filming faster than you can say Flash.
X-Men: First Class casting details are leaking like Bobby Drake on a scorching summer’s day. Here is what we’ve got so far:
James McAvoy (Wanted) and Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) will be starring as Charles Xavier/Professor X and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, respectively. The casting of McAvoy and Fassbender proves that all it takes is one comic book movie and an actor is set for life, superhero-wise that is. McAvoy’s last major role was in Wanted and Fassbender’s was in Jonah Hex. I guess the lure of playing a comic book hero is just too strong to resist.
Alice Eve (She’s Out of My League) has been confirmed as Emma Frost. Benjamin Walker of Broadway fame was supposedly confirmed as Hank McCoy/Beast before being dropped. Walker was subsequently asked back to the production—an offer which he turned down. How you turn down an offer to play an educated, intellectually snobbish blue man-beast is beyond me. X-Men: First Class is probably going to deal with the pre-blue Hank McCoy, in which case I understand Walker . . . ehhhh . . . walking.
Off-camera, Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) will be directing and Bryan Singer, director of the first two X-Men films (read: the good ones) will be one of the producers.
The newest rumor is that Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) will be playing Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops. Although this theory has been around for some time, it has reportedly been confirmed by people within the production, although the studio itself has not made an official statement. Josh Hutcherson was also being considered for the role—both actors were also in the running to play the new Spider-Man (which went to Andrew Garfield), so I guess casting directors view Johnson and Hutcherson as completely interchangeable.
Jean Grey, Mystique, Banshee, Multiple Man, Willow, and Moira MacTaggert are all rumored to be in the film as well, although no official casting has been announced.
We will keep you updated as X-Men: First Class information becomes available.
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