Fantastic Four Reboot Moves Forward – Who Should be Cast in the Lead Roles?

Now, a few years ago FOX brought out the X-Men films of which number one and number two were absolutely brilliant, there is no denying that, but they followed it up with X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine which kind of tarnished the X-Men brand for a while before a successful reboot with X-Men First Class. At this time FOX were also bringing out movies of another famous powerhouse team of Marvel’s called The Fantastic Four; sorry to remind you. However, after the slating that Rise of the Silver Surfer received FOX announced that they would be rebooting the series (mainly a money spinning idea so the rights don’t go back to Marvel Entertainment. I don’t for a second believe that this is out of kindness to the fans because if they cared about the fans in the first place Galactus would not have been a giant cloud of smoke and Jessica Alba in a bad wig definitely would not have been Sue Storm!). A few days ago it was announced that Josh Trank would be directing the reboot after the praise he got for Chronicle and now it has been reported that Jeremy Slater is being approached to write a script for the reboot meaning that FOX must be serious about this venture; whether that’s a good or bad thing remains to be seen. But who will be playing the family of heroes? Here are my main candidates…

 

Mr. Fantastic – Jon Hamm. Hamm is best known for his television roles where he has appeared in The Unit, 30 Rock and the role he is most known for these days as Don Draper in the hit television show Mad Men. He has ventured into film before with projects such as Shrek Forever After, Sucker Punch, The Town, Bridesmaids and Friends With Kids all on his roster. Hamm has won a Golden Globe for her performances in Mad Men and has been nominated another three times so the man clearly has acting talent; the popularity of Mad Men also make Hamm no stranger to attention or pressure from fans so would be a good choice for the role of Reed Richards.

 

Invisible Woman – Elizabeth Banks. Okay, so this is going to be a cast that a lot of people are going to question but here goes; Elizabeth Banks is a very talented actress and has proven her versatility over the years. Like Jon Hamm, Banks also appeared in 30 Rock but is no stranger to huge summer hits as she recently appeared in The Hunger Games and before that Man on a Ledge. She has proven that she can be both serious and light hearted as well as looking good at all times (something important for anyone playing Sue Storm). Jessica Alba has the looks in the original two films but Banks has the acting ability too and would be a great shout for me.

 

Human Torch – Aaron Paul. FOX have sort of screwed themselves over a little bit in that the only part of the original films that was any good at all was casting Chris Evans as Johnny Storm so whoever gets that part in the reboot has a lot to live up to (unlike the rest of the cast). Fortunately, Paul has the ability to do just that. He has had bit parts in television shows and films over the years but really made it big with his role as Jesse Pinkman in universally acclaimed series Breaking Bad. Jesse is my favourite part of the show and Aaron Paul’s portrayal is the reason for this, I have no doubts that he could bring great charisma to the role of Johnny Storm.

 

The Thing – Bruce Willis. The rest of the cast presumably wouldn’t be that expensive so why not blow the budget to get Bruce Willis on board? I’m not Willis’ biggest fan but a few years ago I heard a rumour that The Thing would be fully CGI and Willis would be voicing him. Obviously that never came to fruition but imagine how good it would be if that actually happened? Bruce Willis is a well known tough guy who doesn’t take any stick and would be a great fit for Ben Grimm whether motion captured or in his human form pre-Thing. Just do it.

 

So there’s my cast for the reboot although I highly doubt that any of them will be correct, but who would you have play the Fantastic Four?

Assassin’s Creed Film Set to be Made With Great Casting!

Doom. DOA: Dead Or Alive. Max Payne. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. What do all of these films have in common? Yes, they were all adaptations of successful video game franchises. Another thing they have in common is that they were all negatively released and much worse than their video game counterparts. So news that an Assassin’s Creed film is set to be made will be received with mixed emotions from fans.

Assassin’s Creed first hit the consoles in 2007 and has since spawned two complete sequels and a few ‘expansion packs’ if you like. It is one of the most successful and most critically acclaimed series’ in recent years and one of my favourite games that I have ever played. I think that there is definitely plenty of material to build a film from as there is a very strong storyline through each of the games and the characters are well thought out and some interesting action scenes could be built from the film. When playing the game it is easy to see that it would make for a very entertaining experience on the cinema screens.

Whether the film will follow Altair, Ezio or Connor (the three main protagonists of each Assassin’s Creed game) or a totally new character remains to be seen although the premise of the film so far is based “around a man who learns his ancestors were trained assassins after he is kidnapped by a secret organisation with ties to the Knights Templar, and sent back in time to retrieve historical artefacts”. This most lends itself to the story of Altair from the very first Assassin’s Creed game.

One thing we do know for certain is that the man in the main role for Assassin’s Creed is Michael Fassbender, who will also be co-producing. Fassbender is one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood at the minute, receiving rave reviews for everything he does. He doesn’t have much experience with action-centred roles although when he played Magneto in X-men: First Class the action scenes he was in were very good! What he does have though is acting skills by the bucket load; diversity, character, charisma, charm.

As long as Michael Fassbender is attached to the project then Assassin’s Creed may break new ground for video game to movie adaptations.