According to The Hollywood Reporter a decision regarding who will be the next Superman and Lois Lane is imminent. They did a breakdown of the casting process. Despite Gunn’s protestations that nothing is real unless it comes from him, this is very detailed. The casting process for Superman: Legacy took place on the weekend of June 17th at the Warners lot in Burbank. Gunn then shared the assembled cuts with a decision committee of executives that included Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
Here we see, once again, Warner’s inability to leave creatives to do their jobs. They are famous for their meddling. It was studio interference that doomed the DCEU before it even started. Studio interference that brought a popular actor’s time in the red cape to a close prematurely and against the wishes of fans. And here they go again!
Anyway… Gunn reportedly assembled three actors and three actresses into pairs and on the first day of the testing these were Nicholas Hoult and Rachel Brosnahan, Tom Brittney and Phoebe Dynevor, and David Corenswet and Emma Mackey. The pairs were given scenes to film in which full makeup and wardrobe as Daily Planet reporters Kent and Lane. On Sunday, the three men were back for a series of tests in costume as Superman. For all these tests, Mackey played Lois Lane opposite them.
Sources apparently went to lengths to point out that Mackey is not favored simply because she was used for the second day. The audition cuts were assembled and shown to the committee on Wednesday with a decision rumored to be made this week. The choice of Superman and Lois Lane will then go on to inform the wider cast.
Lex Luthor will feature, as will the Authority. Alexander and Bill Skarsgard are both rumored to be in the running for that role. Hoult was actively sought out for that role too. He may still pursue it if he is unsuccessful as Superman. Superman: Legacy is planned to shoot in early 2024 for an 11th July 2025 release.
Is it too little, too late? Warner’s characteristically late to the party, just as the DJ is packing up and leaving? Gunn has said he has a pan to avoid failure in this genre. Make it good again, and make it interesting again. On the Inside of You podcast he had this to say:
“We’re going to be very careful with the product that we put out and making sure everything is as good as it can possibly be.
People have gotten really lazy with their superhero stories, and they have gotten to the place where, ‘Oh, it’s a superhero, let’s make a movie about it.’ And then, ‘Oh, let’s make a sequel, because the first one did pretty well’.
They aren’t thinking about, ‘Why is this story special? What makes this story stand apart from other stories? What is the story at the heart of it all? Why is this character important? What makes this story different that it fills a need for people in theaters to go see?’”
He also made some comments that might give clues as to his planned approach for the DCU:
“People have gotten a little lazy and there’s a lot of biff, pow, bam stuff happening in movies and I’m watching third acts of superhero films where I really just don’t feel like there’s a rhyme or reason to what’s happening. I don’t care about the characters. And they’ve gotten too generic.
I like very serious superhero movies, and I like very comedic superhero movies. I like ones that are a murder mystery but it’s with superheroes. I like to see these different types of stories, as opposed to seeing the same story told over and over again.”
Whatever happens, The Flash has shocked Warner Bros. to its core as it shapes up to be a loss of Lone Ranger and John Carter Of Mars proportions. How will Warner Bros. react to this? More meddling, more fuck ups, more stupidity, if past behavior is anything to go by.
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