I’ve been stunned by the feedback a lot of people have been giving the casting of Brandon Routh. Oh he’s too young (I’ve said that too), oh he’s not experienced enough, Oh they should have got Tom Welling… and on and on and on. We all seem to have our reservations. However…
The main thing all of us armchair movie pundits must keep in mind is that NONE of us have read the script. Therefore, we have NO IDEA what type of actor should be cast to play the part. NONE of us were there during the read through auditions, so none of us have any idea who was great and who wasn’t.
The only thing I’m getting tired of hearing is people wanting Welling to play Superman. Look, at first I thought that might not be a bad idea, but the truth is that this is a SuperMAN movie… not SuperBOY. Welling is FANTASTIC as the young Clark Kent… but everything about him screams “young teenage kid”. That’s why he excels in Smallville (a show which I LOVE by the way). But could Welling even hope to pull off a totally different Kent character? One that isn’t supposed to be in his adolescence or teenage “aww shucks” phase of his life anymore? I doubt it. And for those of you who swear “sure he could!”, you’re just guessing, because you’ve never seen him is such a role. Neither have I. This movie is “Superman Returns”, not “Smallville: The Later Years”.
But here’s the bottom line folks: IF BRYAN SINGER SAYS BRANDON ROUTH IS THE RIGHT GUY TO PLAY SUPERMAN, THEN BRANDON ROUTH IS THE RIGHT GUY TO PLAY SUPERMAN! Singer is a MASTER at casting the right people for the right roles in his movies. I’ve always thought The Usual Suspects was the best cast movie of all time. Apt Pupil ranks right up there too.
I remember how much people complained when Singer cast a relative unknown by the name of Hugh Jackman to play Wolverine. “This sucks!” people wrote to me. “What the hell is Singer thinking?”, and “That’s it, X-Men will suck!”. I myself had serious doubts. I heard it all. But Bryan Singer made us all look stupid. Once again he showed us that he, and he alone, is the best person to know who would work best in a particular role for his films. Can ANY of us imagine Wolverine being played by anyone else now? I’d say Singer has earned our trust as far as casting goes. So if he says Routh is Superman… then as far as I’m concerned Brandon Routh is already Superman.
Would I have cast Brandon Routh? Honestly… no. But that’s why Bryan Singer is a multi-millionare successful film maker and I’m sitting alone in a dark room with no one but my pet Chinchilla to keep me company while I write for this stupid web site. I’m so lonely. :)
