Memo to Hollywood

[MaxPower]

Memo to Hollywood

Re: Casting of Comic Book Adaptations

Stop what you are doing, go down to your local restaurant or cafe, order a meal and do me a favour. See that girl that just took your order, BAM, she would be perfect for the supporting role in your next comic book hollywood blockbuster.

Now turn to your left and check out the guy washing the dishes, KAPOW, perfect for the sidekick who ends up always getting in the way of the heros work.

My point? There is plenty of untapped talent out there for you to choose from, I do not see why you feel the need to type cast so many actors into the "comic book" film genre. It does not help with new people coming in to the characters world, and irrates hard core fans as they prefer an actor take ownership of a role and make that their focus.

I am sure you think that you can capitalise on the new stars popularity and willingness to work with such subject matter, but this is only a short sighted view. Already we have seen casting/shooting conflicts arise with new movies and planned sequels and if you continue to pigeon hole these actors, this problem will only get worse.

If you still think that you are on a winning formula by using the same core of actors, I have just one word for you, Catwoman.

I thank you for your time in reading this letter.

[Missy]

My opinion changes daily. For example, there are time when I'd prefer it if James Marsden would ditch his upcoming role in Superman Returns and remain with the X-Men franchise. However, the roles are so drastically different that, in the end, it's akin to Tom Cruise playing Ethan Hunt and Vincent. Both are comic book movies (or, in my later example, action films), but in one Marsden is playing a mutant hero and in the other he's Perry White's son. So I guess what I'm getting at is that an actor shouldn't be limited to what roles s/he can choose simply because of the source material.

In fact, I'm more concerned with Hollywood recasting roles after an actor has departed. There are times when it's inevitable -- mostly when the movie is about one hero (i.e. the Batman and Superman franchises) -- but with a film such as X-Men -- which is all about a team -- they can just as easily remove Cyclops from the group until James Marsden is able to reprise his role.