Guardians Of The Galaxy is coming in 2014, so Marvel has to get moving. And apparently casting has kicked into full gear, as they’re looking for the male lead.
So far, the reported nominees for astronaut Peter Quill are Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Jim Sturgess, Lee Pace, and Eddie Redmayne. You probably know Lee Pace from Pushing Daisies or as the fabulous Thranduil from the upcoming Hobbit movies; Huston is a regular on Boardwalk Empire; Joel Edgerton is pretty much everywhere right now; Jim Sturgess was the subject of the crappiest Beatles joke ever committed to film in a movie full of them; and Eddie Redmayne is an indie actor about to be featured in Les Miserables.
Of the current crop, Pace is probably the best choice, mostly because Sturgess and Redmayne look like they’re barely out of high school. In addition to playing an elf and a dude with an undead girlfriend, he was also the lead in The Fall, which is probably one of the heaviest dramas to come out in the last ten years and is anchored by Pace’s performance as a drug-addicted, self-loathing stuntman, putting him solidly in the category of “people who got massively robbed at the Oscars”. It’s on Netflix, and it’s worth seeing; how Pace didn’t break out as a star after that is kind of a mystery.
Either way, expect to see more casting news quickly on this one: It’s going to be effects-heavy and they need to get in front of the cameras, pronto.
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But who will play the talking raccoon? (Please be Danny DeVito!)
If it’s not DeVito, honestly, I’m going to be surprised.
DeVito’s perfect for that, there shouldn’t be many other considerations. Although, if they could nail down Tom Waits…
The hardest role to cast is Drax, and I hope they don’t fuck that up. Edgerton seems better suited for Drax than Starlord, in my mind. If Reedus doesn’t make it out of this season of The Walking Dead he’d be a great fit for Star Lord.
how Pace didn’t break out as a star after that is kind of a mystery
Hollywood isn’t homophobic at all.
He’s never officially come out, has he?
Not that it matters, because he is the best and should be in all the movies.
I dunno. If he is gay, he’s not talking about it publicly, which is generally how Hollywood likes its homosexuals. Shit, Matt Bomer was out, married, and adopted two kids and he still wasn’t considered “out” until he made an official statement.
LEE PACE OR GTFO.
DAMN RIGHT.
Make it a reunion. Anna Friel in green body paint as Gamora, Chi McBride voicing Rocket Raccoon, Digby as Cosmo the Soviet Space-Dog…
Please tell me you are a casting director.
Wow, the Pushing Daisies cast actually fits this pretty well. Anna Friel as Mantis though, not Gamora.
Did anyone see her in Limitless? I made note of how much I like her to my girlfriend, and then twenty minutes later she’s hilariously overacting and shuffling down the street like a homeless Keyser Soze.
I watched London Boulevard because I thought it would be In Bruges 2: Now with Anna Friel. It was not that movie.
Also the Land of the Lost remake is not worth it to just see her.
Lee Pace was also a glorious douchebag in Lincoln, so he’s got the reception to that performance in his favor.
However, I’m going to be “that guy” and bring up Nathan Fillion. The role seems like a perfect fit for Mal Reynolds. And it’s not like Marvel/Disney has huge hopes for this film at the box office, as indicated by the August release date.
Actually, August 1st is a pretty good release date. August is no longer a dumping ground for craptastic would-be blockbusters, amazingly. Also, they need to give the Captain America sequel enough room to make cash.
@Dan: August is significantly weaker than the other summer months. There might be one or two movies released that month that would qualify as hits, but they mostly disappoint (2012 being no exception, as the highest grossing movie last August was TDKR, a July holdover).
It’s also obvious that the film will perform weaker than any other of the MCU films, regardless of the August release date. Unlike any of the previous MCU films, the stars of this movie are not widely known icons of the company, and have rarely appeared outside of comics. If not for the Marvel logo on the poster, most people probably wouldn’t even know they’re related to the rest of the MCU.
And I should also say the August 1 release date is only two weeks after X-Men: Days of Future Past and the last Hobbit movie come out (July 18). So it’s not giving another Marvel Comics movie (albeit not one made in-house) a lot of room to breathe, and putting it up against two certain blockbusters that will have a decent lifespan at the box office.
Keep in mind that this leads, directly, into “The Avengers 2″. That’s a lot of marketing heft.
If we consider the rumors that Thanos (purple guy in “The Avengers” mid-credits scene, for anyone unaware of who that is) are true, that’s the only real connection between this film and “The Avengers 2″, or any MCU film for that matter. And it’s introducing Thanos to a mainstream audience (whose appearances outside comics are limited to the late-90′s Silver Surfer cartoon, The Super Hero Squad Show, and the Marvel vs. Capcom games) that’s probably the main reason this film is getting made. If Marvel’s banking on the film’s connection to “The Avengers 2″ and the rest of that franchise for this film’s success, the marketing will most likely focus heavily on him (moreso than the villains of other Avengers films), and box office returns will be determined by whether or not audiences are all that interested in this character.
Besides, “Captain America: The First Avenger”, the film that led directly into “The Avengers”, is the second weakest performing MCU film domestically and internationally. It’s only ahead of 2008′s “The Incredible Hulk”, which probably suffered due to the negative reception of Ang Lee’s 2003 abomination (see what I did there). And Captain America was in a similar position in terms of release – although it was a late July release as opposed to an early August one, it opened only a week after “Deathly Hallows 2″. That’s a tough box office.
The real question is, Who is Nathan Fillion going to play?