Hey folks, Harry here... the circus that is Warner Brothers' attempt at running a studio is beginning calm down a bit. Seems that they now are looking at two actors for the part of SUPERMAN/CLARK KENT. As you are now aware many wrong actors made the right decision and passed on the part. Their reasons always seemed rather odd, instead of just saying... I'm Totally Friggin Wrong For The Role, they would either silently pass or decide that it would interfere with their Television career... (thank God!)
Today, Warner's has announced that it is coming down between two actors. Brendan Fraser and Matthew Bomer.
Now, I've met Brendan Fraser on 3 separate occassions and he's a great guy. Charming as hell and with a good soul. When I arrived on the set of MONKEYBONE to film my cameo in an odd neighborhood in Los Angeles, Brendan was hanging out with a group of neighborhood kids just telling stories and goofing off. No cameras around, no publicist pushing him into the kiddie world... Rather, that's what he was doing with HIS time. --- Having said that, He is completely wrong for the role of SUPERMAN. He can play the character, he has the talent. He can play the nuanced Clark Kent that Jeffrey Abrams has written. But he is Brendan Frasier. He brings GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, that MUMMY guy, DUDLEY DO-RIGHT, GODS AND MONSTERS, THE QUIET AMERICAN all to the part. He's a recognizable person that we know as BRENDAN FRASER first and SUPERMAN second. He isn't a strange being from a planet known as Krypton, he's Brendan Fraser, that guy that mugs a bunch. And after LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION does a rather unfortunate nosedive at the Box Office this Holiday season. (Rumors are everywhere now that production has halted as Dante and Warners retool and rework the blight upon mankind that was Larry Doyle's script, to try and fix, what well placed spies in Warners tell me is unfixable. But I hope!) Well, if the problems I'm hearing are true with that film, then you'd have Brendan coming off a gigantic financial disaster for Warners, which will drag that into the hell that is SUPERMAN thus far.
Then there is Matthew Bomer. Pretty much complete unknown for 99.9% of people that would go see a SUPERMAN film. He has eerie blue eyes and a Kerry Gammill face. He's the son of a profession football player for The Dallas Cowboys. He's from Spring, Texas, which oddly enough is where the original Superman... Kirk Alyn... retired to after leaving the world of film all those ages ago. (He passed away in 1999 btw.)
He comes from GUIDING LIGHT and ALL MY CHILDREN, a pair of soap operas. Christopher Reeve came out that same soap opera world, his was called LOVE OF LIFE. This would be his first film role.
All things even, I'd prefer to see Matthew Bomer in the part. I would prefer to see an unknown in the rold. He's definitely handsome, has the genes for the athleticism and comes from a town that holds the remains of the first Superman. I'm sure that the decision is giving executives ulcers. They're nervous about choosing poorly. Scared of having an unknown lead. After all, that really did hurt HARRY POTTER's opening weekend...
