Back in the early/mid '90s, when the X-Men franchise was at it's most succesful, there were a lot of rumours about the production of an X-Men movie. 20th Century Fox bought the rights to a movie adaptation, James Cameron was mentioned as a possible director (he was also supposed to direct a Spider-Man movie some time before that - funny that none of those ever worked out) and the fandom was just going crazy with speculations about the movie's cast.
More than anything else, the fans wanted to know the answer to one question: who will play Wolverine?? There were many names thrown around (Clint Eastwood & Sylvester Stallone among them), and most of them seemed highly improbable.
Back then Wolverine was an ugly, short and hairy guy that was 100% badass. He was mean, he drinked a lot, he smoked, he smelled like a wet dog and he gutted people left and right. Finding someone who could play that wasn't really that hard. But finding someone who could play that AND sport that ridiculous haircut that Logan has, was an entirely different story.
When the movie eventually came out years later, we finally found out who would play Wolverine. And after all those years of speculations, rumours and high hopes... we ended up with Hugh Jackman (who?). Even though I was older by that time, and stopped waiting for that movie to come out several years before, I still felt somewhat disappointed. I didn't even want to see the movie by that time, but this Hugh Jackman guy? It was obvious that he sucks. He sucks both as Wolverine and as an actor. Even his fans agree with that.* Hugh Jackman is the Jar Jar Binks of the movie world.
The reason I bring up this story of childhood disappointment and failed casting decisions is not just because I'm a bitter old nerd. It's because I have a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT to make! Starting sometime soon, we're gonna have a chance to rewrite history, here on Master's Degree in Crap! Using the magic of 21st century technology, we'll be able to see who could possibly be a good Wolverine! Hooray! I'm sure you're as excited as I am, so make sure to check back soon as we start our new regular feature - THE WOLVERINE AUDITIONS!
___________________________________________________________
On a side note: in all of the hundreds of casting rumours floating around the fandom, every fan was in agreement about who could possibly play Charles Xavier. Patrick Stewart! And everybody was right on that one since he did end up playing Xavier years later. I guess it just goes to show that when it comes to naming a famous bald actor, the one that will always come to mind immediately is Patrick Stewart (no offense to Ben Kingsley).
* They actually don't.
No comments:
Post a Comment