After months of speculation — in which the name of everystrong-jawed actor from JonHamm to The Social Network ‘s Armie Hammer was being tossed around — Deadline reported yesterday that HenryCavill has been cast as Superman in Man of Steel , Zack Synder’sreboot of the film franchise.
Along with Christian Bale as Batman and Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man ,Cavill — who plays CharlesBrandon, the Duke of Suffolk , on TheTudors — becomes the third Brit to be cast as an iconic Americansuperhero in a major Hollywood series. (Never fear, patriots: Captain Americawill be played by Chris Evans, a man whose blood is so red-white-and-blue, hishometown zip code is 01776 .)
Now, of course, the parlor game is all about Lois Lane. Whoshould play the Boy from Krypton’s feisty female?
Bloggers had been pointing to Anne Hathaway, until she was castas Selina Kyle/Catwoman in the upcoming Batman film . Today, ComicBookMovie.comsuggests that MalinAkerman is in the running . As the weakest link in Snyder’s appalling Watchmen adaptation, Akerman would notget my vote, but I like the Playlist’s nominationof Rebecca Hall , who played Ben Affleck’s traumatized bank tellergirlfriend in TheTown . She may have come across as a bit soft in that film and in lastyear’s indie drama PleaseGive , but anyone who’s seen her stage work knows that she’sgot strength and moxie to spare. I’d also throw out Rachel McAdams , who was entirelybelievable as a young, spitfire reporter in 2009’s State of Play .
Racialicious, meanwhile, makesan interesting case for Rashida Jones . I love the idea of a woman of colorplaying Lois Lane, and with roles in TheOffice , Parks and Recreation , and I Love You, Man , Jones has definitely proved that audiences will accept her incross-racial romantic relationship with a white actor. I’m not sold on her for this role,though — I’ve warmed to her performance on Parksand Rec , but I’m not convinced she’s a strong enough presence to anchor abig, presumablydark action film. KerryWashington , though? Great Krypton! I’d see that.
Photograph of Kerry Washington by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images.
