Anghus Houvouras on the casting speculation for big budget comic book movies…
“Popular actor sought for big budget comic book movie.”
It reads like a headline from The Onion. A satirical oversimplification of a news trend that has been plaguing entertainment websites of late. Since Marvel Studios has become a dominant pop culture staple, casting speculation has infected the entertainment media in the same way that fantasy football turned an already fun sport into a narcissistic nightmare of entitlement.
Casting speculation has always been a staple of online film sites. When the rumor mill begins to churn around a major project like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the excitement is understandable. Readers seem to have an insatiable appetite for even the most random possibilities being bandied about by websites with absolutely zero credibility (cough… Latino Review… cough).
The concept of casting speculation has taken a ridiculous turn. It’s starting to feel like that moment when you realized the actual news media was more comical than Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. Satire feels impotent because the subjects being mocked are more ludicrous than those poking fun at them. We are well past that point when it comes to casting speculation online. I think it happened right around the 29th story on rumors about who was going to play Doctor Strange or perhaps the 114th story about what role Dwayne Johnson would play in the DC Cinematic Universe.
The newest super-irritant comes from the word ‘eyed’ or ‘eyeing’ as in: Warner Bros. eying Will Smith and Ryan Gosling for Suicide Squad movie. Let’s get something straight here: of course Warner Bros. would want major stars like Will Smith and Ryan Gosling for their feature film adaptation of Suicide Squad. Will Smith’s involvement in the film would practically guarantee $700 million worldwide. Unless they let M. Night Shyamalan write the script and cast his son in a major role. But who’d be that stupid?
I like this nebulous, unfounded verb. It’s so wonderfully non-specific. The thing about ‘eyeing’ an actor or actress is that it only states intention. I mean, I’ve been ‘eyeing’ Emily Blunt for a role in my next film, The Erotic Adventures of Hercules, but that doesn’t mean she’s interested (Emily, if you are, please contact my people. They are located in a chemical toilet located behind Harrod’s).
Every studio wants big stars for these movies to help guarantee ticket sales, but it allows any disreputable website to generate click bait with whatever wild rumor they choose to fabricate.
The truth is we are living in an era where there are more fake stories making the rounds than real ones. There were a thousand different stories about who was going to play Batman last year. No one had a clue it was going to be Ben Affleck. I stand by this story as proof positive that 99% of the websites out there know very little. How good is your ‘inside information’ if you didn’t even have an inkling that Batfleck was coming down the pipeline?
At this point, every major actor in Hollywood seems to have been considered for Doctor Strange. And I’m guessing Warner Bros. would be pleased as punch to get Tom Hardy or Will Smith into Suicide Squad. And I don’t mind websites posting stories about who they’d like to see wind up in these roles. I’ve penned several of those myself and enjoy voicing an opinion about who would be good for certain parts. But let’s go ahead and stop flooding the web with bullshit stories about casting rumors that aren’t remotely true.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker. His latest work, the novel My Career Suicide Note, is available from Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published October 19, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
