Casting news get me excited!

So I feel like this past week, possibly even month, has just been filled with all the best casting news available and I really don't know if I can take anymore. What makes it more nerdy is that two of the movies I'm so excited about are superhero movies.

The first and possibly most exciting is about Batman, "The Dark Night Rises", the title is slowly growing on me. The initial rumours were that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was going to be cast as The Riddler, which were very exciting. Then Christopher Nolan announced that The Riddler was not going to appear and Tom Hardy had been cast. I must say that as much as I love Tom Hardy I was a little bit disappointed by the likely hood that JGL would not appear. Now Tom is said to take the role of Bane, which we have previously seen as a minor character in "Batman and Robin". I still remember when I was younger this was one of my favourite Batman purely because I really wanted to be Poison Ivy. Having watched this movie countless times I am very interested to see what Nolan does with this character. The other Batman character I always wanted to be was Catwomen, the Michelle Pfeiffer one, not Halle Berry. Given how horribly this character was portrayed then I am excited to have it revisited and very excited as to how Anne Hathaway can turn it around.
Now given how many exciteds were previously typed I didn't think this project could get any better but it has, JGL has been now supposedly been cast. As The Riddler is not an available character the next jump is to Dick Greyson - Robin. Nolan has also stated that he wil not make a move with Robin in it and Christian Bale has agreed that he will not stick around if he is cast. Given this I do get the feeling that JGL will play a good guy but I would be equally happy, if not more, to see him in an evil role. Either way "The Dark Knight Rises" is definitely my most anticipated movie of 2012 so far and I have full faith in Nolan.

Nolan's other project, although only in the producer's chair, is in Zack Snyder's reboot of Superman. Given the very poor showing of the last movie I initially had very poor expectations. It may be bias on my side but I felt one of the biggest downfalls of he last movie was the casting of Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. As this post is all about castings I feel it only necessary to point out how one bad casting can bring a movie down. There have all sorts of names put into the mix, none which really impress me. Initially I thought of Anne Hathaway but I doubt she would take on both projects, even if the shooting schedules don't clash, it's not likely she'll take on two superhero movies back to back. There is now all sorts of rumours of going the same route as the new Spiderman movie and not even including the traditional love interest but maybe one earlier on so the story can be built up. Now I must admit that I am not to in the know on all things Superman so I can't make any calls on how this could play out.
The main role of course has been cast with Henry Cavil as the man in the red underpants. I think he will be amazing in this role and I am glad he is finally getting rid of his unluckiest man in Hollywood tag. Now for the shocker, although Cavil is my absolute favourite bar none, he was not my first choice for this role. I initially my vote went with Matt Bomer, from White Collar fame. Now this was not because I thought he would be better in the role, just that I didn't want Cavil to get it. I will admit this is partially due to pure selfishness that I don't want the entire world to start drooling over him and keep him to myself, but I do want him to be successful so that's not the primary reason. In his bad luck days he was turned down for a role for being to young and I really thought he would be perfect for it. This role could come around again when he is older and I fear, am pretty sure actually, that by taking Superman he wouldn't even be considered. You see, that role is of James Bond.

This brings us to other exciting news. Bond 23 has finally been given the go ahead and I can finally breathe some form of a sigh of relief. Another movie I have to wait till 2012 to watch but so far it is looking like a wait well worth it. Daniel Craig will be reprising is role as the Blonde Bond which truly makes me very happy as I think he has done great justice to the role. Before the money issues hit there were all sorts of rumours about villains, settings and most importantly bond girls. I fear the only thing that's stuck since being put back into production is Sam Mendes in the director's chair. The Casting news so far is that Javier Bardem will be playing a bad man and Ralph Fiennes may join him. I'm very excited about this but if I can put my contribution on the other two unknowns, I'd be very interested in seeing Bond in New York with Olivia Wilde as a bond girl.

My final piece of news involves one of my favourite pairs and an ex bond girl. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are teaming up again. This time on a remake of an old TV show "Dark Shadows". Now I have never seen this show so I have very little knowledge or expectations. All I know is that it follows the travels of a vampire, played by Depp, and all the mystical creatures he meets. I've always loved vampires and while I do hope the craze dies down so I can enjoy them privately I cannot wait to see Burton's idea of what a vampire could be. It may be just what some of the sparkling vampires need to give them a swift kick in the behind. Now for the really exciting part. Eva Green has been attached to the project as a witch who falls for the vampire, don't feel bad if your head explodes mine just did too.

Unfortunately there are two sides to every story and so with good casting news must come bad. One story I always hoped would remain untouched, even though I knew it was only a matter of time until it got done again was Snow White. It is now being done again, twice. One I'm not too mad about but the other is being done by Tarsem Singh, director of the upcoming Immortals. The other one is my big problem, with Charlize as the evil witch and Kristen Stewart as Snow White. Never again will I be happy to have the nickname Snow White.

None of these have yet started shooting and everything could change and in some cases hopefully it will but only time, 2012, will tell if the right characters have been chosen to bring across all of these truly epic tales.