An unexpected but intriguing twist in the casting saga of Zack Snyder's
Superman! Whilst we've been hearing names branded around left, right and center this week for who would play the feisty and super smart Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane - word from
Variety today has changed the landscape entirely. They say Lois Lane WON'T be the main female love interest for the new movie, instead it will be a blonde character (at least that's the assumption for obvious reasons!), whose identity is currently unknown but that Goldilocks trio
Alice Eve, Rosamund Pike and
Diane Kruger are circling. Basically, it sounds like Warner Bros are doing a "Spider-Man" and have come up with the idea to change the female lead to shake things up a bit for the reboot and to avoid covering old ground. Sounds smart to me and probably hints that Clark Kent doesn't quite make it to the Daily Planet in this movie, which we already know will have him travelling around the world trying to find himself like Samuel L. Jackson at the end of Pulp Fiction. The obvious choice would be changing red-head Lana Lang, Clark Kent's high school sweetheart and who herself is seen as the Gwen Stacy of the Superman universe and changing her to a blonde. The character was previously played by Annette O'Toole in Superman II (who would go on to play Martha Kent in Smallville), and Kristin Kreuk in Smallville - the major love interest for the first few seasons of that show.
Although not everyone is in-tune with my thinking.
The Playlist were quick to guess that the character could be
Cat Grant, a gossip columnist at the Planet who was a brief love interest for Clark and sparked a jealously in Lois Lane. She was also an alcoholic and a struggling single mum - though the character isn't all that known amongst anything but Superman comic book fans, so Snyder can be flexible with how she's portrayed. If Grant was in it, obviously it means Clark does make it to the Planet. The reason for no Lois Lane then? Warner Bros. say they don't want a big name in the part to overshadow the unknown name of Henry Cavill, there newly minted Man of Steel - so you can pretty much
chuck out the Kristen Stewart's, Rachel McAdams', Jessica Biel's etc. Again, I think it's a smart move... and if they are indeed delaying Lane's introduction until movie number two, then it will give them a chance to introduce somebody more established then. Who do I like most out of these three names? Well Rosamund Pike doesn't excite me at all for this - Alice Eve I like a great deal - and well after writing her off after Troy and National Treasure - Diane Kruger has emerged as one of my favourite working actresses' today from her turns in Inglourious Basterds and the French thriller Anything for Her. Though maybe that's because they play to her European sensibilites and if she makes the journey back to America here, maybe I'm not going to feel the same way?
Filming begins in the summer, with a December 2012 release planned. Snyder is also said to be on the search for a villain.