9. Casting To Likeness
I have a friend who shall remain nameless that feels that the only person alive that can play Luke Cage is Terry Cruz, and that if J. August Richards is in fact Luke Cage he will be pissed. This is the mentality of comic book fans that make the jobs of movie makers nearly impossible, and the opinion of someone who inexplicably went to film school by the way. Yes, I was a bit disappointed that Zoe Saldana has been picked to play Gamora the most dangerous woman in the universe, but not because I had a dream pick in mind, but because when I think of an unstoppable killing machine who was raised and trained by the most notorious villain in existence I dont think cute, rail thin Saldana. At the end of the day however, Saldana is a great actress and could totally pull off the role. Her skill as an actress trumps her physical resemblance to the character. If you read some of the notes to Kingdom Come, artist/writer Alex Ross explains his approach to Superman, describing him in the way he was first introduced by his creators. If they could have asked Siegal and Schuster what Superman should look like, they wouldnt have picked Christopher Reeve. George Reeves looked far more like the comic book character. Ross described Clark, not as a muscle bound body builder with zero body fat, but more of a massive and powerful trucker. The guy that kicked the crap out of Clark in Superman II technically looked more like Superman than Reeve did. Basically, if I were to cast Superman based on likeness then I would look no farther than pro wrestling. Now, its not impossible to find the right mix of charisma and presence in the modern day WWE, but lets be serious. A balance has to be reached, one where we find a happy medium between the right actor and the right look. Robert Downey Jr. was a God send, but that kind of kismet cannot be counted on. Remember that Hugh Jackman is over six feet tall, and not in his forties. Harvey Keitel was rumored to be on Marvels wish-list for Wolverine early on, and the other rumor is that the front man from Danzig was a lock for the role except for some kind of legal trouble, let that marinate for a bit.