Following the exciting castings of Clark Kent's Smallville dwelling parents in the form of Kevin Costner and Diane Lane and the recent news that director
Zack Snyder had scored his second Robin Hood,
Russell Crowe, in the role of
Superman's Kryptonian Father Jor-El, all Supes needs now is a mom on Krypton. After rumours had Crowe's Gladiator co-star Connie Nielsen linked with the rather thankless role (notoriously a character shafted in Superman's history), it now seems
Julia Ormond has been offered the role of the heroic alien's biological mother Lara Lor-Van according to
Deadline. Ormond, who recently finished work as Vivienne Leigh in the upcoming My Week with Marylin has for the past few years occupied U.S. TV screens with the exception of an appearance in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Susannah York, who died this January, played the character in the Richard Donner original. Ormond's hiring is probably the last of the major additions and despite the Man of Steel's parentage being rounded out with solid talent (I like the image of Crowe playing a telephone hurling, poetry spewing Jor-El),there are still so many reservations about this upcoming reboot, especially after Snyder's truly awful Sucker Punch, that it's hard to get overly excited for the prospect in hand. I just hope that
Chris Nolan had a lot tighter reins than Snyder has eluded in the past (hopefully Tobe Hooper/Poltergeist/Spielberg kind of tight - if you catch my drift) but in any event - at least this one is being setup with better acting talent than Superman Returns. Man of Steel films this year for a release December 2012.