Casting Scuttlebutt for 'Green Lantern' and 'Thor'

Two superhero movies have casting rumors, both from Harry Knowles and Ain't It Cool News. The first one we'll talk about is Thor, and according to a German GQ interview with actor Matthias Schweighöfer (Valkyrie), he's in discussions to join the movie. But that, obviously, isn't the headline. Schweighöfer contends in the interview that Jude Law and Robert De Niro will be in Thor, as well. And that is big news. Law recently worked in Kenneth Branagh's remake of Sleuth with Michael Caine; De Niro played opposite Branagh in his really bad Frankenstein movie about 15 years ago. So the connections make sense, but as Ain't It Cool asks, who in the world would they play? We'll prefer to doubt the news until we hear something official, but it should be pointed out that Thor is the one Avengers flick that needs a lot of good performers, simply because it's such a difficult proposition. These guys would conceivably give Branagh a chance to lean more on the acting than the effects and all that, with which he's clearly not experienced. The other movie making casting rumor news is The Green Lantern. Somehow, the official announcement that the movie was officially leaving Australia was seen as a big reveal; didn't we already know that, though? Hasn't the plan been for a couple months to shoot in and around New Orleans? Anyway, the casting: Word is Jackie Earle Haley might play Sinestro. He's really carving out quite a niche for himself as a villain in big movies, and he owes it all to playing a pedophile in Little Children. But Haley was the best thing about Watchmen and that's also a Warner Bros. movie. I expect his star will continue to rise after his reinvention of Freddy Krueger next year. Also, the Man of Steel is rumored to have a cameo in The Green Lantern, and the reason for a Superman appearance, according to Ain't It Cool News, is that DC Entertainment still wants a Justice League movie, so this would be DC's version of a Nick Fury cameo. Well, good luck with that. Those greatest hits projects, as we're already seeing, are much, much harder to put together than solo hero flicks, and I'm not sure DC has JLA all figured out just yet.

Comments

[Michael]

Don't you mean that Superman is supposed to have a cameo in "The Green Lantern", not "The Green Hornet"?

[Get The Big Picture]

Sorry. Yes. I make that mistake a lot. I know what I meant to say, though, and that's the important thing.