James Cavill

Here's another cutie and now he's the new Superman:

http://geeksofdoom.com/2011/01/30/meet-henry-cavill-the-new-superman/

Meet Henry Cavill – The New Superman!

Culturesmash Posted by Culturesmash | January 30th, 2011 at 10:07 pm

Henry Cavill - The Tudors

With the official announcement earlier today that Zack Snyder and his team at Warner Brothers have chosen actor Henry Cavill as the lead in their Superman reboot (read Man Of Steel Picked For Zack Snyder’s ‘Superman’ Reboot), it’s time we get acquainted with the actor that will be The Man of Steel.

According to Heatvision, the 27-year-old actor beat out Watchmen’s Matthew Goode for the Superman role. He also reportedly won out against White Collar’s Matthew Bomer, Social Network’s Armie Hammer, True Blood’s Joe Manganiello, and The Rite’s Colin O’Donaghue.

Cavill doesn’t have a very lengthy resume, appearing in his first feature role in 2001 and the following year in The Count of Monte Cristo as Albert Mondego. His later films were Tristan + Isolde, the horror-thriller Blood Creek, and a small role in Stardust. He’s best known for his work in the HBO series The Tudors as Charles Brandon. It’s probably this role, along with his screen test, that garnered him the coveted role of Superman.

If you’ve seen The Tudors, the you know that he’ll bring something grittier and a little more rugged to the role that has been so traditionally clean cut. He’s a solid actor so if the script is good this could truly be an interesting take on the classic comic book character. At the least with this casting it’s obvious that Zack Snyder isn’t interested in bowing at the feet of Richard Donnor the way that Bryan Singer did for Superman Returns.

Henry Cavill Stardust

Henry Cavill has been hovering around DC Comics superhero roles for quite some time. Cavill auditioned for the Batman role for Batman Begins in 2005, but lost out to another British actor, Christian Bale. Before Bryan Singer took on Superman Returns, Cavill was on the short list of picks for the Superman role while Brett Ratner and McG were running the show. So it seems he is destined to play a superhero. He even had a shot at James Bond, but Daniel Craig got the role because producers believed that Cavill was too young at the time of the auditions.

Superman purists may take issue with Cavill not looking enough like the traditional Superman that they know and love, but he is built for the role. He’s 6’ 1” and due to his roles in The Tudors and the upcoming film The Immortals, where he plays a Greek warrior battling the Gods, he’s had to maintain a build that works for Superman. Also, once he goes through the production machine he’ll resemble the Kryptonian enough for everyone. The big question is can he drop that British accent?

Henry Cavill - Count Of Monte Cristo

The film is in good hands. Zack Snyder is an unabashed comic book fan and he knows how to treat the subject matter (see Watchman), and Christopher Nolan has proven that he knows how to take a classic comic book story and modernize it while still pleasing the hardcore fans with his Batman franchise. So if these two both think Cavill can do it, I’m inclined to believe he can too. This choice does follow one tradition regarding Superman movies: the role of the hero has always been filled by an unknown or lower level actor. Cavil has been around a while but he’s far from a household name.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.reuters.com/american-superheroes-missing-hollywood-reuters

American superheroes missing in Hollywood (Reuters)
Source: Reuters Wed Feb 02, 2011, 5:32 pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In the late 1970s, David Prowse, the imposing actor who physically portrayed Darth Vader in the original " Star Wars " trilogy, was told he couldn't audition for the role of Superman when Richard Donner was casting his now-classic film. The reason? Prowse was not an American.

How times have changed.

British actor Henry Cavill , who has just been cast as the iconic -- and very American -- Superman, is the latest in a string of foreigners who have been chosen to play key movie roles by Hollywood. But since Superman is so quintessentially American, this latest casting has triggered a wave of soul-searching as yet another sought-after part has been outsourced.

"This casting is fundamentally anti-American," wrote one commentator on Ain't It Cool News. "It's disgusting casting to the highest degree, and I will never ever see a movie with a Brit as Superman."

But British, as well as Australian and Canadian actors, appear to have cornered the market on most of the leading action roles in the Hollywood movies that will be rolling out this year and next. They will be portraying the kind of caped crusaders and take-charge guys that once belonged to men bearing the " Made in the USA" label.

Andrew Garfield , raised in Britain, is portraying Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and Brit Christian Bale is about to start his third Batman movie. Australian Chris Hemsworth will be seen as Thor this summer, following in the footsteps of fellow countrymen Hugh Jackman (prepping for a new outing as Wolverine) and Eric Bana (who played Bruce Banner in Ang Lee 's Hulk ). Not to be left out, Canada is represented by Ryan Reynolds , who will patrol space sector 2814 as the Green Lantern.

Australia 's Sam Worthington has claimed the lead in movies ranging from "Terminator: Salvation" to "Avatar" to "Clash of the Titans." And the casting of British actor Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in the upcoming Steven Spielberg biopic could cause a crisis of confidence among American actors.

A similar invasion is occurring in TV, with lead roles in AMC's comic book adaptation "The Walking Dead," NBC's superhero show "The Cape" and ABC's medical drama "Off the Map" all going to non-Americans.

While America's population of 308 million easily outnumbers the combined 117 million population of the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia -- accented actors currently enjoy an edge.

"America doesn't produce strapping actors anymore," said one Oscar-nominated producer, who declined to be identified, pointing out that American action stars at this stage consist of thespians with more boyish appeal such as Leonardo DiCaprio , who fought his ways through dreams in last summer's "Inception," and Shia LaBeouf , palling around with giant robots in " Transformers : Dark of the Moon."

"I hate to say it: They're better actors," added one talent rep who had a client in the early running early for the Superman role.

Some theorize that British actors enjoy the advantage of a classical training. But that isn't true in the case of Bale, who had no formal training and who also discounts any suggestion that there's a conspiracy at work.

"Whatever one's best for it, you pick 'em," Bale told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday night at the SAG Awards, where he was rewarded as best supporting actor for his work in "The Fighter," set in Lowell, Mass. "And that's it. Do I think there's a pattern? Sounds like a pattern. But to me personally, I feel like it's going for each individual guy who has the chops for it, whether they're British, American or Australian. I don't think there's anything special happening in England that's making a lot of superheroes. To me, I'd put it down to coincidence."

But others see other forces at work. If Superman traditionally represented America's role as a global policeman, they argue that Cavill's casting is symbolic of America's decline as a superpower. University of Southern California professor of cultural history Leo Braudy said the current debate is part of a long-standing struggle between the ideals of American acceptance and assimilation and those of American purity and isolationism. In a globalizing world, even culture has become an export.

"American heroes have become the world's heroes," Braudy said. "They are international, not just local. We've merchandised out the ideas of superheroes to the world, and now they're taking their turn."

There may be a simpler, if even more powerful, influence at work: namely, the Internet.

"The reality is that access to actors all over the world is greater because of the Internet," says Marcia Ross, exec vp casting at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Ross cast Cavill in his first American studio project, Disney's 2002 adaptation of "The Count of Monte Cristo." Thanks to the Net, Ross said, casting directors can now e-mail sides (script pages) to the most remote of locales, and then record auditions they will show directors and producers.

Not only does that level the playing field, it also saves money on far-flung casting calls. "We as casting directors want to be thorough, and now we can," she said.

Another way the world is coming to America is via YouTube and cable TV. With shows, be they English, Spanish or Indian, available on widely seen channels such as BBC America or Telemundo, foreign actors are getting more face time here than ever before.

"It's really been in the last 10 years that we've expanded exponentially our pool of talent," Ross said.