So we’ve got two big comic to screen movies on the horizon where they seem to be in the final stages of casting female leads. I’ll start with The Avengers. There was a lot of hoopla over the gender inequality in the initial Avengers line-up so naturally Joss Whedon went on the hunt for another female to round out the cast (although 8 to 2 ain’t exactly even). According to the Coventry Telegraph, Sam Jackson threw some bones on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon recently, first in letting on that he will, after all, be appearing in the other two films: “Thor and Captain America are pretty much done, but I haven’t done my part in them yet,” he said. “I’m just connective tissue for them to join ‘The Avengers.'” Then he went on to add about his female counterpart in The Avengers: “I gotta screentest like five actresses on Friday. They have this new character that I guess is my sidekick or something that’s with me all the time. So they’re auditioning girls for it.”
Several actresses reportedly auditioned for the role of SHIELD agent Maria Hill, including V and Serenity star Morena Baccarin, Jessica Lucas from Melrose Place, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead from Scott Pilgrim, but according to Variety, Cobie Smulders of How I Met Your Mother is the one who snagged it. Pretty sweet considering this gig has a nine-picture deal attached to it although the number isn’t necessarily written in stone. Chris Evans is said to have talked them down to a six-pic deal as Captain America instead but even six is a lot.
On to the next bit of casting news.
Variety reported on Feb. 3 that three blond actresses are up for the role of the female lead in Superman: Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Diane Krueger (Inglorious Basterds), and Doom’s Rosamund Pike. Surprisingly, the three flaxen-haired beauties are supposedly not up for the role of Lois Lane, although Lois is being said to have a place in the film, word has it the character is none other than Zod’s sidekick Ursa.
The source for this Ursa news is a site called Latino Review who also said Zod won’t be in the movie, which is disappointing if it’s true. I rather like his character. How can you have Zod’s side-kick without Zod? And why audition a bunch of blond actresses for a character that has short brown hair? Meh, you never know. Even though Snyder has previously denied rumors of Zod showing up in his film, there’s a lot of time between now and the release date and a villain has yet to be named. Fingers-crossed…
Ursa, although having first appeared in the movie and not the comic (until 2007), resembles a character named Faora going back to Action Comics #472 from 1977. Here is Faora’s description from Comic Vine: “Faora Hu-Ul was an expert martial artist skilled in the Kryptonian fighting style known as Horo-Kanu. She was notoriously known for her hatred for men where she would torture and murder men at a Concentration Camp she had at her home on the planet Krypton. Faora was judged and sentenced to 300 Kryptonian Years in The Phantom Zone for her murderous ways among the Kryptonian people. While imprisoned, Faora would find herself plotting ways of getting her hands on other male Kryptonians including The Man of Steel himself Superman. After escaping The Phantom Zone, Faora would go after Superman and in there first encounter in battle she forces him to flee away. During this battle it was shown that Faora had another ability that most Kryptonian don’t possess. She could project Mental Lightning to attack her opponents.”
ComicBookMovie says Black Swan’s Kristina Anapau auditioned as well which makes more sense, at least, she’s got darker hair. But it’ll be interesting to see how this turns out and which actress, if these rumors are true, might be chopping off her long, blond locks …
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