Studio Eyes James McAvoy Or Shia LaBeouf But May Want Aussie Actor For ‘Snow White & The Huntsman’
Aussie actor Joel Edgerton is on the cusp of making a major mark in Hollywood. The 36-year-old actor has never been lacking for work. Acclaimed turns in “The Square” and “Animal Kingdom” put him firmly on the Hollywood radar and 2011 is already shaping up to be a helluva year as he’s already set for the Tom Hardy MMA flick “Warrior” and the big budget “The Thing” prequel. He’s also currently filming the indie flick “The Odd Life of Timothy Green.” All that’s left for the actor to solidify his place among the top leading men is a franchise, and it looks like he’s got a couple to choose from.
Vulture reports that Tony Gilroy wants the actor for “The Bourne Legacy.” But as we’ve have been hearing for a while now, the director and the studio are at odds over casting. Universal are apparently wary of casting a lesser-known name in the role and want James McAvoy or (god fucking forbid) Shia LaBeouf for the part. Adding to the pressure, the estate of Robert Ludlum, whose books serve as the basis for the franchise, apparently want this movie rolling forward fast and a decision will have to come soon as the film is tentatively set to start filming in July. The plethora of names already tossed around as contenders — Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Jeremy Renner, Garrett Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch, Kellan Lutz, Josh Hartnett, Paul Dano, Michael Pitt, Oscar Isaac, Michael Fassbender, Luke Evans, Alex Pettyfer and Benjamin Walker — already suggest two different modes of thinking behind the part and it’ll be interesting to see if the director and studio can meet in the middle on this. For the record, we think Edgerton is the perfect choice and we hope it comes through, but if it doesn’t, the actor has other options.
With Hugh Jackman recently passing and the titular male lead in “Snow White and the Huntsman” still open, Universal is considering the actor for this franchise as well, which seems a bit bizarre. We think ‘Bourne’ would benefit much more from an “unknown” lead than this fairy tale franchise which will already have a helluva task in luring audiences as Tarsem‘s Julia Roberts-led film will hit theaters six months before this one.
So, we’ll have to see how Universal eventually plays the Joel Edgerton card. Vulture suggests that if he goes to ‘Huntsman,’ we can expect McAvoy or LaBeouf to land ‘Bourne,’ but if not, the field remains pretty wide open.
