+ 1 On Lynda Carter. I can't even see anyone else in that role.
...
I so wanted Jim Cavizzell(sp?) as the new Superman (instead of Brandon Routh and not with the script they used). I read Bruce Willis was originally wanted for Nick Fury = which I would have liked a hell of a lot more than Sam Jackson. And a young John Cusack would have perfect for Spider-Man/ Peter Parker.
I totally agree with this entire list. I think you're spot on with that. I think Sam Jackson made a mean Nick Fury, but Bruce Willis would have killed that role. I think the only downside to that would have been everybody making John McClane jokes the entire time.
... If they gave Tyler Mane a second chance, I will take him over Liev any day as Sabretooth.
...
I'll probably get ripped apart for this one, but I preferred Schreiber to Mane. He may not have had as iconic of a look as Mane, but man, he sold me on his role in Origins. I didn't care much for Origins, but Schreiber and Reynolds made it worth watching for me (which is sad considering they were not in 90% of the movie).
...
Another person who I haven't seen mentioned is Kevin Spacey as Lex. I thought he did a great job... Just too bad the movie was not as good as hoped for.
You beat me to the punch I was going to say Spacey was/is the best Lex Luthor ever. The script was meh, and the direction not that great, but Spacey pulled it together in that movie. I hope he'll one day reprise his role.
Really? Don't get me wrong - I love Spacey, and I loved the idea of him playing Luthor, but I thought he was terrible in the role - could have been the script, could have been because he was forced to carry the history of Gene Hackman with him, without truly being able to pull from it. That whole scene where he's kicking Superman blurting out garbage lines like "Kinda like a son inherits traits from his father!" - for some reason his rivalry with Superman never landed with me - I thought John Shea from Lois and Clark did a much better job during the first season of that show. I would have liked to have seen Terry O'Quinn playing Luthor as a great white hunter Hemingway/ King of New York kind of slant. But as I said before - the actors in this movie were in trouble before the cameras started rolling.
I think you summed it up. The actors were doomed in this, it was IMO, aside from Spacey, completely miscast from the beginning top to bottom (Kal Penn as a henchman for Lex Luthor, and Parker Posey as Kitty Kowalski are shining examples of that), the script was weak (Superman abandons his son to look for the remains of his planet while in a tiff? What?), the direction seems nearly non-existent, and overall it was a very, very weak movie. However, I would, again, love to see Spacey given another chance. He seemed to be the only actor who didn't have somebody whispering "ACT!" off-screen. It's just too bad that we didn't get a better offering than SR for his rendition of such a classic villain. Of course maybe he would have just sucked regardless, who knows? Too late now.
I agree on the Dennis Quaid also. He would have made an amazing Hal Jordan.
Danzig too. The "Genetically made for..." comment was 100% right.
Sorry for all the quoting, had a lot I wanted to respond to there.
