Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Lex Luthor Cast

According to Yahoo News . /Shakes head in dismay/ What did Superman ever do to Zack Snyder to deserve this?

My favorite quote from the article:
Strangely enough. This statement is true.

/sigh/ Goes back to watch reruns of LnC.

Edit: Last I heard, Joaquin Phoenix had been cast as Lex, but I guess the fans didn't react with enough anger, so they changed it.

Happier about J.E. as Luthor than B.A. as Batman, to be honest.

You don't think he's too young looking? He looks younger than Henry Caville. Having Lex Luthor as younger than Superman / Batman is like that Vector villain from "Despicable Me", someone I could picture Superman wanting to swat with annoyance, which isn't exactly how I picture Lex Luthor.

I think a younger villain could be interesting. There's potential for Lex to not be seen as a threat, because of his youth, but to then (of course) turn out to be the devil in disguise. (Sure, said plot point wouldn't surprise audiences one bit, but it might fool the citizens of Metropolis at least.)

True, Eisenberg does look younger than Cavill, though the actors are the same age. But Eisenberg's versatile. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the role.

He may be thirty, but he looks like he's twelve. Sadly, I anticipate that won't be the worst thing about the movie.

Yes, that was my problem as well. It would be like casting Ralph Macchico (aka the original Karate Kid) or Michael J. Fox back in the 90's. Some men just don't age. I know that they want to do their own twist on things, but it's not necessarily a good thing to change EVERYTHING from a character's canon.

I do have to admit that knowing that he played that Facebook guy and me being pretty anti-Facebook, and not knowing any other role he's played does also bias me. I am basing most of my objection on how he looks (that photo really does make him look like Vector). And here I was just getting to mentally accept Joachim Phoenix in the role.

Personally, I do love how Lex was portrayed on Smallville by Michael Rosenbaum. His character was younger than we typically see Lex, but still older than Clark. He was bald from a young age, which made him both physically tough to stand up to bullies (like Oliver Queen) and thick skinned. Moreover, he could easily give the audience chills with a glance. Yet, Rosenbaum portrayed him in a manner that had part of you rooting that Clark and the Kents could turn him away from becoming evil, even though you knew he still fated to do so. You *wanted* to like him. He had kind of a mixture of the smooth charmer Lex from LnC canon, mixed with the crazy genius we had seen from Gene Hackman's and even Kevin Spacey's renditions of the character. /reminds self to bring up new character poll./

I'll admit that I've never seen Eisenberg act, but I'm not at all concerned about his apparent age. Makeup artists can do wonders with making people look different ages and, assuming that he can act at all, having him seem to be much older shouldn't be a problem.

I'm far more concerned that they seem to be turning this into a vehicle to launch a new series of Justice League movies. I had really wanted this movie to focus on Clark -- not on Superman, and certainly not on other superheroes; I had hoped it would deal with the aftermath of his being revealed to the world and having killed Zod. Not only do I think that that would have been an excellent movie in its own right, it would have, if properly handled, helped me like MoS more, as well.

At least they did make one decision right -- they postponed the release date rather than rushing the production to make the previously announced, self-imposed deadline.

I'm not at all sanguine about the upcoming movie, and unless the teasers and trailers really captivate me, I'm not about to spend my money and rare respite time seeing it in the theatre when it is released, but I am at least holding out hope that watching it in streaming video will be a reasonably pleasant couple of hours.

Joy,
Lynn

I agree. I love Michael Rosenbaum's portrayal of Lex. Sure, he was young, but he was appropriately older than Clark. He came off as very capable and sure of himself, and while he wasn't flat-out evil, there was a menace about him.

He also does a good Flash voice, and, incidentally, a good Lex-in-Flash's body. (JLU episode "The Great Brain Robbery".)

I've never seen him act, but based off of just his picture, I don't really see Lex in him. Still, though, in situations like these, I find it's best to hold judgment until after watching the movie. Sometimes, actors can surprise you.

I remember when Michael was cast as Lex, and thinking: "That goofy kid from Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane?? (1999 WB sitcom) Okay, well... this'll be... interesting...."

And then he really surprised me!

Spacey, too, surprised me. I remember when he was cast everyone was so excited that he'd do as good a job as, if not a better job than, Gene Hackman, and his performance fell way short of my expectations in SR. Maybe it was the script's fault but I dunno. Lex was just eh for me there.

for John Shea though!

Agreed. And I'm sure when he was first cast, a lot of people had doubts about him. I can imagine them saying, "He's too young. And he has *hair*, for goodness sake! He's too suave; no way he could play anyone as ruthless as Lex." And yet, in my mind -- and, I'd wager I'm not alone in this -- he's the definitive Lex.

And I won't even go into Dean Cain nearly being rejected as being too young for his dual role on the show. Or Henry Cavill being greeted with doubts by fans when his casting was first announced simply because he wasn't American.

I'm not saying Eisenberg will be good; I've never seen him act and have no idea whether his acting is decent or not. I'm just saying that if he is a good actor, then he has every possibility of carrying off the role well. Although there seem to be many things to dislike about the upcoming film, I wouldn't consider his casting to be one of them.

Joy,
Lynn

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Lynn S. M.:
<strong> </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> ). Then there's other actors who did an excellent job, despite people's doubts (like Michael Keaton as Batman).

John Shea is the best Luthor ever! Totally sexy and smooth. It is easier imaging Lois being captivated by him than Kevin Spacey. His Luthor was rather flat and boring.

Gene Hackman is in a class by himself.

And here I was thinking it was Kevin Spacey was the best thing in that film, behind Park Posey and Frank Langella. I'm not saying that Spacey's Luthor was my favorite, only that he made that film mildly entertaining. at what SR would have been without him.

Finally got my next poll made up: This time on Lex Luthor .

Sexy?!? I would never use that adjective to describe John Shea. I'll never understand the fans who think he's attractive.

Kevin Spacey did a good job, but he was channeling Gene Hackman. He definitely wasn't playing the suave businessman that Lex became in the late 80's. I like the portrayal, but the problem is that it's not a modern version of the character.

My mom has mentioned finding John Shea to be a handsome man on several occasions, though she also thinks Dean Cain is much more handsome.