Thus far Zack Snyder has assembled a pretty damn impressive line-up for his take on Superman, Man of Steel. While Henry Cavill is fairly unknown (a regular thing when it comes to actors in the title role of Supes films), Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner and Michael Shannon - who play Lois Lane, Ma Kent, Pa Kent and General Zod respectively - have all either been nominated for an Academy Award in the past or have won one. Keeping with that theme, the newest addition to the team also has a golden man named Oscar sitting on a shelf somewhere in his house.
Variety reports that Russell Crowe is currently in talks to play Jor-El, Superman's biological father, in Man of Steel. Crowe will only be the second actor to play the character in a live-action film, as Marlon Brando played the part both in Superman: The Movie and Superman Returns, where archive footage was used. The report says that Jor-El is one of the last parts to be cast, but they are still on the hunt to find a big name actress to play Lara, Supes' Kryptonian mother. The story also says that both Sean Penn and Clive Owen were considered for the part, though Crowe was their top choice. Production is scheduled to begin next month and while no official release date has been set it's expected that the movie will be released in December 2012.
There's been a rumor out for months that Man of Steel will include sequences on Krypton, but with this casting I'm curious just how much time is going to be spent on the doomed planet. I would hate to see someone with Crowe's talent get wasted simply delivering holographic messages down in Antarctica, but I'm also in favor of spending as little time as possible on the origin story. So now I'll throw it over to you: what do you think of Russell Crowe as Jor-El?
