It's been a busy, and confusing, week for fans of both stage and screen actor Benjamin Walker and those following the progress of FOX's superhero prequel film
X-Men: First Class. Several weeks ago, I first
reported a rumor regarding Walker's tentative X-Men casting as either Henry McCoy/Beast or Sean Cassidy/Banshee. The following day it was revealed that the Julliard graduate
had accepted the offer to portray a young Henry McCoy in Matthew Vaughn's X-film over continuing his stint in the critically acclaimed theater production
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
This, unfortunately, is when the deal became convoluted. After signing the 28 year old Walker to the role, FOX decided to
then pursue younger actors to fill the part. Apparently, they believed Walker was
too old in comparison to his on-screen mentors James McAvoy and Micheal Fassbender, who have respectively been cast as Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr/Magneto:
"Fox absolutely loved him, booked him and the next minute they're saying they don't want him. It was bizarre because they'd signed a deal on him...Fox [then] screened-tested three other potential Beast actors at Pinewood... but they didn't seem right for the role. Strangest thing of all is that late last night, I started hearing that Fox might end up re-offering Walker his Beast role back"
Last night, movie news site
ShowBiz411, who has become a very reliable source, especially concerning information about
X-Men: First Class, revealed that Walker has chosen to return to his theater role rather than deal with the forced-upon X-mess:
'Walker is negotiating a deal instead to reprise his starring role on Broadway in “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.” The emo-pop musical was a smash hit off Broadway with Walker last season...Walker will undoubtedly get a Tony nomination next spring, and “Andrew Jackson” has the potential to become a “American Idiot” type hit.'
It gets worse, True Believers, the apparent cause of FOX's antics are not in response to what fans wish to see in this tent pole relaunch, but due to the success of the
Twilight films. Studio execs, including Tom Rothman (who was "adamant" about Walker's re-casting), seem obsessed with turning the X-MEN into X-Boys; going as far as to check the availability of
Twilight heartthrob Taylor Lautner for a part in the film.
The financial success of James Cameron's
Avatar seems to have barely balanced out the string of box office flops FOX has released this year, including
Knight & Day,
Marmaduke and
The A-Team. With a release date of June 3rd, 2011 already set for
X-Men: First Class, sandwiching it between Marvel Studio's
Thor and
Captain America films as well as DC's
Green Lantern, one begins to wonder if the fifth installment of FOX's X-franchise will be able to measure up to it's competition.