Tucci has been cast as the DR responsible for the serum that turns Steve Rogers from a scrawny git into the sentinel of liberty himself, Captain America.
Here is the official press release..
Marvel Studios announced today that Oscar® nominated actor Stanley Tucci has been cast to star as Dr. Abraham Erskine in the studio’s highly anticipated movie CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER opposite Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Hugo Weaving, and Hayley Atwell. In the early comics, Dr. Erskine was a German scientist behind Project Rebirth, the secret experiment that created the Super Soldier known as Captain America. Joe Johnston will direct the film penned by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely.
Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige will produce CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel and Louis D’Esposito will executive produce. The film will be released in the US on July 22, 2011 and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER will focus on the early days of the Marvel Universe when Steve Rogers volunteers to participate in an experimental program that turns him into the Super Soldier known as Captain America.
Tucci’s credits include JULIE & JULIA, Peter Jackson’s THE LOVELY BONES, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. He can next be seen in the upcoming comedy EASY A as well as the upcoming movie musical BURLESQUE.
In addition to CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, Marvel Studios most recently released the highly anticipated sequel, IRON MAN 2, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow on May 7, 2010, and will release a slate of films based on the Marvel characters including, THOR on May 6, 2011, and MARVEL STUDIOS’ THE AVENGERS on May 4, 2012.
Tucci is represented by CAA.
Here is some back ground on Erskine..
Abraham Erskine was a scientist from the 1940s who first developed the Super-Soldier Serum, as well as the Vita-Rays designed to create an army of enhanced human beings whose physical defects and limitations would be eliminated for the USA World War II efforts.
It would be Erskine's process that transformed Clinton McIntyre into Protocide but accidentally killing McIntyre and later successfully scrawny Steve Rogers into the muscular Captain America. After getting his process to be successful with Rogers' trial run, a Nazi agent named Heinz Kruger infiltrated the top-secret military base and assassinated Erskine at Rogers' transformation presentation.
To date, nobody has ever been able to duplicate the Super Soldier Serum intact as successfully as Erskine was with Rogers 1. Others have either recreated powerful human transformation techniques similar to Erskine's including his successor Wilfred Nagel and Rogers II who became the Captain America of the 1950s, or the Power Broker whose subjects emerge with actual superhuman strength.
Thanks to the Marvel data base for the info. I think this is some great casting. Tucci is a fantastic and very underused actor imo.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.