Sunday, February 07, 2010

FILM TOPIC: Is Logan Lerman the new Spiderman?

I was worried that Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief wouldn't do too well in theaters, because of how much it differs from the book cast-wise and how many critics are calling it a mythological version of Harry Potter. I could site the many differences between the two novels and declare how unfair it is to right it off so fast, but that's not why I started this post. Logan Lerman's bankability depends on this movie doing well. After the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian tanked, Ben Barnes was relegated to brushed-aside indies, and after The Forbidden Kingdom was declared the worst Jet Li-Jackie Chan film, Michael Angarano went back to being under-appreciated in obscure indies. Barnes will get a second shot to prove himself in the third Narnia film set for this Christmas and Angarano was just cast in the Channing Tatum action flick Knockout, but Lerman might not be so lucky.



So far he's managed to keep a pretty clean and unblemished record. After his political/high school drama "Jack and Bobby" was canceled in 2005, critics took note of his promise. He soon began booking film roles alongside Jim Carrey (The Number 23), Christian Bale and Russell Crowe (3:10 to Yuma), Aaron Eckhart (Bill), Renee Zellweger (My One and Only), and Gerard Butler (Gamer). He was bound to get a shot at headlining his own major franchise eventually. He's charismatic, has great comedic timing, and transitions between sweet and mischievous effortlessly. The 18-year-old newbie could be the next Shia Labeouf, stacking up franchises like they're merit badges.

Luckily, I wasn't the only one who took notice. When there was news of the Spiderman saga being rebooted to when Peter Parker was just a defenseless teenager in a bully-filled high school, the scouting began. While the studio is still compiling a list of worthy candidates, they have announced that Lerman is on that list. Although if his film tanks this Friday, they might just cross him off.

However, who else could be on it, now that we have an overall prototype to compare to? Hmm, Max Thieriot (Jumper and The Pacifier)? Anton Yelchin (Star Trek and Terminator Salvation)?

1 comment:

  1. i think lerman can pull off spidey if they are going the ultimate spiderman high school line. He's got better acting ability than others also mentioned for the role and would give audiences a touch of comedy which we didn't see in Tobey Maguire's characterization. also with exposure to the fantasy genre as Percy he will be more comfortable with CGI work. says he's a fan of the comics so that should count for something. let's just hope percy jackson makes enough money for the studios to seriously consider him

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