Keanu Reeves as Superman

M.C. Hampster writes "Fox News is reporting in this article that Superman is back in the planning stages at Warner Bros. with a possible Keanu Reeves playing the title role. Is this possibly the worse fit for an actor in a superhero role since Michael Keaton in Batman?" Perhaps they too will rotate in a new actor for each feature.

Comments

Heaven help us

[rhysweatherley]

I just can't image Ted "Theodore" Logan as Superman. It just doesn't work.

They should do what they did with Spiderman - find a little known but good actor and have him re-invent the role. That way, the audience won't bring any misconceptions into the cinema, which will ruin the whole experience.

I agree

[Ethelred Unraed]

I very much agree. I thought Keaton was quite good as Batman -- he certainly played a much more convincing Bruce Wayne than the others. Val Kilmer sucked -- too much of the playboy type, rather than the tragic figure that Wayne was supposed to be. George Clooney could have been okay, but again he tried too much to be the sex god rather than the dark figure that Batman and Bruce Wayne really are. Keaton got the brooding, darker side of Batman/Wayne much better than the others did. (And the Batman movies just weren't the same without Tim Burton's vision anyway.)

Keaton's choice was also greeted with skepticism by fans, but I think he did a good job. Which is why I would be willing to give Keanu Reeves the benefit of the doubt. But unfortunately Keanu is a lousy actor IMO -- he did okay in Matrix, but he stunk in just about everything else (his "performance" in Much Ado About Nothing was embarrassing).

Maybe the Hollywood execs thought they were 'honoring' Christoper Reeve by having an actor with nearly the same last name play Reeve's most memorable role. ;-P

But Christopher Reeve will always be the "real" Superman for me -- he was born to play that role IMO.

Cheers,

Ethelred

Re:huh?

[Peale]

It wasn't so much that he had the 'dark motivations' on his face as that, like the comic book Batman, he separated the two. Bruce Wayne was one character, and Batman was a completely different character.

Dual personalities at their best.

Why pick on Keanu?

[vanyel]

What makes Keanu a worse actor than say Sean Connery? As near as I can tell, what most people mean when they say he can't act is that he has a particular style that tends to come through no matter the role. That's definitely true of Sean, and he's one of the world's favorites. I'm really curious, because I think he's done a good job in a wide variety of roles.

Keanu?

[Kaz Riprock]

There's nothing super about Keanu. There's nothing Super about Keanu either. Clark Kent needs to be muscular and yet VERY button-down with a wry charm and amazing command of the language about him. Superman needs to be stoic and heroic with bulges everywhere...including his mind. Keanu is none of these things in any role or physical appearance he's ever had. His fame is rightly from being the 90's grunge guy. It's like trying to get Stallone to play a nerd.

Instead, I think they should use Chris Klein.

How times have changed.

[Dan Crash]

I remember when Tim Burton first announced that Michael Keaton was going to play Batman -- "there's something in his eyes," he said -- and the fanboy crowd went ballistic. They shouted that Batman wasn't Mr. Mom, and that Burton had ruined the one comic book movie that fans had been waiting their whole lives for.

Now, a decade later, nearly every post says Keaton was the definitive Batman, and all the other actors (who at first blush seemed to be perfect Batman types) were the ones who ruined the franchise.

Michael Keaton's gotta be proud. He played a legendary character no one thought he could pull off, and then walked away from it, so everyone could see just how tough the job actually was. Now he's doing, what, Jack Frost II? Hollywood oughtta make him Perry White, Clark Kent's editor, in the new Superman pic. They owe him.

FWIW, I don't think we've seen the definitive Superman performance yet. Chris Reeve's Clark Kent was too buffoonish, his Superman too milquetoast. If Batman is supposed to have gone off the deep end because his parents were killed, how much more insane would losing your parents, your species, and your entire planet make you? Superman's a fascinating character, in his own way at least as flawed as Batman. I hope Hollywood can find an actor who can give as much to Superman's character as Keaton did to Batman.

(I should say that I have nothing but respect for Chris Reeve as an actor and human being. Superman is fantasy; Chris is real, and through his tireless advocacy and fundraising he may ultimately be responsible for saving more lives than his comicbook counterpart.)