Anna Daniels
If Feige is making a personal pitch to triple-A talent for a future Marvel movie, the project in question is likely way, way out in the development weeds. Now would be a great time for him seek out talent for big, connective-tissue character roles that can be built around once directors are attached — something like the miles-away Fantastic Four reboot. All the MCU Phase 4 films are far enough into development to have lead actors and directors, so their conceptual bedrock has been completed for at least a year. Casting the net for Phase 5 and beyond is the job for somebody like Feige; if you can lock in your pillar characters’ roles well ahead of time, that smooths out the process going forward and the actor can offer more creative input — a thing a previously-established, peak celeb would likely demand to have — by joining earlier in the development stream.
It’s important to recall that this new era of Marvel making an effort to cast talent at an echelon like Angelina Jolie’s in a lead role is a relatively new effort. Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth were nowhere near household names in 2010. Robert Downey Jr. was certainly a name, but still highly radioactive in terms of controversy when Iron Man was released in 2008. Marvel has an indisputable talent for spinning gold from yarn because before about 2013, gilt materials were both too expensive to justify cost and the MCU hadn’t attained its juggernaut status that would draw in that kind of talent. It wasn’t that long ago that superhero movies were a less-than role to be dismissed outright by “serious” actors. What a difference a decade makes.
Written by: Looper
