Jessica Biel WON'T Play 'Viper' in The Wolverine After All
Posted 07.18.12 by BrentJS
Apparently, actress Jessica Biel has a hard time committing. At least, when it comes to superhero movie roles, that is.
Biel was once in talks with Warner Bros. to play Wonder Woman in a proposed live-action Justice League of America movie. Now, THR has reported that Biel "got cold feet" about playing the supervillain Viper only a few hours after meeting with 20th Century Fox about the role, and she will no longer be appearing in director James Mangold's (3:10 to Yuma) The Wolverine. (Could Wesley Snipes' criticism of her performance in Blade Trinity have soured her on comic book movies?)
Biel obviously does not have the same reservations about sci-fi movies as she does about comic book movies because she will next be appearing in director Len Wiseman's (Live Free or Die Hard) Total Recall remake, which promises to be a truer adaptation of Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" than director Paul Verhoeven's 1990 movie. Biel plays Melina in the movie, a resistance fighter and love interest for headliner Colin Farrell's character, Quaid, which should have given her as much of a chance to flex her action muscles as playing Viper in The Wolverine would have.
Here's the synopsis of Total Recall:
Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Farrell), even though he’s got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life — real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police — controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world — Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.
Total Recall was written by Mark Bomback, James Vanderbilt, and Kurt Wimmer. Bokeem Woodbine (Devil) and John Cho (Star Trek) also star.