Just last week, it was reported that John Krasinski was reportedly the potential favorite to play the lead role in Marvel's The First Avenger: Captain America, but was just as quickly ousted from the list of contenders such as Fantastic Four's Chris Evans, Cloverfield's Mike Vogel, and Wilson Bethel (CBS' The Young and the Restless). Even Dane Cook auditioned for the part (yes, Good Luck Chuck's Dane Cook).
With a March 1 deadline come and gone, the search continues. HitFix reports that Marvel is also looking at actor Ryan Phillippe, who confirmed the audition with MTV.
[I] actually am going in to meet on Captain America, which is kind of cool. After Superman, he was kind of my favorite.
Phrases like "he was kind of my favorite" and "starring in MacGruber" may not endear Phillippe to Marvel, who was more upbeat about the part when he told io9 he was indeed interested in the role.
Yeah, I would. My son would looove it. He's six-years-old. I'm really into it. We'll see what happens, but yeah, it'd be fun.
Besides Phillippe, Deadline reports that Channing Tatum is also up for the role (apparently, Marvel just rented Stop-Loss, which stars both Phillippe and Tatum). After the success of Dear John and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Tatum may be a more high profile actor than the "complete unknown" that director Joe Johnston announced he was looking for, but after undergoing such a long search for the right actor, Marvel may be willing to hire a more bankable star in the role.
While the search continues, Marvel is busy casting the other roles in the movie. With Hugo Weaving already in talks to play arch-nemesis Red Skull, Marvel is looking at a list of contenders (oh man, not again) for the female lead role of Peggy. The Deadline report lists three British actresses as being under consideration: Keira Knightley, She's Out of My League's Alice Eve, and Emily Blunt. With Blunt almost landing the role of the Black Widow in Iron Man 2, we'll put money on her getting the part, though after seeing Marvel's current obsession with Stop-Loss actors, don't count out Abbie Cornish from pulling an upset and grabbing the role instead.
Posted 03.16.10 by Ryan