Earlier today, Variety reported a new casting release for the upcoming Batman/Superman film.
The young actor, Ray Fisher, has been trying to break through into blockbuster movies after a critically acclaimed career on Broadway. The actor was confirmed to have auditions for a role in Star Wars Episode VII, but Zach Snyder has elected to cast him as Justice League staple character Cyborg.
It would seem that given the star power and jam-packed sense of this movie's production, the role of Cyborg may be relegated to the pre-enhanced character Victor Stone. The character's pre-mechanization role is that of a star athlete and soft-spoken son to a S.T.A.R. Labs employee. While probably a minor role for this film, the casting draws some interesting paralells with the two most recent pieces of news about the actor.
Fisher finished an off-Broadway run of "Fetch Clay, Make Man" last October in which Fisher played out-spoken, 'Greatest-of-All-Time' Muhammed Ali. Of the performance, The New York Times columnist Charles Isherwood said:
As Ali, Mr. Fisher gives an incandescent performance that also makes room for the brooding moments of self-doubt that Mr. Power suggests flickered underneath the preening. Bursts of Ali’s famous rhyming braggadocio are delivered with flair and fluency, and Mr. Fisher’s smooth good looks really do seem to justify Ali’s boast that he’s as “pretty as a girl.” His lively, funny and sympathetic portrait provides the play with a necessary core of authenticity.
This certainly plays into a characterization for Cyborg pre AND post-enchancement. Seeing the photo to the left, he certainly seems to have the physicality for the role.
The other paralell I would draw is more of a stretch, but considering the actor auditioned for Star Wars Episode VII, Darth Vader was on my mind. "He's more machine now, than man." As Uncle Ben Kenobi said, this aspect of Cyborg's character could really be explored in future films featuring the actor. Star Henry Cavill (Clark Kent/Superman) was quoted as saying:
“I think he would create an incredible bridge between superheroes and humanity.”
Either way, this news is a welcome nugget has production news has been trickling is as of late. The as of now untitled Batman/Superman film is 'STILL' scheduled for release May 6, 2016.
What do you think of the casting?
Posted by Bob Holt
