If his time with Marvel has taught us anything, it’s that as a director, James Gunn is certainly unafraid to take risks in terms of both casting and story direction.
His early plans for the DCU have shown a similarly bold approach, but for Chapter 1 Gods and Monsters, he is employing one specific golden rule.As with any new movie, the rumor mill has been working overdrive since Gunn took over DC Studios. We know that so far, David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan have been cast as DC characters Superman and Lois Lane. It’s also looking extremely likely that Nicholas Hoult has been cast as DC villain Lex Luthor.
But any other reported casting is just hearsay. In fact, the director has made it clear in a new tweet that he’s not one to give in to fan casting.
“Just a blanket rule to keep in mind while assessing whether these rumors have any truth to them (99% of the time they’re false) – we are never going to cast roles without scripts,” the director and DC Studios CEO wrote on Threads. And if we’re being honest, we can definitely understand his point of view.
If you want to make the best movie possible, the key, in my opinion, is good writing. You could have the best actors on board for a film, but if the material is lacking, then it won’t get very far. And just because superhero movies are more associated with spectacle than storytelling, that doesn’t mean storytelling as a whole isn’t important.
This is where the DCEU failed. They had the best Batman actor and Superman actor possible with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, but that alone wasn’t enough. It’s why initially-promising films like Batman v Superman and (Joss Whedon’s) Justice League ultimately ended up falling short. And given the shaky legacy DCEU movies created, we don’t blame Gunn for wanting to be extra careful with Superman Legacy.
For more on DC, check out our guides to upcoming DC movies, like Aquaman 2, The Batman 2, and Joker 2. You can also remind yourself of everything that’s come so far with our deep dive into the DC movies in order.