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Holy Cow, Batman! The three main superhero costumes are all filled by Limeys. Christian Bale, born in Wales to English parents, and Batman are nearly “done professionally” but not until The Dark Knight Rises starts filming in Pinewood in May before its release next year. Surrey’s Andrew Garfield has been measured for Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman suit and now the trio is complete with Henry Cavill, born in Jersey and educated at Stowe boarding school in Buckingham, cast as the new Superman. The auditioning process to play the Man of Steel is unclear (getting changed in a phonebox? Using X-Ray vision to tell the casting director what colour underpants he or she is wearing? Work experience on a newspaper?). 300 director Zack Snyder - with input from producer and Inception Dark Knight overlord Christopher Nolan saw enough to cast Cavill over second choice (yet another Brit) Exeter’s Matthew Goode. Henry Cavill is to play Lex Luthor’s nemesis which could make him as cursed as he is blessed. Other Supermans, most notably George Reeves and Christopher Reeve, have well-documented hard luck stories - Ben Affleck even played Reeves in Hollywoodland. Perhaps that curse is overstated... Who didn’t see one-time Clark Kent Dean Cain in his 2009 TV movie, The Dog Who Saved Christmas? Don’t answer that all at once. We may be some time. Brandon Routh’s scenes in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ The Transformers were cut, and he got dragged into a fight with Michael “Paulie Bleeker from Juno” Cera in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. There could be a Spiderman jinx, too. Just ask Perth’s Alan Cumming. Cavill, 27, has already been in 2005 by Empire magazine as “the most unlucky man in Hollywood.” He was seen before Brandon Routh as the last Superman, Nolan looked at him for Batman, and he got down to the last three alongside Sam Worthington and Daniel Craig for Bond. Twilight author Stephanie Meyer wanted him as Edward Cullen before he got too old and the role went to Robert Pattinson. He has played Henry VIII’s brother-in-law in The Tudors. There will be confusion and no little pain that these all-American roles have gone to English actors. There are a few reasons for this. Think of the many big movie stars - Mel Gibson, the Scientologists, Brad Pitt, Jack Nicholson. We know plenty about their private life, and so what we know about the superheroes they’d portray. George Clooney played Batman long before he was known as a political activist. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio’s opinions on various issues are well-known. Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft couldn’t last as it would have be difficult to imagine the Tomb Raider with a growing collection of pan-global kids as she kicked ass. The downside for producers in casting these actors is that this relative anonymity means more work goes into hyping the actors. Garfield this week did a profile-raising interview in The Sun. Relatively unknown actors are easier to imagine as characters for whom the audience already has the back-story. American audiences will know nothing of Cavill and Garfield, and Bale does try to keep his private life private despite his mum’s best efforts. That makes it easier to accept Superman, Batman and Spidey as they were originally imagined in the comic books. Oh, and another small detail. Brit actors are normally much cheaper. Cavill will take to the air in summer 2012, the same time that the latest Spiderman and The Dark Knight Rises are due. Superheroes - they’re just like buses, except for their slightly more unconventional methods for avoiding traffic congestion.Want to read more stories about film? Consider donating to The Caledonian Mercury
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