Thursday, July 9, 2015

Dunce Cap Award: Sony casting department

You know, of course, that Sony wants to reboot "Spider-Man" again, this time with a much younger lead, 19 year old Tom Holland (Who? Exactly!), after two films with Andrew Garfield in the webs disappointed many in the fan base.

Now comes word that the people in charge of making casting decisions for this movie have real reason to have their collective brains checked out, with news that Oscar winner Marisa Tomei ("My Cousin Vinny") is being cast as May Parker, Peter's aunt.

In the words of Wayne Campbell, exsqueeze me? Baking powder?

Ms. Tomei is 50, which, in comparison to Rosemary Harris, who first essayed the role of Aunt May 13 years ago at 74, is light years younger, and, perhaps, too young for the role. Sally Field, another Oscar winner ("Norma Rae"), was nearly 70 herself when she was cast opposite Garfield in "The Amazing Spider-Man" films. Field & Harris were believable in the role. Marisa Tomei would need a ton of makeup for this gig.

So the question needs to be asked. Why are Hollywood casting directors thinking that Aunt May needs to look like she's been to the fountain of youth? Lord only knows. Granted, there are people who don't look their age, and that's apparently the idea.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not sold on this any more than I am on the whole idea of hitting the reset button yet again on Spidey. Holland will make his debut as Spider-Man in the 3rd "Captain America" movie, subtitled, "Civil War", and due in 2017, as the web-head joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe (finally), but Marvel/Disney needs to get their counterparts at Sony together to discuss a few things, like common sense casting and not trying to pander to certain advertiser-coveted demographic groups. As it is, the Sony casting department gets a box of Dunce Caps this week.

Like, don't ya think an older actress, say for example an icon like Lynda Carter (ex-Wonder Woman) would make more sense as Aunt May?

2 comments:

magicdog said...

I can't understand wanting to reboot the Spidey franchise again! People have their favorites, and I enjoyed the original film (I haven't seen the new ones with Garfield), but this is overload. If they want to recast Spidey for the next Avengers movie and not cast either Garfield or Tobey McGuire, then fine. I don't think we need yet another film in the Marvel Universe - it seems cluttered enough as it is.

As for casting Marisa Tomei, I'm neutral. Aunt May isn't as frail and elderly as she had often been depicted. Even her comics counterpart has looked less "old" and very spry. Possibly to reflect many modern senior lifestyles - many are still rather active. Maybe they want to make her more like the character from the last Spidey movies in which she is a spy/secret agent who's still active in some senior level intrigue - in which case a younger actress would fit. Otherwise, I like the idea of Lynda Carter being Aunt May - although I have a hunch she may turn up in a Wonder Woman movie in a cameo as Hippolyta.

hobbyfan said...

Yah, I threw Lynda Carter out there to see if people would respond at least to that consideration. Your comment about May possibly in the spy game reminds me of a Looney Tunes Show ep where Granny related to Daffy the tale of her being a spy in WWII. While June Foray was still the voice of Granny in the modern era, her younger self was voiced by Stephanie Courtenay, aka Flo from Progressive. Whodathunk?