SHP Forums

Diane Lane is an actress who has seemed perpetually 37 for about 20 years. There's a weary, sexy worldly wisdom to her that has allowed her to appeal to both men and women, either in erotic "thrillers" like "Unfaithful" or big crowd-pleasers like "Secretariat." Thirty-seven is a good age for an actress to seem; old enough to be respected, but young enough to still be attractive to all age groups.

The one age she doesn't seem like: elderly.

Yet the 46-year-old, onetime Oscar-nominee Lane will play Martha Kent, Superman's "mom," in the upcoming Superman reboot. She has played moms before, of course, but not mothers that have typically been portrayed as matronly rocking-chair dwellers. To be fair, with Annette O'Toole on "Smallville," Superman's adoptive parents have gotten younger in recent years; it's still rumored that Kevin Costner will play Pa Kent, after all. (Actually, that's totally not fair: Costner is 56, almost a decade older than Lane.)

Lane is considerably younger than those who have played cinematic Supermoms in the past. Phyllis Thaxter played Ma Kent in Christopher Reeve's 1978 version at the age of 57, which was nothing compared to Eva Marie Saint, who was over 80 in Bryan Singer's recent "Superman Returns" reboot.

Lane is only 19 years older than Henry Cavill, who plays Kal-El, but that shouldn't make any difference: She's not his actual mother, and in celestial time, he's probably a lot older than her anyway. Heck, the trip from Krypton itself must have taken 20 years.


Warner Bros. announced today that actress Diane Lane (Secretariat) will play Martha Kent, the adoptive mother of Kal-El/Superman/Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), in director Zack Snyder’s new Superman movie. Lane, 46, is the first actor to join the film since Cavill, 27, was cast as the Man of Steel in January. ”This was a very important piece of casting for me because Martha Kent is the woman whose values helped shape the man we know as Superman,” Synder said in the release. “We are thrilled to have Diane in the role because she can convey the wisdom and the wonder of a woman whose son has powers beyond her imagination.”

The film, produced by Christopher Nolan and scripted by David S. Goyer, is slated for release Dec. 2012.

Well, the Kents haven't been depicted as old people in comics for quite a while now.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.reu ... ie-reuters

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Michael Shannon, who received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as a mentally troubled man in "Revolutionary Road" two years ago, has been cast as the villain in the upcoming Superman film.

He will play General Zod opposite Henry Cavill 's Superman in "Superman: Man of Steel." Zod, like Superman, is from Krypton, where he commanded its armed forces. The character appeared in both 1978's "Superman" and its sequel "Superman II," where he was played by Terence Stamp .

"Zod is not only one of Superman's most formidable enemies, but one of the most significant because he has insights into Superman that others don't," said Zach Snyder, the director of the new film. "Michael is a powerful actor who can project both the intelligence and the malice of the character, making him perfect for the role."

Shannon, seen more recently as a stern federal agent in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," joins a lineup that also includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as Martha and Jonathan Kent, the adoptive parents of Superman's alter ego Clark Kent.

Tawmis wrote: Shannon, seen more recently as a stern federal agent in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" [...]

His performance was incredible. He's such an intense actor! He really deserved an Emmy as Supporting Actor for his work on Boardwalk Empire.

Keep in mind we haven't had a superman movie reboot since 1978 (the year I was born). Superman Returns was for all intensive purposes a sequel to the Christopher Reeve era continuity. Also, with the exception of Smallville, we haven't had any Superman Origins since 1978 either.

I know the world is saturated by un-necessary reboots at the moment, but in the case of Superman, I think it is time. This new version apparently came from the creative team behind Batman Begins / Dark Knight, and so I am very interested to see what kind of interpretation they come up with for Superman.

I'm reasonably happy with Zod as the villain - he is the ultimate Superman Villain. In fact I'd love to see a little more Krypton-based Zod backstory.

As for a British actor playing the role, I think its a non-issue. As a non-American, and a Superman fan since childhood, I have never seen the character as an "American Icon" any more than any other fictional character to come out of America. He is an alien who landed on Earth and was raised by humans. Yes his landing place was America, so that certainly had a big influence the development of who he as Clark Kent became, but I think as Kal-el, he's bigger than that. In any case, British and Aussie actors are generally pretty good at putting on an American accent.

The big question is, will they use the John Williams theme? I suspect maybe not, unlike the last movie, it will be a complete reboot. Whoever composes is gonna have big shoes to fill though.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/usmovies.t ... didnt-work

The 2006 movie Superman Returns was supposed to reignite the comic-book character for big-screen audiences and make a star out of unknown actor Brandon Routh. While critics praised the film, it underwhelmed at the box office, earning $391 million worldwide.

Now, with another Superman film in the works -- Zack Snyder's Superman: Man of Steel, which stars Henry Cavill in the title role -- Superman Returns director-producer Bryan Singer is admitting that he made some mistakes with his own film.

"I think that Superman Returns was a bit nostalgic and romantic, and I don't think that was what people were expecting, especially in the summer," Singer said in an interview with VoicesFromKrypton.com. "What I had noticed is that there weren't a lot of women lining up to see a comic book movie, but they were going to line up to see The Devil Wears Prada, which may have been something I wanted to address. But when you're making a movie, you're not thinking about that stuff, you're thinking, 'Wow, I want to make a romantic movie that harkens back to the Richard Donner movie that I loved so much.' And that's what I did."

Many moviegoers criticized the third act, in which Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) stabs Superman with a shard of kryptonite, but then the two characters don't appear onscreen again for the rest of the movie. In defending the scene, Singer said he tried to insert a religious analogy his storytelling, which was probably too "heavy" for a summer movie.

"I've always felt that the origin of Superman is the story of Moses -- the child sent on a ship to fulfill a destiny," said Singer, a producer on the upcoming X-Men: First Class. "And this was a story about Christ -- it's all about sacrifice: The world, I hear their cries. So what happens? He gets the knife in the side and later he falls to the earth in the shape of a crucifix. It was kind of nailing you on the head, but I enjoyed that, because I've always found the myth of Christ compelling and moving. So I hoped to do my own take, which is heavy s--- for a summer movie."

Singer said if he were to take on another Superman film, he would do a reboot of the franchise by remaking the original and would make it a more "balls-to-the-wall action movie" with a different pace from Superman Returns.

Despite the disappointing performance of Superman Returns, Singer still says he's "proud" of the film.

"There are a bunch of movies I've made where I'm, like, 'Yuck, that was weak' or 'That could've been better,' and I can see why. But with Superman Returns. ... If I could go back, I would have tightened the first act."

I saw that movie with my nephew and we both hated it for the same reason. The guy playing Superman was dull and emotionless. It was supposed to be about Superman but the only memorable person in the whole movie was Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor.