Exclusive : White wants Luke Cage

Chatted to former NFL player cum actor Brian J. White (“Fighting”, “The Game Plan”) this morning, who’s keen to let the world know he’s ready and willing to play comic book hero Carl Lucas.

White, who recently returned from Canada where he’s been shooting Joss Whedon’s “Cabin in the Woods”, says he’s been trying to snag the role of Luke Cage for years.

‘’I would love to be Luke Cage”, says the amiable actor, “I’ve been saying it over-and-over again in the press for years! Those are the roles – Green Lantern, Green Hornet, Luke Cage. There’s some other graphic novels – some horror ones – that I also like, but I really would love to do Luke Cage.”

White believes he has the right build, as well as the acting chops, to front a movie like “Luke Cage”.

“I think I have the skill-set” fit for a superhero movie, says White. “Like Iron Man, you have to be able to handle drama and comedy; you have to have the physique to be able to take off your shirt; you have to have a certain statue – if you’re 5’8 it doesn’t really work so well, unless it’s a small superhero – and you have to have a certain athletic ability. That’s what I’m angling towards. These are $150 million-dollar movies, so I’m trying to pay my dues, and do the work, so that I might get a look-in.”

John Singleton (“2 Fast 2 Furious”, “Baby Boy”) has been loosely attached to direct the feature-film adaptation of “Luke Cage” for several years – – with Tyrese Gibson said to be the filmmaker’s favourite to play the title role. But with nothing set-in-stone, the role is seemingly still wide-open!

Meanwhile, White is trumpeting director Drew Goddard’s “Cabin in the Woods” – which he says is testing through the roof!

“[Joss Whedon] has created a new take on the Cabin in the Woods formula and it’s incredibly funny, it’s gory, and it’s smart. Joss is a mad scientist! Any genre fan is going to really, really going to love this. If you’re even remotely a fan of Joss I think you’re going to love it. I hear they just did a screening, and it went down very well– he apparently hit it out of the park”.

White was impressed with co-star Chris Hemsworth, the Aussie actor who recently snagged the lead role in Kenneth Branagh’s “Thor”.

‘’He’s a big deal now, because of Thor and Red Dawn. He’s fantastic in the film, but it’s essentially anchored by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford – he’s of course from The West Wing, and Jenkins is an Oscar Nominee for his work in last year’s The Visitor”.