Caffeinated Clint
I was actually a bit worried about Brandon Routh post-“Superman Returns” (show me a ruler and I’ll show you how much, ya know, I was worried). I mean, the guy was great in the movie (and fuck the swines, the movie was too!) career. I mean, twelve months had passed since the release of the big guy’s first major movie and still the only thing he’d snagged a role in was some unsavoury thing called “Life is Hot in Cracktown”. Now that sounds like something Corey Haim would normally beg to do; not an especially juicy follow-up project to one of the world’s biggest movies of the previous year.
Things remained quiet… right up until Gregor Jordan (Go! Aussie Go!) gave B.J a small part in his film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s “The Informers”. That sat on the shelves for years though, and as far as I can gather, Routh’s part (as a vampire) has been cut (because the whole neck-sucker subplot has been extracted from the flick) so, um, hardly the comeback vehicle the young Man of Steel was probably hoping for. (But all is not lost, Jordan has Routh playing a role in his next film, Samuel L.Jackson-starrer “Unthinkable” – probably as a consolation prize from being cut from the Ellis flick)
The unlikely comeback vehicle, per say, for Mr Routh would end up being a smutty R rated comedy from independent comic-book boffin Kevin Smith, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. Though only a small role, Routh rocked that boat. He played an openly gay movie star whose admission single-handedly crushes the horny hopes of Elizabeth Banks’s character. Smith also had the smarts to bring Routh’s character back for the end-credits sequence. This was the movie that got people talking about Brandon Routh [again] – and the one that would ultimately open more doors.
And according to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest door to be open is one that leads to the set of Edgar Wright’s highly-anticipated “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World”.
“Pilgrim” centers on young slacker Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), who meets the woman of his dreams (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) but finds he can win her heart only by battling and defeating her seven evil ex-boyfriends.
Routh will play one of the evil boyfriends, “a rocker with vegan psychic powers”.
Priceless!
They say a “Superman Returns” sequel will happen, and they also say Routh is certain to return as Kal-El, but Warners has pressed ‘pause’ on all their comic-book projects at their moment (if only so they can donate every cent they have in their kitty to the next Batman film) so if you ask me, I don’t think it’s the sure-thing Routh’s being told it is.. or does he?
A few months back Routh was also asked to play another comic-book character, underground favourite Dylan Dog in “Dead of Night”. Would a man committed to playing the Man of Steel in however many “Superman”films from here on out be up for playing another superhero film concurrently – more so, would Warners actually let him? Sounds to me like someone’s got a contingency plan.
Power to Brandon Routh – I like the guy. Hopefully he has more of a career ahead of himself than Gerard Christopher. Who? Yes indeed.
