With the Summer Box-Office having been dominated by Marvel Studios since 2008, this year saw DC finally get their house in order and launch the DCCU. There’s no denying they’ve got some major ground to catch up to their historic rival, and the number of projects they’ve currently got in development would seem to reflect that. One of the main results of this is that there’s now a constant flood of online speculation as to which actors will inhabit the supporting roles that will fill out the solo movies that each of the individual Justice League members have got mapped out.
Whilst next year fans will at last get to see DC’s finest assembling in their entirety for the ‘Justice League’ movie, they’ll be waiting until 2018 before any solo Leaguer movies with the arrival of the ‘Aquaman’ and ‘Flash’ movies. There’s currently no set release date for either movie, but casting is already well underway. The more advanced of the two movies is Aquaman, with set photos of Jason Mamoa doing some green screen work, and the announcement that Amber Heard has been cast as Mera, the Queen to Mamoa’s Atlantean King, Arthur Curry. There has however been speculation in recent weeks though that Heard’s emerging marital difficulties and messy court proceedings with Johnny Depp may well have started to interfere with DC’s plans, putting her position in jeopardy.
In terms of ‘The Flash’, this week has seen a surge in speculation as to which actress will be portraying Iris West alongside Ezra Miller. It would seem that despite a strong online campaign by CW fans for Candice Patton to reprise her TV role as Iris, the studio are having none of it, and have pushed on with casting a new actress. The main favourite for the role up until now was Kiersey Clemons (Bad Neighbours 2, Extant), due to the fact that she has already worked with ‘Flash’ Director Rick Famuyiwa on his previous project ‘Dope’. Clemons is not the only name in the running to play Barry Allen’s girlfriend though, and amongst the other names linked to the part is a somewhat surprising choice. British songstress Rita Ora.
Now there’s no denying that Ora has the requisite star power that the studio are aiming for, and her existing fan base would certainly be a boost for audience figures, it’s just her acting credentials are questionable at best. She has cameos in ‘Fast & Furious 6’ and ‘Southpaw’ under her belt, and a small role in ’50 Shades Of Grey’, but none of these have received anything other than tepid critical responses, and she’s not been linked to any other notable film work.
Perhaps the other thing of note in these casting choices is the fact that Hollywood continues to stand accused of ‘white-washing’ roles in big movies. All three of the actresses named above are of mixed heritage, perhaps indicating an eagerness on the part of DC to fight those allegations.
Source: Variety