Marvel Movies Update; Bad Timing for Hamm?

Comingsoon.net dispensed some details about the Marvel properties getting the Hollywood treatment through 2012 after listening to Marvel’s quarterly earnings call this week. Kenneth Branagh’s “Thor” starts filming in Q1 2010, and Joe Johnston’s “The First Avenger: Captain America” will start filming in summer 2010. Cast confirmations will be coming sooner for “Thor” than for “Captain America,” it seems. So figure that Steve Rogers will have a prominent role in “The Avengers,” what with him being the leader of the team, and all that. And whoever stars in “Captain America” will probably jump right into “The Avengers.”

The Tiny Cast of Mad Men

This may not play so well for our guy, Jon Hamm, depending on how his “Mad Men” schedule works out. Season three of the series about 60s-era Madison Avenue advertising execs just started filming a week ago, and it will premiere on AMC in August. If a fourth season is a go and films on the same timetable, it is possible that Jon Hamm would not be able to film Mad Men in the spring, then leap into Captain America, then film The Avengers, and then back to a possible fifth season of the show.

Anything is possible, of course, but it is something to keep in mind. The good thing is that we still won’t have casting news of Captain America easily until Autumn of this year. Let’s just keep spreading the word and being positive. Don’t forget, Jon Hamm Should Play Captain America!

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Jon Hamm Versus Will Smith

Welcome to “Jon Hamm Versus,” where we will take a look at possible contenders for the lead role of Steve Rogers/Captain America in the upcoming film “The First Avenger: Captain America,” slated for release on July 22, 2011. Next up, we look at the powerhouse blockbuster-making man-of-the-year Hollywood VIP movie star Mr. July, Will Smith.

Will Smith’s name has easily been tossed around for the role of Captain America/Steve Rogers since about 1996. And it’s pretty safe to say just about every Hollywood studio has put the Fresh Prince’s name at the top of their casting list for nearly every greenlit script since then. It’s just like when you’re a kid and you put “President of the United States” at the top of your fantasy list of jobs you would like to hold. And like the problems most studios face, odds are if you don’t have enough cash you’re not going to get the top job.

The benefit to Will Smith is that he has the A-List clout to do basically any movie he wants at any time. If you look at his IMDB page, there isn’t one completed project in there that you haven’t heard of. Meanwhile Samuel L. Jackson has six times the credits and his Q rating is probably has a two-digit percentage disadvantage to Smith’s.

So could Will Smith make Captain America? Sure, if he wanted to. But as past evidence shows us, it’s basically a heavily passed around rumor. He’s already had modest success as Hancock, which should also have a sequel in the next few years. Plus, Smith likely doesn’t want to get tied down to a specific character in a franchise. Would the “true fans” accept a black Steve Rogers? I think so. There would be some unrest until the movie actually came out, like how goofballs complained that the heroes in the first X-Men movie weren’t going to wear their ‘traditional’ costumes. But then the movie came out and the change worked and no one gave a crap that Wolverine didn’t go around killing dudes while adorned in a yellow Spandex costume. Comic book purists (read: white folks) would accept Will Smith eventually, but I will concede that he’s likely the only black man they could see in the role. Sorry, Omar Epps.

Anyway. Like Brad Pitt, Will Smith commands top dollars and does not put him as the favorable candidate in this battle. Meantime, Jon Hamm merely has a Golden Globe and a SAG award, and still only nets about 3 millions viewers a week for “Mad Men.” The “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” easily had 20 million viewers a week for five seasons. Like Brad Pitt, Will Smith is the height of his career and has many years of success still to come. Jon Hamm is on an upward trajectory, already with drama and comedy under his belt. Hollywood action star is the only thing missing from his résumé.

Jon Hamm wins!

Debbie Schlussel is on board. Join us, won’t you?

Well gang, an important moment in our short history together has now occurred. Jon Hamm has received an official endorsement to play Captain America by none other than Debbie Schlussel. Most folks already know who I’m talking about, but for the rest of you, here is a little info. Debbie Schlussel is the popular conservative political commentator and pop culturist. She is a force to be reckoned with on the radio airwaves and in her columns. A highly educated public figure with a law degree and an expertise in radical Islam, among a long list of other qualifications and accomplishments, she understands the importance of getting Captain America/Steve Rogers just right for the big screen.

She wins big points for being the largest public figure to date to back Jon Hamm as Captain America in a recent blog post. She lays waste to the other “contenders” with an acidic but succinct tongue, calling people like McConaughey (McConaugheyyyyy!!!!!!) “too goofy and unheroic,” Paul Walker “too surfer-boyish and brainless to play a hero,” and Jon Cena “too wrestler-ish and not polished.” And she says Jon Hamm is “my personal choice–suave, debonaire, confident, has that polished superhero look and a snarky sense of humor. This “Mad Man” could definitely be Captain America.”

So this is it! With Debbie Schlussel getting things rolling, it won’t be long until this snowballs into an indomitable force that cannot be ignored. Studio executives and Hollywood fatcats will not be able to turn a blind eye to the brilliant casting suggestion. Jon Hamm Should Play Captain America, and soon the whole world will know it. Get on the train before it is out of reach!!

Not Enough Hamm in Your Diet

Lately, it seems you can’t do a Google News search for Jon Hamm and not find his name popping up in some sort of review for “Mad Men” or some blog dedicated to his future acting jobs. Well, over on Jaunted.com, a pop culture travel blog, in their article about in-flight movies that are not worth seeing, they mention one of the stunning problems with “The Day The Earth Stood Still.”

That's a good point!

The Sleepy: Since no one saw “The Day The Earth Stood Still” in theatres, United, Delta and Continental probably got a great deal on the 1950s sci-fi remake in which Keanu Reeves plays an alien. But really, this film suffers from what most movies and television shows today lack: Not enough Jon Hamm. Since Jon Hamm is actually in this movie, this is an extra-dire case. Also, do we really care enough whether Keanu decides to save the world? Snooze.

Indeed, most television shows and movies suffer from not enough Hamm. With critics and pop culture bloggers the world over clamoring for more from America’s Actor, why not cast him in the lead role in a franchise tentpole summer blockbuster film like “The First Avenger: Captain America?” It would mean piles of cash! The studios need to jump on this guy before he’s commanding Ryan Reynolds-type paydays.

Jon Hamm Vs. Matt Salinger

Jon Hamm Versus Matt Salinger

Welcome to the first entry in a segment I like to call “Jon Hamm Versus,” where we will take a look at possible contenders for the lead role of Steve Rogers/Captain America in the upcoming film “The First Avenger: Captain America,” slated for release on July 22, 2011. First up, the man who donned the original red, white and blues in the 1990 version Matt Salinger.

The Captain America film in 1990 never saw a U.S. release and underwent a number of reshoots, presumably because much of the returned product wasn’t suitable for any audience. I did see this film back in the mid-1990s on VHS cassette, and I remember not hating it. Matt Salinger, son of reclusive author J.D. Salinger, was adequate as the hero, but did fail to execute the fish-out-water story of a WWII super soldier finding himself the strange new world of the late 1980s. To me, it all read as pretty bland television movie-of-the-week stuff. But remember this movie was about a dude who throws a shield, his only protection against bullets by the way, at various bad guys and machinery to take them out. Captain America is freakin’ badass. You know another character who fought in a war who was also freakin’ badass? That’s right, Donald Draper from Mad Men, played by Jon Hamm. I’m not going to spoil the details about Don Draper’s military days, but Jon Hamm shows a guy whose survival is obstructed by his greatest weaknesses and flaws, but still makes it out alive. And then after the war, Draper is a man who exudes strength and power as climbs the ladder at a Madison Avenue advertising agency.

So a weak protagonist who fights in a war only to emerge as a strong leader back in the country he loves? Jon Hamm’s done it before, so give him the shield already. Sorry Salinger, you’re a low seed on this bracket.

Jon Hamm wins!