Brandon Routh



October 20, 2004 - The wait is over. It is official: relatively unknown actor Brandon James Routh has been selected to succeed the late Christopher Reeve as the next big-screen Superman for Warner Brothers and director Bryan Singer. Although both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reveal that no deal has been finalized, Singer himself has apparently confirmed the casting of the 25-year-old, 6' 2" Iowan.

A reader of IGN FilmForce (who also submitted their eyewitness scoop along to Superman-V.com) advised us that Bryan Singer put in a surprise appearance yesterday at Hollywood' s Arclight Cinema where there was a screening of X2: X-Men United with Stan Lee and producer Lauren Shuler Donner.

According to our scooper, Singer said that " this was indeed the official casting as of just today. He went on to elaborate on his previous intention of casting an unknown, and that Routh was amazing talented. He said that he personified the 3 characters he would have to embody: 1. young Clark Kent 2. Clark Kent' s " Daily Planet disguise" and 3. Superman."

Our scooper also claims Singer " mentioned being heavily influenced by the original Donner film, and said he would use them as a reference and vague history in this film. Finally when some yelled out ' Will you make an homage to Chris Reeve?' , another person yelled out ' Use the original score!' – to this the crew including Singer, seemed to smile and nod in approval."

Variety reveals that " Singer and his crew are headed to Australia next month to begin production." Superman is slated for a 2006 release.

-- Stax