This has been quite the week for comic adaptations…or at least for two movies anyway. Just days after the rumor that Kate Bosworth was in talks to play Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman movie, that news has been confirmed, along with the news that Kevin Spacey is locked in to play Lex Luthor. I’m pretty satisfied with this choice. Spacey’s a hell of an actor, and could easily handle either version of Lex Luthor.
The question of course, is which one Bryan Singer & Co. are going with…will this be Lex the business man, as has been the case in the comics and animated series for the last decade or so? (Not to mention Smallville). Or will we see a return to the wisecracking evil genius Lex, as was depicted in the Gene Hackman-era films? Personally, I’d like to see a mix of the two. I’ve grown to like the more serious Lex, but there’s always going to be a place in my heart for the classic version. I’m also going to be curious to see if they go with bald Lex, or opt for a revisionist look at the character (IE with hair), similar to the one John Shea depicted on Lois & Clark (although let’s hope they leave out the cornball role played by the otherwise great Tony Jay).
In any event, Spacey’s in, and that’s good news indeed. Here’s a pretty Lex-esque photo of the man (picture courtesy of Criminal Grace):
With Bryan Singer playing towards the Donner interpretation more than anything, I think you can expect mad genius Lex more than businessman Lex.