Why was John Krasinski such a hugely popular casting choice for Reed Richards?
I remember since 2018, in most internet spaces, John Krasinski playing as Reed was a given due to how popular the fancast was, to the point that you couldn't even suggest another actor, since everyone already accepted that he was the only choice for Mr Fantastic. I definitely wonder why tho? Why was he the one to get that label?
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This is just a mere nitpick, btw, acting should come first
Stretchy powers are a very body-centric power that focuses on shifting proportions, so it's logical to get a male actor who fits that aspect. Especially since Reed has been traditionally drawn as lean and ectomorphic to reflect that, aside from exceptions
Ioan and John looked very "stretchy" compared to Pedro
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https://people.com/movies/john-krasinski-shirtless-photo/
Here's the photo. Not sure why it says 2020, it would have been released around 2015 as the movie (13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi) came out in 2016.
Marvel really excelled at casting lesser "valued" actors. Actors that weren't at a peak of popularity. Pascal is the opposite of that type of casting.
Edit: Marvel also had a history of casting actors that missed out in other roles, too numerous to give examples but there a lot. Krasinski was almost cast as Captain America and auditioned for Star-Lord.
I would argue that Pascal is that type of casting. America has very attached feelings to streaming stars versus the indifference most of the world had, partly because pure movie stars is dead as a phenomenon. If you can pluck someone from South Africa or Thailand and ask them what they feel about Pascal in The Last of Us, they most likely won't tell you because the show isn't that widespread.
It's the equivalent of why barely anyone in Asia (outside of the major markets like Japan or SK) has any nostalgia towards Nintendo. The extreme indifference towards the region is why Nintendo's venture into movie business failed to impress the rest of the region versus, say, America/Europe and Japan/SK, their primary markets.
Based on some of the rumored names that were involved (Driver, Gosling, Gyllenhaal) it seems clear that Marvel wanted a big name for the role And honestly, that's probably a good idea.
His casting was the opposite of the type of casting Marvel excelled at. He was one of the most popular celebrity/actors at the time of his casting. That's not what Marvel was known for.
Reviews and ratings review the entire product and might have a line or two about the cast. Most of the ones I saw praised Vanessa as Sue.
You said you were in the majority of thinking Pedro was a good fit for the role, my question is how you know that specifically?
Blunt was also attached to 3 diferent Marvel roles (Agent Carter, Black Widow, and Captain Marvel) in various degrees. He was also connected to Captain America.
Edge of Tomorrow and The Office had a ton of internet traction.
It’s like how badly Ryan Reynolds who cameo’ed as Deadpool was cast as Green Lantern.
His role in Sunshine is still not much like Cap, but it showed a completely different side of him from all his comedy roles - and suddenly, I saw how an actor could bring those two aspects together and capture the Captain America character from the comics.
And then of course, I was still blown away by how good he was in that role, I think he’s maybe my favorite main character in the MCU (though that’s tough competition).
https://youtu.be/l3xy14YZad8?si=d5SQ0kp6DelplaOy
I do recall Evans having a similar story, but can't remember any other details
With Evans I think it almost became a bit in interviews with or mentioning Hemsworth.
And then Chris Hemsworth walks by... no matter who you thought you were, now you see yourself at toothpick.
I think the only thing I wasn’t sold on was that he could be convincing as the smartest guy in the world, which MoM sort of confirmed that wasn’t his best fit lol. He didn’t seem stupid, he just comes off as kind of savvy rather than smart. Too charismatic, which stereotypically doesn’t usually go with brainy (except for most of Marvel’s other geniuses ironically). Pedro has the same thing going on for me, but he had enough time in his movie to sell it better.
John could easily embody a father with heavy responsibilities, and combat man, and he's already "pre-stretched" physically in a sense that you can picture him stretched across New York City saving people with massive stretchy palms
This always made me nervous. The last thing I'd want to do is have an actual husband and wife cast in those roles. Sure, they'll have chemistry, but you can get that without being married.
Their ability/willingness to do the job (which is assumed to be a role spanning multiple films and last for years) suddenly becomes dependent on their real-world marriage. The divorce rate ain't exactly low. Far better to use regular actors that just have on-screen chemistry.
His Green Goblin was basically Marvel's version of the joker.
> And he's wearing that dumb power rangers mask... But he's scarier without it on...
One thing every MCU Spidey movie has going for it is villain actors who bring out the best in Tom's performance. He crushes it when he's got something to work with.
What's really funny is he actually *doesn't*. If you see any in-person interviews of him, the dude is absolutely chill as fuck. But he's so good at performing the chaos energy, its kind of uncanny how different he is IRL from how he's known from his films.
I don't think Willem Dafoe as the Joker is primarily due to how he looks.
Not that they wouldn't work, but that just shows a profound lack of imagination with fancasts.
And with criticisms of casting.
I remember being told repeatedly that Heath Ledger was terrible casting as The Joker because he'd never played a character like that before, and that any of his brilliant performances prior to The Dark Knight weren't relevant because they weren't the same type of role.
It turns out in most cases, acting is acting, and if you're good at acting you can do well in lots of different roles.
There's that one famous panel by one artist that i keep seeing online, maybe it was a whole limited run, that is clearly influenced by Krasinski's look, but in the decades of Fantastic Four existing, I do not remember Reed Richards having any coincidental resemblance to John Krasinski before or since that comic run.
I’m saying that as a huge fan of the Office btw
Even Gumby has a better body than him/ref
Not as clever as people think it is.
For example, Glenn Howerton and Penn Badgely were very popular choices for Reed, great actors, but when people explaon why they'd be good choices, it always end up being something along the line of "they can capture the arrogance and egocentric stoic intellectual jerk like Reed" using You and IASIP as refernces.
If you know anything about FF books, you'd know that this diametrically opposite to Reed as a character. Ywt people kept pushing it
I get that his intellect is very important aspect of what makes Reed REED, but treating it as his ONLY trait and pushing aside the rest just turns him into a glorified plot device
Likeable person.
Bit of a nerd.
Real life wife also has Sue Storm vibes.
It's the sort of casting Marvel used to do, back when they nailed this sort of thing without effort (RDJ, Evans, Johansson, etc).
Having said that I still 100% want Jason Statham to play Wolverine
I know a lot of people thought Pedro was a weaker link of F4, but I actually really liked his performance. I thought Quinn, Pascal, and Kirby really nailed their roles and Kirby and Pascal had some excellent chemistry (especially in a movie focused on family). I never felt Ebon Moss fit The Thing role (Michael Chiklis was basically the perfect Thing portrayal in my opinion lol).
An absolutely unlikable piece of shiznit
He was not a terrible Reed, by any means.
It's only that, that because this Reed didn't do much of anything (besides doing a really good impression of spaghetti), we don't really know well he would of actually done in the full scope of the role. Krasinski is pretty good at getting a laugh, and his serious stuff is nice too. Could of been good, maybe not. Who knows?