Not so fast, the mutant casting of Matthew Vaughn’s “X-Men: First Class” is not over yet.
This morning we heard the old report that Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass” star Aaron Johnson was cast as Cyclops (it’s still a rumor at this point, but EW says its not happening), then we heard that Nicholas Hoult (“A Single Man,” “Clash Of The Titans,” the upcoming “Mad Max 4”) had stepped into the role of Beast and finally, Caleb Landry Jones (NBC’s “Friday Night Lights”), had been officially cast as the Irish sonic-screaming mutant Banshee.
Well, there’s one more mutant to add to the list and its Havoc (a character we recently speculated that we might see given way the side characters being mentioned so far), a mutant who has the power to absorb cosmic energy into plasma blasts he can’t always control. According to EW, the actors who’s scored the gig is Lucas Till who played Miley Cyrus’ paramour in “Hannah Montana: The Movie” (he’s also set to appear in “Battle: Los Angeles” and was in Jackie Chan’s “The Spy Next Door” earlier this year).
However, and a very big, important however, that we’re hoping we already called right. We’ve been worried for some time now that some of the mutant characters being featured in the film were C-list, not important mutants (like Willow) and we wondered aloud, “could they simply be purposeful disinformation?”
And we might be on to something. EW says it’s not completely unclear if Till is playing Havoc and “Instead, this could be part of a misdirection campaign to keep some surprises from X-Men fans.” That’s definitely something to keep an eye on.
Either way, with a U.K.-based production about to start in August, casting is quickly starting to fall in place and now six actors have officially been cast including Michael Fassbender as the evil Magneto (though he’ll probably start out good if the synopsis is any indication), James McAvoy as Professor X and Alice Eve as Emma Frost, The White Queen.
Other rumors/offers/unconfirmed reports of “X-Men: First Class” include Amber Heard as Mystique, Kevin Pellington as Multiple Man (smells like misdirection), potentially Rosamund Pike as Moira MacTaggert and the aforementioned Willow character that likely won’t be played by some surfing model.
“X-Men: First Class” is also co-produced by Bryan Singer who directed the fan favorites “X-Men” and “X2” and he oversaw the script. The picture is scheduled to hit theaters on June 3, 2011.