Back in February, that “Percy Jackson Kid” Logan Lerman let it slip that he was in talks to play the lead in Marc Webb’s teenybopper “Spider-Man” reboot (in 3D of course). Big mistake. The next day, Logan backtracked, wanly explaining ““It’s one of my favorite characters ever and I’m a huge fan of the series….I’d love to have more conversations about it. I’m definitely very interested in it.” To translate PR speak: “Sorry for my loose tongue, please please still consider me.”
Looks like the apology (or ‘Percy Jackson’s demi-boffo box-office) worked. Hitfix reports that Lerman is the apparent frontrunner for the role, beating out other rumored actors such as Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”), Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland”), Patrick Fugit (“Almost Famous”) and Johnny Simmons (“Jennifer’s Body”). As reported before, Marc Webb’s reboot will focus on the young Peter Parker managing his teen issues along with fighting super villains. As always, take these casting whispers with a dose of salt. Hitfix also said that Jackie Earle Haley would be Sinestro in “Green Lantern,” but their reporting, that little flub aside, has mostly been on point. The film is expected to hit theaters July 3, 2012.
Update: Oof. Is the Hitfix report all wrong? Deadline Hollywood claims Sony insiders say Lerman is not getting the role. We hate to pile-on Hitfix with the aforementioned “Green Lantern” flub, but that actor was apparently almost “100%” locked in and look how that turned out (Marc Strong eventually won the Sinestro role). Evidently Lerman is not even on the list of “candidates being seriously considered,”though as Deadline notes, and we mentioned above, the Hitfix reporter has been largely correct of late. Everyone has to take a bath on a story once and a while. Ah well. Hey, we hear Justin Bieber’s pretty popular with the kids these days. — Hal Berlin
