Matthew Vaughn is continuing to lock in young mutant characters for X-Men: First Class as he steers the film towards a shoot that kicks off next month. The latest additions to the cast? Skins’ Nicholas Hoult as Beast and No Country for Old Men’s Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee.
While Flags of our Fathers actor Benjamin Walker had been in line to play Hank McCoy, AKA Beast, the talks fell apart when Fox apparently became worried about his age relative to James McAvoy’s Professor X and Michael Fassbender’s Magneto. After confirming him, then dropping him, then trying to win him back, Walker decided he’d had enough. Enter Nicholas Hoult, most recently seen in Clash of the Titans and A Single Man. While his role in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road previously meant he couldn’t work on First Class, a delay in the filming schedule for Max has seen his schedule open up.
Jones, meanwhile, is not quite as well known, but has had roles in The Longshots and The Last Exorcism, as well as a solid turn on TV’s Friday Night Lights. He’ll be playing Sean Cassidy, AKA Banshee, the mutant with the sonic scream and flight capabilities. Not sure how his casting will go down with the faithful, though – Cassidy in the comics is Irish. So unless Jones is cranking out the accent, we’re guessing the character will be a little more generic.
Oh, and there’s news that must remain cloaked in rumour clothing until the official announcement, but AICN has a source that says Aaron Johnson is now playing Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops. While he’s not confirmed just yet, it would seem like a no-brainer since he’s worked with Vaughn before (Kick-Ass, anyone?) and has been seen palling around with McAvoy and Vaughn recently.**
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As well as McAvoy and Fassbender, Alice Eve recently joined the cast to play the sexy Emma Frost and Amber Heard is still being rumoured as Mystique.
Update: Entertainment Weekly is now saying that Johnson's rumoured casting is just that and he's not part of the X-team in any capacity. At least, not yet. And the magazine is pointing towardsHannah Montana: The Movie's Lucas Till as Havok, with the proviso that several of the characters could be misleads to hide "surprises" from fans of the comics. We'll have to wait and see if they're right on that one.