A closely placed and highly trusted source has told me that there’s been some casting shake-ups on X-Men Origins: Wolverine. According to my source, Karl Urban had been in talks to play Creed – the guy who would become Sabretooth – but has fallen out. The production is now reaching out to Gerard Butler to take on the role. Butler’s sort of the genre flavor of the month. This isn’t to say that I don’t like him, but just that when you have a project like this and a role that requires some physicality and some masculinity, you’re sending the script to Butler’s people.
Still, Butler’s schedule has opened up a bit with the Escape from New York remake falling apart. He’s currently working on Game, the new film from the mad geniuses behind Crank, and he’s being sought for the role of young Sean Connery for the Untouchables prequel, but I’m not even sure that script is in any state to start working. If that’s the case, a role like this would make a lot of sense for him.
Less likely to come through is another bit of Wolverine casting: director Gavin Hood wants Natalie Portman for the role of ‘Kayla.’ I don’t have a copy of the latest script (hint hint) so I don’t know what kind of role that is, but I do feel like the odds of seeing Portman in an X-Men spin-off movie are slim. Still, Hood owns an Oscar, and I understand he’s got a lot of charm, and the strike is making everything a bit weird out there, so who knows?