Lex Luthor: Eisenberg no Heisenberg?

So...that happened. The last week or so has been so awash with casting rumours that it took a while to establish if this was real or just pumped out by the studios to generate more free press. A stupid assumption really, Man of Steel 2: Justice League All-Stars has seen so many changes and additions it hardly needs to make up stuff to get talked about. Though I'm sure Warner Bros would prefer we weren't talking about it with the same tone one might discuss reconstructing the Titanic or the Wii U.

But whatever the consequences it's true. Jesse Eisenberg, of Zombieland and The Social Network, is going to be Lex Luthor in Man of Steel 2: Electric Boogaloo. My opinion? Good move. I like Eisenberg and not just because my girlfriend thinks I resemble him. The fact is back in the day it was easy to write off Eisenberg as a Michael Cera clone; awkward, stammering skinny white guy inexplicably coming out on top. It was so obvious that apparently even he knew it and endeavoured to avoid that terrible fate Cera had suffered; typecasting.

The Social Network demonstrated how far Eisenberg could take the introvert, playing a detached, calculating, yet somehow endearing Mark Zuckerberg. To follow he went on to play a Seth Rogan-esque slacker in 30 Minutes or Less, the only film where the title explains roughly how long the film would remain in cultural consciousness. And as a member of the orthodox Jewish community and  only thing worth seeing in the crime drama Holy Rollers.

So Eisenberg has the chops to play a Lex Luthor but there's still the one thing everyone's gonna be snarking about on Twitter. At age 30 (and hardly looking it) he'll be the youngest film version of Lex to date after Gene Hackman (48 for Superman) and Kevin Spacey (46 for Superman Returns). And while he's the same age as Superman himself, Henry Cavill, the idea of a younger and specifically young-looking Lex will be hard for some to get on board with.

The reason I don't see it being a major problem though is because I see nothing about Lex Luthor, especially John Byrne's 1986 redesigned buisinessman Lex that most are familiar with, as intrinsically old. After all, who is Lex Luthor? An insanely successful businessman, incredibly proud of with achievements, possessing a genius level intellect, scrupulous morals and a huge seething resentment of Superman. None of these things are the exclusive domain of the old. 

Even today American culture has this idealised image of the hardworking capitalist. Men who've spent lifetimes building an empire on nothing but sweat and pep talks from Uncle Sam. But that doesn't exist anymore, not since the first dot-com millionaire made the Fortune 500 on his parents computer. We live in an age of young billionaires with questionable morals, billionaires just like like Mark Zuckerberg. In fact that's probably what made the penny drop at Warner Bros in the first place.

So yeah Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor? Warner Bros can put that in the win category. Doesn't make me anymore confident that Man of Steel 2:Rise of the Multi-Bear, won't collapse under its own weight but...baby steps.

Oh and about that title? Yeah I would've been psyched to see Superman fight Walter White too. It's thrilling to see a goofy, comic actor like Bryan Cranston getting all these great roles. But Cranston's whole thing is mild mannered guys thrown into dangerous situations and seeing how crazy they go trying to deal. It'd be difficult to pull that off while still taking him serious as a credible threat to freaking Superman. Maybe after he's taken on Godzilla...

High Rise Expectations of Ben Wheatley’s New Film

Ben Wheatley is to adapt a work by JG Ballard? This can only end disastrously. I mean who the hell is this Wheatley guy anyway? Unless he’s somehow managed to direct some of the most unique and subversive works of British cinema in the last deca-oh wait he totally has. Yes, perhaps the most exciting filmmaker in the country is getting his chance to bust onto the mainstream with an adaptation of new wave science fiction novel High Rise.

                For full disclosure I haven’t read the novel myself or indeed any of Ballard’s work. As a sci-fi author he’s certainly been on my radar but I’ve never got round to checking out anything he’s written and presently I’m still working through my long-ass reading list. If I feel an itch for some Hard SF I’ll get started on the Culture Series out of respect for its recently deceased author. Plus I’ve always got plenty of Dick to fall back on.

                One thing I do know is that Ballard is a heavily respected figure in the genre. Even if he’s not as prominent as the likes of Phillip K. Dick he’s certainly contributed as much to cyberpunk and futuristic dystopia. This is where we find ourselves in High Rise, set in a luxury high-rise apartment building where affluence gives rise to all manner of depravity. It’s Lord of the Flies starring Gideon Osborne’s Family and absolutely perfect material for Wheatley.

                The thing about Ben Wheatley, the thing that has made his most recent work the hits that they have been, has been his ability to manage shifts in tone. Kill List for example is one part domestic drama, one part hitman thriller and one part The Wicker Man. And while I feel the third act is too desultory to be effective the transition from kitchen sink to claw hammer execution is seamless. Leading man Jay (played by Utopia’s brilliant Neil Maskell) seethes with impotent aggression in every scene leaving no doubt that the discontent family man could be a hardened hitman.

                Similarly Sightseers feels like a jovial character comedy, merely disrupted by the odd murder. True this owes much to the writing and acting talents of Alice Lowe and Steve Oram. However it’s Wheatley’s direction that gives many of the deaths a slapstick feel punctuated by a complete drop in tone. It’s a sign of the man’s understanding of comic time and ability to convey the effect on screen. All of this results in Sightseers being one of the funniest films of last year and nowhere near as jarring as the premise would suggest.

                The prospect of Wheatley mixing the soft tones of an elegant gathering with the brutality and blood that represents how low humans can sink has a lot of promise. Like this year’s The Purge  it has the chance to say something about the isolationist attitude of some of the wealthy, hopefully without becoming preachy. It also represents the potential for a turning point in Wheatley’s career. A film by Ben Wheatley with the marketability of ‘based on a book by JG Ballard’ could see a much wider release than his previous films. A big hit could propel Wheatley into the mainstream with the money and creative freedom to achieve a larger passion project.

                This is all speculation of course. The reason Wheatley’s work exists of the fringes, beloved mostly by cinephiles, is because that’s the audience they play best to. And like Ken Loach, there’s no indication that the director of A Field in England would even want to enter the mainstream. That might not even be the best place for High Rise given that previous adaptations of Ballards work have either been the infamous, under-the-radar psychosexual thriller Crash or the comparatively conventional Empire of the Sun.  Either way with the substantial pedigree of Ballard and Wheatley combined; High Rise might be one of the most interesting British films for a long time.