Just last week a story broke that the studio would be testing Brady Corbet, Alden Ehrenreich, and Dane DeHaan for the role, deciding to eschew the typical athletic-type and going for a darker, more mysterious take on the character. Well now THR(who broke the original story) are saying those three actors are out, with Sam Claflin, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, and Boyd Holbrook now the frontrunners. Obviously, these guys are not "dark and mysterious" anything, so the studio has done a total 180. Or THR was never right to begin with. All four will be testing in the coming days.
The least well-known of these dudes is Boyd Holbrook, a former fashion model who made a small appearance in Milk and will be seen next with Saoirse Ronan in The Host. Douglas Booth is a Brit who still hasn't made a name for himself over here, although that may change with him starring with Hailee Steinfeld in Romeo & Juliet. Redmayne is probably best known for My Week with Marilyn, but will make his biggest move next month in Les Miserables. Claflin has risen faster than any of the others, perhaps because he's done nothing but take franchise flicks so far. With prior turns in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Snow White and the Huntsman, he recently landed the prime role of Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Of these four only Redmayne makes any sense to me as Norman Osborne. Hopefully he'll be the one joining Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Shailene Woodley, and Jamie Foxx when The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens on May 2nd 2014.
