The red-headed stepchild of Marvel's superhero teams, Guardians of the Galaxy will certainly be the quirkiest film in their cinematic world. And so it stands to reason that an odd mix of talent would be in the running for the major roles. With the film only a couple of years out, casting is getting underway and a rather lengthy list of potential stars has been revealed.
Deadline reports that Lee Pace, Garrett Hedlund, Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Jim Sturgess, Eddie Redmayne, Sullivan Stapleton, and James Marsden are said to be vying for the part of Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, the leader of the space-faring heroes. Considering he's the only human in a team full of talking animals and extraterrestrials, Peter will likely be the main character of the film, and so it would make sense for Marvel to get somebody with a real presence. To me, that instantly eliminates Hudlund and the unproven Stapleton. Marsden played Cyclops in the X-men movies but did anybody really think of him as the team leader? Neither did I. Sturgess showed his actiony-side in Cloud Atlas recently, and Edgerton I think may be too old. That leaves Huston, Pace, and Redmayne, all of whom would make solid choices. Redmayne could be red hot after Les Miserables next month, and Huston has David Chase's Not Fade Away right around the corner. So who is Peter Quill, anyway? Born during an unusual astrological phenomenon, his mother was killed by an alien leaving him to fend for himself since childhood. He eventually joined NASA and through devious means gained the mantle of Star-Lord , an interplanetary peacekeeper.
That's a lot of folks Marvel's going to be choosing from, so we could be waiting awhile to find out who actually gets the job. Guardians of the Galaxy will be directed by James Gunn and opens on August 1st 2014.
