Like the news about Ryan Reynolds being cast as ‘Deadpool’ wasn’t surprising enough. Black Eye Peas’ lead singer/rapper Will.i.am has also been cast in his first acting role as John Wraith in next year’s ‘X-Men:Wolverine.’
Comingsoon.net gives us these details:
He’ll be joining Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth), Danny Huston (William Stryker), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Taylor Kitsch (Gambit) and Lynn Collins (Silver Fox) in the film opening May 1, 2009.
Wraith is a mutant who has the power to teleport, and is another test subject of the Weapon X program that created Wolverine and other mercenaries.
Yet another rapper takes the plunge into acting. Although, this news kind of makes me want to cringe, I’m willing to give this man a shot. Look at Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg, LL Cool J, Mos Def, and Common. They were all rappers first and proved that they also can act. However, when I look at 50 Cent, DMX, and The Game, I get worried that this was the right choice.
Hopefully this wasn’t a marketing decision, because as big as ‘Black Eyed Peas’ are, I don’t see more people going to see it just because Will.i.am is in it. :P
I’m willing to give this man the benefit of the doubt, and hopefully he delivers.
What are your thoughts?
Some of these opinions seem kinda clueless – look at will.i.am’s track record as a producer and rapper. I read he was a big X Men fan so I bet he will do the role justice
man ive been waiting to see a movie version of omega red…hes big russian and shoots tentacles from his hands….i mean come on, thats cinema gold!! having sabretooth and omega red as villains in the same movie may get me more interested in this…
is this that dude from the black eyed peas????
dude what the fuck yo! can we get some real actors in these movies??
w.e. im just glad they finally gave deadpool the green light
@ Joe
in the Marvel universe, Rebecca Romijn is already Mystique
and
the movie is going to be about Wolverine, but Weapon X will play a big part.
So they got Wolverine, Sabertooth, and the Wraithman…all they need now is someone to play Maverick (the 4th man in the original Weapon X super solder special forces team), someone to play Mystique (the “inside man” for Weapon X missions) and of course Omega Red (The Russian Super solder who of course the Weapon X guys fight).
Is this movie just going to be about the Weapon X Program?
@ Clinky
Ice Cube a successful actor? Since when? All he generally does is play the same snarly charactr- his character. In his stead, I’ll say LL Cool J.
****
I have zero idea why the powers that be have John Wraith in this film. I have no idea why will.ia.m is cast in the role (why not give it to an ACTOR?) …next thing y’knw, Fergie is Dazzler. Opps. Don’t want folks getting funny ideas…
****
Now,while I’m not sure why Gambit is in the film (should be Agent Zero/Maverick), I do think the in’l friends should stop bitching. Creed, Deadpool, Wraith and Silver Fox were all part of the ‘team’ that compsed the Weapon X program.
I just hope that the main villain is Omega Red, and if so, that role is cast soon.
awesome, wolverine is obviously the best x-man, might as well make a whole movie about him
This is tight. they’re gonna have all the Weapon X guys in this movie. There’s probably gonna be some scene in which they all go on some big merc mission. I am really interested in how Deadpool is gonna look, cuz I always thought he looked like big buff way more bad ass spider-man with a shit load of guns and extra ammo. This is gonna be tight.
BUT Will.i.am. or however he spells it, is soooo fuckin annoying to me. Even just lookin at that bum annoys me. I hope he dies in this fuckin movie. Either way, I don’t think he’ll have a very big roll at all. God he is one cocky son of a bitch. Just his name alone shows how cocky that guy is and he ain’t even that tight of a rapper. He’s corny as shit.
Aight. Whatever, this movie could suck but it’s still got a lot of potential, so I ain’t scared yet.
call me optimistic, but i believe the ppl casting this movie arent complete idiots.
Wraith doesnt seem like a big role. if it was they would have given it to sum1 with more acting experience, and cast it sooner.
and even if it is, of all the Hip-Hop stars looking to get into acting, will.i.am wuld have been one of my 1st choices. hes a hell of a lot more respectable than 50 “no talent” cent! im actually kind of eager to see how he does.
and, im no supergeek, but i havent really heard of Wraith. isnt Nightcrawler the teleporter of Weapon X? i mean, i know he is, i just didnt know there was another 1
lol ice-T…..everytime i see him on law and order i cant help but laugh. i dont know about him tho, this movie was the potential to be huge and if he messes up, like someone said he will stick out….
as i said in another post im not too interested in this flick even tho some of these marvel characters they are casting for is getting me kinda excited. i hope this can turn out decent, but i dont know
Other successful rappers turned actors include: Ice Cube, Ice-T, and Queen Latifa…rappers have a much better track record than rock stars.
Ugh. Okay, sure the guy might surprise us, but why not place him in a lesser profile movie if he wants to break into the acting world? I’m tired of these singers and rappers just jumping into the acting world with little to no respect for the craft.
I agree with Norm, why not cast a struggling black actor?
I’m also starting to feel that Wolverine movie is getting too cluttered. I hope these roles being cast are bits and pieces and don’t weigh the down the story of Wolvie.
Out of all the movies they could have tested him out in, why take a big chance on this one?
This is hilarious. First they get some black eyed peas dude for street fighter movie an now another black eyed peas dude for this movie!!
Fox probably made a deal with black eyed peas.
I wish they would cast a struggling black actor for a change instead of the latest rich singer.
Give the guy a shot. /sarcasm – Hell your gonna spend more than 50 million to make this film. If there’s a problem just throw more money at it.
@Peter
John Wraith was a teleporter
Well, with Mos Def, he started out as an actor, his music career followed after, not the other way round.
Sounds interesting, even though the casting is quite odd. But… HEY!!! As far as I heard (Dark Horizons), Wraith isn’t a teleporter. He can become translucent!! Are they gonna do a rewrite on the character or what’s the deal?
Jesus, this is becoming the who’s who in the Marvel universe. It’s Wolverine for fuck’s sake. This is becoming overkill and beginning to worry me now, hell I don’t even remember a John Wraith from the Wolverine series.
If Fox is touting this movie as a tentpole, they sure have balls casting someone with no acting experience (or even training for that matter). When acting alongside people with chops such as Hugh, Liev, and Ryan, if you’re not on your game, you’re just going to stick out like a sore thumb. What’s Fox thinking? Why do we say those 3 words nearly every day? Pretty soon you’ll see that phrase in the dictionary right under words like “Dunderhead”, “Numbskull”, “Moron”, etc.
I say it again. “What’s Fox thinking?”