After development stayed mostly quiet for last few years, things are ramping up in a major way for Gareth Edwards jump from the independent word with Monsters to a major Hollywood tentpole with WB’s Godzilla reboot. We got word of multiple monsters and our protagonist’s background yesterday, as well as a batch of possible actors and a talented writer coming into rewrite the script earlier in the week, and today we have our best guess on who will actually be the lead star.
According to Deadline, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. have their sights set on Kick-Ass and Anna Karenina star Aaron Johnson to lead Godzilla. Named the current frontrunner for the gig, he is reportedly waiting on Frank Darabont‘s latest draft before he makes a decision, but no word if previous contenders such as Henry Cavill, Scoot McNairy and Caleb Landry Jones are still in the picture.
While Johnson can sell the nerd-becomes-tough-guy role in a franchise like Kick-Ass, I’m wary if he has the charisma and chops to lead a massive tentpole, which will likely have just a sole protagonist (aside from Godzilla himself, of course). Though if anyone can convince us, its Edwards, who built any entire world on a tiny budget in Monsters. Working on a much larger scale here, hopefully he can strike gold twice.
Godzilla is set to arrive on May 16th, 2014 release.
Would you like to see Johnson get the gig?