Bruce Willis Being Courted For Fantastic Four Reboot

Fox has pegged May 2011 as the start date on the Fantastic Four reboot shoot, so the rumors have started flowing hot and heavy. Over the past couple of days, word came out that the directors list had been narrowed down to three likely candidates: Joe Carnahan (The A-Team), James McTeigue (V For Vendetta, Ninja Assassin), and David Yates (the final four Harry Potter films). Now Comicbookmovie.com is reporting that Fox wants major changes in the cast and characters, first and foremost The Thing.

Apparently the studio wants to give The Thing The Hulk treatment and render the character completely in CGI. This will definitely make portraying the character more attractive to an actor, because then you’re basically talking about voice work instead of the hours of makeup that Michael Chiklis had to go through during the last two movies. While no dollar amounts have been leaked yet, the rumor is that Fox has approached Bruce Willis with a very respectable offer to appear in a couple of early scenes as Ben Grimm, then cover voice work as The Thing.

There have also various rumors about the rest of the cast, some more likely than others. Among the names mentioned for Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Adrien Brody had been mentioned in the past, with Jonathan Rhys Meyers now considered the front runner for being younger, cheaper, and more available now that The Tudors has wrapped. Alice Eve has pulled ahead in the Sue Storm/Invisible Woman sweepstakes, God knows why. Kevin Pennington, a guy you have never heard of and biggest credit is a four episode run on the new 90210, is in line to be the new Human Torch, and Stephen Moyer (True Blood) is the only real name being floated to play Dr. Doom.

Ugh, I was actually excited for a FF reboot with Willis as The Thing until I read the rest of that cast. Bruce, just hold out for The Expendables II, you know Stallone is working on something as I type this.