John Krasinski Won't Play Captain America, Chris Evans Now A Contender

The search for Captain America has taken another twist. Earlier in the day, news came in from Fox411 that John Krasinski was considered by 'Marvel insiders' to be the frontrunner to play the superhero, being 'the favorite among key decision makers,' having read four times and screen-tested twice. Like most things associated with Fox News, however, it's turned out to be complete horseshit.

Mike Fleming over at Deadline is reporting that Krasinski is out of the running for the part, along with several others on Marvel's original list, including Chace Crawford, Scott Porter and Michael Cassidy. The site now says that Marvel has expanded the search, naming three actors. Two of them, Mike Vogel ("Cloverfield," this weekend's "She's Out Of My League") and Garrett Hedlund ("Troy," "Four Brothers") were on that list, while the studio is now also considering Chris Evans, who previously played Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in Fox's two mediocre "Fantastic Four" movies.

Hedlund was previously thought to be out of the running for the part, his reps having balked at Marvel's lowball offer of $300,000, as well as the now-standard nine-film Marvel contract. Reading between the lines, the fact that he's now back in the running, as well as the pursuit of actual movie actors like Evans, rather than TV stars, suggests that the studio have upped their offer, in an attempt to land the right man in the part (the studio tried similar cost-cutting measures on "Iron Man 2," nearly losing Mickey Rourke in the process). While we weren't as against Krasinski as certain corners of the internet, this seems like a move in the right direction - whichever actor they cast, they'll be the anchor of a billion dollar franchise, and there doesn't seem to be much point on skimping on the fee; as we said before, the actor needs to be able to stand toe-to-toe with Robert Downey Jr, and none of the previous names really seemed to have the weight required. These guys are, for the most part, older than the likes of Crawford (although Hedlund is still only 26), which would seem to help.

None of the three actors come without strings, however. Vogel has a good look for the character, but has been pretty bland in everything we've seen in him (and is one of those actors that we can never quite match a face to the name of). Hedlund, meanwhile has specialized in bad boys and rebels so far, which doesn't quite fit the character, and again hasn't yet turned in a truly memorable performance, although he was fine in Peter Berg's "Friday Night Lights." On the plus side, however, he will have anchored a tentpole by the time that "The First Avenger: Captain America" comes out, toplining "Tron: Legacy" this Christmas, so he has the potential for what we're calling "the Worthington factor" - an unproven consensus that someone is a leading man, mainly because people keep casting them as leading men.

While we're going to keep pushing our suggestion of Brian Geraghty (and Fleming suggests that there are other unnamed actors who are still possibilities, so fingers crossed he's at least getting a shot...), Evans is also a damn fine suggestion; he's been consistently superior to his material, proving the only bright spot in the "Fantastic Four" series, and showing dramatic chops in Danny Boyle's "Sunshine" (seriously, he's excellent in that) and the otherwise poor "Street Kings." He looks right for the character, and has enough range to pull off potentially difficult material -- a superhero movie set in World War Two sounds like a nightmare, tonally. The only drawback seems to be that he's already taken on a Marvel superhero, but then again, is anyone that attached to "Fantastic Four?" We imagine people would forget those movies within 30 seconds of the "Captain America" trailer making its first appearance.

The film's set to be released July 11, 2011, only sixteen months away, so Marvel and director Joe Johnston had better make a decision soon, as the film's already in pre-production in London (we wouldn't be at all surprised if it ended up slipping, like Johnston's "The Wolf Man"). We'd expect to hear a final verdict in the immediate future.