This past weekend, Warners released two teasers for next summer’s Superman film Man Of Steel. Visually, they are identical. The difference is that one contains a voiceover by Russell Crowe as Superman’s Kryptonian father Jor-El while the other is Kevin Costner as his adoptive Earth father Jonathan Kent. As a good teaser trailer does, these two hinted a bit about what we might expect from the film when it hits theaters next summer and it got people talking. Of course, some of that talk has been negative and probably stems from the trailers delivering something different than what they might have been expecting. We take a look at three of the big questions being asked about the teasers and offer some answers.

1 – “What’s with all the shots of fishing boats and laundry? Isn’t this supposed to be a trailer for a Superman film?” Settle down internet, it’s a teaser trailer. You’re not going to get the big money shots of Superman (Henry Cavill) duking it out with General Zod (Michael Shannon) for a while. Instead, it hints that this origin story will perhaps deal with Clark Kent trying to perhaps better understand the frailties of the people he has found himself amongst. And that leads us to -

2 – “What’s with the visual style? I thought this was supposed to be Zack Snyder?” Actually, I find that the visuals presented here are the most revealing about the possible direction that Snyder could be taking this movie. Yes, it does recall more the dream-like quality of a director like Terrence Mallick than it does the kinetic visualist who gave us Watchmen, 300 and Sucker Punch. And I am reasonably sure that we will see some of that once the action in the film picks up. However, with these images Snyder seems to be invoking a feeling of nostalgic Americana. That certainly feels proper for the character and perhaps will please those who were upset that the last film lost “the American Way” from the famous line about truth and justice.

3 – “That stuff Jor-El is saying sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?” Well, it should if you’ve read writer Grant Morrison’s critically acclaimed twelve issue mini-series All-Star Superman. That bit of dialogue is lifted from there almost verbatim.

Kevin Costner has dropped out of his supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming Django Unchained, citing a combination of work and personal reasons.

Costner would have been playing against type his normal good guy screen persona as Ace Woody, the sadistic overseer who trains slaves to fight in a gladiatorial arena run by Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Calvin Candie. Jamie Foxx stars in the film as freed slave Django, who comes to Candie’s establishment to free his wife who is being forced to be a prostitute.

The actor currently has a lot on his plate. In addition to working on Zack Snyder’s currently in-production Superman film Man Of Steel as Clark Kent’s adoptive father Jonathan Kent, Costner is also producing and appearing in the mini-series The Hatfield And The McCoys for the History Channel.

Tarantino seems to be having some trouble assembling a cast for this film and I have to wonder if many who might be interested in participating are balking at the exploitation film tone of the script. Of course, Tarantino has been mining the various exploitation film genres for his last couple of films and they have all exceeded their inspirations. I see no reason to think that Tarantino would not do so again with Django Unchained. Hopefully he’ll be able to find an actor willing to take the risk to play the part that Costner has vacated.

Via Deadline.

Quentin Tarantino has found the villain for his upcoming spaghetti western Django Unchained in the form of Kevin Costner.

Costner, who normally plays good guys, will be playing the thoroughly despicable Ace Woody, the man who trains the slaves owned by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie to fight gladiatorial-style for his own amusement. He will be one of those who stand in the way of Jamie Foxx’s freed slave Django from being reunited with his wife. I’m not sure that I would want to be standing where Woody is standing.

The cast also sports Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz.

This is the second high profile gig that Costner has landed recently, although his role as Pa Kent in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman film The Man Of Steel is pretty much the polar opposite.

Via Hollywood Reporter.