Casting began for Matthew Vaughn and Mark Millar’s ‘The Secret Service’ last month when Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth joined the project as one of the two leads. Described as “James Bond meets ‘My Fair Lady’”, the six-part Icon Comics series that the film is based on follows a street-wise young man from London who gets enrolled into a spy school by his uncle, who will be played by Firth. Now, it looks like 20th Century Fox is eying up some young actors to fill the other main role.
According to Variety, the production is currently testing three British actors for this potentially career-launching role. The shortlist consists of Jack O’Connell who stars in the second series of ‘Skins’, John Boyega of ‘Attack the Block’, and Christian Cooke of the Starz original drama ‘Magic City’. At one point, Vaughn’s ‘Kick-Ass’ star Aaron Taylor-Johnson was being considered for the role as well, but a scheduling conflict may keep the reunion from happening. That and the fact that Taylor-Johnson, who might be playing Quicksilver in ‘The Avengers 2’ and is starring in the upcoming ‘Godzilla’ remake, may ask for a bigger payday since he’s become a slightly more sought after star since he first put on the green and yellow mask. While Fox and Vaughn are still waiting to see how the tests work out, the ‘Kick-Ass 2’ lead may still be in the running.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson aside, of the three potential leads, it’s being said that O’Connell is the favorite right now. After becoming a fan favorite as James Cook on ‘Skins’, he went on to do a few movies here and there, but the biggest one is ‘300: Rise of an Empire’, which comes out next year. On top of that, he’ll reprise his role of Cook in the final season of ‘Skins’. With all this momentum on his side, he’d make a great addition to the cast of ‘The Secret Service’, however, he is also up for the lead role in Angelina Jolie’s next directorial project ‘Unbroken’. While both roles could do wonders for his career, it’s likely that he’d go with Jolie if offered the role. And really, who could blame him for that?
Considering that the film has a release date of November 14, 2014, production is likely to begin very soon, so that means that we should be getting the final casting decision any day now. As with any bit of news coming out, we may find out more once Comic-Con rolls around next month.
Who do you think should be cast in ‘The Secret Service’? Do one of the three actors look appealing to you for the role opposite Colin Firth or are you hoping for a ‘Kick-Ass’ reunion? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
