Rainn Wilson is probably most well-known for playing Dwight Schrute on The Office on NBC for 9 seasons from 2005 to 2013. He is currently promoting his next project, Star Trek:Discovery where he plays the character Harry Mudd. In his promotion tour for the upcoming tv show, Wilson took a moment to discuss his desire to play DC Comics bad guy Lex Luthor.
In an interview with comicbook.com, Wilson revealed that he would be interested in playing Lex Luthor in the DCEU if the story called for an older version of the character. When asked if he would like to play a character in the DCEU, he stated:
“Maybe if there’s a chance to do Luther. Of course they cast that guy who’s 27 years old to do Lex Luther. It didn’t make much sense to me. I guess if they wanted to go back to an older Lex Luther, that would be a fun part.”
The 27 year old that Wilson is referring to is Jesse Eisenberg, who played Lex Luthor in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. In that movie, Eisenberg portrayed Luthor as a ruthless, silicon valley, tech guru out for world domination. This portrayal differed from previous versions of the character such as Gene Hackman’s comical/goofball performance in the original Superman movie from the 1970’s all the way up to Kevin Spacey’s version in Superman Returns.
Wilson went on the critique the current state of the DCEU:
“I still think DC has not quite figured out Superman. That’s too bad. I didn’t love the last Superman as much of as other people did, but I think Henry Cavill is pretty great. I haven’t quite figured that out. It doesn’t have the kind of humor and … It’s not the Dark Knight. Superman is not that. It’s got to be something fun with bright colors and outlandish characters.”
Would you like to see a more brighter, comical performance from Wilson if he were to get the role of the Luthor in the future? Or do you prefer the dark twisted, maniacal version of Luthor form BvS? Who do you think should play Luthor in the future films? Let us know in the comment section below.
