Ever since being cast in the lead role in Avatar Sam Worthington’s name has been the source of entertainment news. At first it was monthly, then weekly and now you can hardly go a day without a Sam Worthington casting rumor, which is almost guaranteed to be followed up by a casting confirmation.
Following his Avatar casting he moved into a supporting role in Terminator Salvation followed by the lead role in the Clash of the Titans remake. At one point he replaced Tom Cruise in The Tourist opposite Charlize Theron only to drop out and be replaced by Johnny Depp (not bad company there). He’s said to be starring in the remake of the Danish thriller, The Candidate at Summit Entertainment, he’s signed on to play the lead role in Alex Proyas’s Dracula Year Zero and today it was announced he’ll star in the New York detective story The Fields with Michael Mann’s daughter, Ami Canaan Mann, directing. That’s a lot of work if you ask me.
He’s also got Last Night with Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes, as well as The Debt directed by John Madden, starring Helen Mirren in the can. Unfortunately the fate of those films is up in the air following Miramax’s decision to close up shop. So who knows when they’ll see the light of day.
Personally, I see promise. He had me convinced in Avatar and I thought he gave the best performance in Terminator Salvation, which isn’t saying much, but I did like him in the film so I guess it’s saying something. I’m anxious to see Clash of the Titans (preferably in 2D) and a Proyas-directed Dracula feature sounds tasty. But will Worthington come out of this a big star or is he just the hot thing at the moment?
What are your thoughts? Do you see him rising to the tops for years to come? He’s definitely got the presence for both action and drama so there could be a lot of room to grow and plenty of genres to explore for him. On top of all that, I’ve heard he’s a pretty good guy, never a bad thing when working in movies, but always a hard quality to maintain.
