Listen, I know there will be Superman purists that are going to throw a fit about the casting of Laurence Fishburne as Daily Planet Editor-in-Chief Perry White. If that’s the case, then they are basing it purely on skin color and not how well he tested. But as EW reports, Fishburne IS White and no amount of outrage is going to change that fact.
The role has been previously inhabited on the big screen by Jackie Cooper and Frank Langella, and by Lane Smith on TV’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. As the demanding EIC of The Daily Planet, he is the boss of Clark Kent. That’s when Clark’s sitting behind a typewriter and not saving lives with his underwear on the outside. Yes, Perry White’s skin color is the same as his name in the comics, but if Fishburne nailed rehearsals and was deemed the best fit for the role, then why shouldn’t he be allowed to boss around Clark, Lois and Jimmy Olsen?
Fishburne, who had been on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation the last three seasons, seems to have rebounded nicely getting back in to films. In addition to Man of Steel, the actor will play Thurgood Marshall in the TV movie Thurgood and he has a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh’s virus thriller Contagion this fall.
The addition of Fishburne adds to a very strong ensemble for Superman: Man of Steel as he joins Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Michael Shannon, Antje Traue, Russell Crowe, Julia Ormond, Harry Lennix and Christopher Meloni. Man of Steel will be up, up and away into theaters on June 14, 2013.
