Word is out that Russell Crowe is now in the final stages of negotiations to play Jor-El, the Kryptonian father of Superman in Man of Steel. If he joins the cast, he’ll be playing the alien counterpart to Clark Kent’s adopted father, Jonathan Kent – played by Kevin Costner.
There are a lot of people who are drawing immediate parallels between this casting and that of Marlon Brando, who played the original Jor-El. One big difference is likely to be the paycheck.
When Brando played the part in 1978, he earned 16 million dollars for 15 minutes of screen time. There is little chance that Crowe will earn nearly that much.