Well, we guess he’s not Beast—or, at least, he’ll have a very busy schedule in the near future. Weeks after being heavily rumored to be up for a major role in X-Men, Charles Melton has pivoted to another huge franchise from a comic-book-friendly director. He’s reportedly in final negotiations to play Kakashi in Destin Daniel Cretton’s upcoming adaptation of Naruto.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of the casting, which is the first big one for the highly anticipated film. The search is still on to find a young actor to play the title role, as well as the rest of the team, but there’s still time. Filming isn’t scheduled to start until February of next year, according to the trade.
Kakashi is Team 7’s leader and mentor, a fan-favorite character with a tragic backstory who may pretend like he doesn’t care about his team but, of course, he does. It’s a very important role, especially in what is probably being built as the first in a franchise. If this movie is kind of an origin story, well, you better get Kakashi right.
It also kind of makes sense for him to be the first person to lock in because the character’s chemistry with the young cast is a key element. You can imagine, with Melton soon on board, he could play an important role in finding not just Naruto but Sasuke and Sakura as well. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to legitimize the film by casting a recognizable and in-demand actor.
Melton is coming off season two of Beef, for which he landed an Emmy nomination, but he first rose to fame for his work on Riverdale. He also had major Oscar buzz for his role in 2023’s May December, though he ended up with only a Golden Globe nod. He’s also reportedly a huge anime fan and proficient in taekwondo.
As for Cretton, well, he’s doing okay. His little movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day just crossed $2 billion globally and could, in the next few weeks, become the highest-grossing movie in U.S. history. And he chose to follow that up with Naruto. It clearly means a lot to him.
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