Whedon never definitively expressed which actress he'd have chosen. It was a question he hated being asked when he was doing the script. One day it could have been Morena Baccarin, the next it might have been Charisma Carpenter, then Cobie Smulders… ::) I don't need this kind of suspense. He didn't deliver it. He COULDN'T deliver what WB wanted. Two years passed and that's enough to make me lose any confidence in him.
Come, come Holliday, you're doing the man down a bit here. If he had serious differences with the way that Warner Brothers wanted the film to go, then there were bound to be differences. What evidence do you have to state that he COULDN'T deliver? If WB wanted some skinny teenybopper starlet to bring in the ratings, would you, in Whedon's position, go along with it without putting-up a fight? I'd suggest that you wouldn't. It's probably best that he's left, as a difference in opinion would only have affected the finished film.
Oh, and by the way, although in the main part of his message to his website, Whedon says that his priority had been script rather than casting, at the bottom, he writes:
ps All right, it was Cobie Smulders. Sorry, Cobes.
This says two things to me. Firstly, it seems as though she was his first choice for the role. Given her looks, apparent personality and intelligence, and her shapely (though not particularly muscular) and statuesque body, I'd say she was a good pick (especially if she could have been persuaded to hit the free weights). Secondly, the way he says "Sorry, Cobes" suggests to me that he knows damn well that WB aren't going to give her the part. Unfortunately, my gut instinct says that they favour Lohan (there, I plucked-up the courage to type her name properly). If so, I think his decision and misgivings are PERFECTLY justified.
P.S. Fett – the WB bloke wants Bullock? She's too old for the role, surely?!
