RIALTO CHATTER: Walker Turns Down X-Men for JACKSON?

Futhering speculation reported on by BroadwayWorld.com on July 2nd is further word from Showbiz411.com's Roger Friedman that Benjamin Walker has turned down a role in the upcoming 'X-Men: First Class' film to instead help bring BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON to Broadway. 

Back on June 2nd, BWW reported that "Has BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON star Benjamin Walker been dropped from the upcoming 'X-Men: First Class,' film?  Baz Bamigboye suggests as much in the U.K. Daily Mail. As BroadwayWorld had previously reported, Walker was to play the Beast in the next installment of the franchise.

Writes Bamigboye:"'Fox absolutely loved him, booked him and the next minute they're saying they don't want him. It was bizarre because they'd signed a deal on him,' a source intimately involved in The Situation told me from Los Angeles yesterday."

Bamigboye notes, however, that Walker may be offered the role again, as screen tests for potential replacements have not yet been satisfactory. To read the full report, click here."

The film, which will begin filming in August at England's Pinewood Studios, is a prequel to the previous 'X-Men' films, set when characters Professor Charles Xavier (to be played by James McAvoy) and Erik Lenshaar/Magneto (to be played by Michael Fassbender) are in their late teens and early twenties.  Walker was considered too old to play his role, Bamigboye reports.

Although Walker may be offered the role again, the possible Broadway transfer of BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, in which he plays Jackson, may lead him to decline the 'X-Men' role, Bamigboye speculates. 

Benjamin Walker's theater credits include Broadway's INHERIT THE WIND and LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES.  On film, he has appeared in 'Kinsey' and 'Flags of Our Fathers.'

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.