‘Beasts Of No Nation’ Actor Abraham Attah Cast In ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’
Spider-Man: Homecoming casting announcements are still being made, and they continue to be pretty fantastic. After hearing a slew of talented and racially-diverse actors and actresses being cast in supporting/small roles, Deadline now reports that Beast of No Nation star Abraham Attah will be joining Spider-Man: Homecoming in an unspecified role.
Attah, 15-years-old, blew critics away last year with his performance in the Cary Joji Fukunaga film Beast of No Nation. He was nominated for several awards for his performances, winning a handful of them, but many feel he was snubbed when he was not nominated for an Academy Award for Beast of No Nation.
Along with Abraham Attah, Orange Is The New Black actress Selenis Leyva was recently spotted on set of the superhero movie, reportedly playing the role of Peter Parker’s physics teacher at Midtown School of Science & Technology.
News of Leyva being cast in the film did not break until the actress was spotted in these set photos, oddly enough, the pictures went up online only a week after OITNB Season 4 premiered on Netflix. Given that production only very recently began on Spider-Man: Homecoming, we may very well be seeing more surprises like this in the future as they continue filming.
Spider-Man: Homecoming will also feature a small role for comedian Hannibal Buress, who was also recently reported to be part of the cast. His role is also unspecified, as are most of the roles that have been cast recently, so it’s certainly nothing new.
What is interesting about all of the Spider-Man: Homecoming casting announcements is the fact that Sony and Marvel are really taking the #OscarsSoWhite criticism to heart. That campaign really shook Hollywood up in more ways than one and ever since, Marvel Studios specifically have been going out of their way to cast racially diverse actors and actresses in their superhero films.
Kenneth Choi, Donald Glover, Tony Revolori, Laura Harrier, and Zendaya have also been cast in the film — all being actors and actresses of color. And, of course, there is the very recent casting of Cuban-born actress Selenis Leyva and Ghanaian actor Abraham Attah.
In their article announcing the casting of Attah, Deadline also seems to confirm that Batman actor Michael Keaton has indeed been cast as the Vulture. Although it could just be speculation from the site, since it has not been officially confirmed by Marvel or Sony. Logan Marshall-Green has also recently been announced as part of the cast, reportedly playing the film’s secondary villain, but that role has yet to be revealed.
“Guardians would be fun, wouldn’t it? It’s very outer space-y. Cap’s more of an Earth-bound guy. Maybe the next Spider-Man [films]. Those are going to be fantastic, and I think Tom [Holland]’s just a great actor, so that might be a fun one to pop up into.”
“It’s been really fun to just look for things that none of the other Spider-Man movies have really explored before, and decide if that’s something we want to work into that,” director Jon Watts recently revealed in an interview. “And really making it a high school movie, and committing to that, and not having that just be the beginning of the movie. The John Hughes sort of tone. When you’re looking at it through that prism, it really opens up the door to a lot of possibilities.”
Directed by Jon Watts, Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming stars Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, with Zendaya, Michael Barbieri, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Kenneth Choi, Martin Starr, Donald Glover and Logan Marshall-Green. Spider-Man: Homecoming is set for release on July 7, 2017.
[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]
