Following the pre-production process on Marvel's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' has been like traveling through hyperspace without precise calculations: chaotic, unpredictable, dangerous. Specifically, the race to see who will play the superhero team's leader Peter Quill (alias Star-Lord) has been fraught with intrigue. First there was list of candidates put together that included Joel Edgerton, Jim Sturgess, Jack Huston, and Lee Pace. Then, out of nowhere, Zachary Levi was announced to be the frontrunner. But before we could even make our first 'Chuck' joke, director James Gunn took to Twitter to debunk that rumor. Over the last couple days, two more huge twists in the narrative have arisen. First, it has now been speculated (though we stress unconfirmed) that Joesph Gordon-Levitt ('Looper') is being pursued for the role. As if that weren't juicy enough, Michael Rosenbaum ('Smallville') tweeted this little nugget yesterday...

"Read for my pal @JamesGunn GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY for PETER QUILL. What a treat! Thanks Jimmy. @Marvel"

I've come to take every bit of casting news on 'Guardians' with a grain of salt the size of The Tesseract. It's not just a matter of past stories being debunked, but Gunn himself seemed pretty irked by the Zachary Levi rumor, circulated by Variety, and went so far as to tweet something to the effect that if we weren't hearing these things from he or Marvel directly, that we should give them no credence. On the other hand, he squashed the Levi rumor almost immediately and still no word on either the JGL or Rosenbaum reports. I'm not at all saying either is true, in fact I think the Gordon-Levitt news in particular is hogwash, however the fact that Rosenbaum stated directly that he read for the role, and given he and Gunn do have a working relationship (via the videogame 'Lollipop Chainsaw'), makes me wonder if his tweet is legit. Even if it is true, reading for a part doesn't definitively mean being cast. All that said, I would love to see either Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Michael Rosenbaum as Star-Lord. Rosenbaum was great as Lex Luthor no matter what your overall feeling of 'Smallville' may be and JGL, after the sensational year he had in 2012, is poised for a starring role in a superhero blockbuster.

What do you guys think? Do you believe either of these rumors? Would you like to see JGL or Michael Rosenbaum as Star-Lord? Will they ever freaking cast this thing?!

Source: Deadline; Twitter