Jared Leto & Chris Evans: MIS-Casting the men rumored to be joining The Girl on the Train

I am not a happy camper. The Girl on the Train will be catching the Long Island Railway into New York NOT the train into London after all. The British book is becoming increasingly American as it heads towards film production. While Emily Blunt told the BBC that she’ll be keeping her British accent, the film will be set in NYC. It’s not a location change I approve of at all; the sights, sounds and sensibilities are just not the same. One of the things we love about going to the movies is going to places we don’t go to all the time. I was so looking forward to going to England. I know, I know. We go to England all the time. We went in The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game to name just a couple of recent film trips, but honestly, here in the states, we can’t seem to get out of New York. Living on the west coast, I get a little tired of the emphasis on the big apple, like nothing happens anywhere else. 

And whilst (I’m in a British state of mind) it’s not official, it looks like Jared Leto and Chris Evans will be getting on board in the key male roles. And we were hoping for Tom Hardy, Ben Whishaw, Aidan Turner (yes, please) or Cillian Murphy! 

Leto will be joining The Girl on the Train as Megan’s husband. He’d be paired up with Haley Bennet as Scott Hipwell, the prime suspect in the thriller. When Rachel fantasizes about him in Paula Hawkin’s book, she says he’s  

‘handsome in a British film star kind of way, not a Depp or a Pitt, but a Firth, or a Jason Isaacs.

I like Jared Leto—he was spectacular in The Dallas Buyers Club—but he’s no Colin Firth. Leto is forty three but has been Botoxed into open-eyed ageless wonder. Colin Firth would never do that. 

But what really upsets me is the news that Chris Evans, Captain America of all people, is in talks to play Tom. Tom with the Tom Cruise smile. Tom, Rachel’s ex-husband, the one so charming-schmarming that he’s married to the beautiful Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and having an affair with the golden-girl Megan. 

I suppose there are those amongst you who find Chris Evans perfectly cast in the part but he’s not my cup of tea at all. Or should I say coffee? That’s it really. I’m so irked by the change in locale from Britain to the states that I wouldn’t like Chris Evans even if I liked Chris Evans. Which I don’t. 

Thanks director Tate Taylor who gave us The Help and producer Marc Platt who’ll be bringing Wicked to the big screen. Way to ruin a book!