Twins: Iceman is a Multiple Man
Friday, June 1, 2012 at 2:22PM While we're in Gemini, we're celebrating twins each day at 2:22 pm
Whatever happened to the X-Men franchise's young Shawn Ashmore? He played Iceman in three X-Films from 2000 through 2006 though the character essentially peaked in 2003 in the franchise's single best film (Bryan Singer's X2: X-Men United) where he proved a key player. About four years ago he and his twin brother Aaron Ashmore (also an actor, most famous for playing Smallville's Jimmy Olsen) were still getting press but you don't hear much about either of them these days.
They're both still acting, Shawn still (mostly) in the movies though its low budget horror instead of big budget Hollywood franchises and Aaron (one minute older) still in television where he hops from shortlived series regular gig to series regular gig post Smallville. At 31 years of age neither are as famous as they once were. Those superhero franchises help, whether they're part of the Marvel or DC universes. Hollywood's a difficult place to maintain a career, let alone grow one. More after the jump...
Hailing from Canada (note the flag in the beefcake photoshoot to your left) the brothers have been acting since being discovered as little kids.
Confession: Though I kind of liked the original X-Men film and loved X2 (one of the three or four best superhero films if you ask me) the entire franchise had a problem with casting (in all three installments), with some actors handling their roles well though imperfectly and others seemingly chosen at random or for entirely wrong reasons. Amid that hodgepodge of "huh?" casting choices Shawn Ashmore actually did win me over as Iceman (though I initially disproved) particularly in X-2 since he gets my single favorite moment within the best scene in the best film in the franchise's entire history. I'm talking about the attack on the mansion and that beat where he separates Wolverine from his target with a wall of ice.
Hailing from Canada (note the flag in Shawn's beefcake photoshoot above) the brothers have been acting since being discovered as little kids and still are. But the brothers don't act together often. I always wondered why twin actors don't perform together more often. Shouldn't the Ashmore twins be pitching a TV series that they can star in together to reheat their careers?
Bobby's icy strategy to save the children in X2
Multiple Man's lame brief role in the lame X-Men: The Last Stand
And shouldn't the twins have been cast as Multiple Man instead of only Shawn as Bobby Drake (aka Iceman)? At least shave off a smidgeon of your special effects budget in the audition process!
Canada, Shawn Ashmore, X-Men, casting, superheroes, twins
Reader Comments (7)
"I always wondered why twin actors don't perform together more often."
I think it's mainly because actors want to establish seperate identities for themselves... I mean, it's not like there are that many roles for twins.
It's very weird that their careers cooled - no pun intended, I swear - but at the same time, being an actor in the comic book realm can come with that drawback (Good luck, Tom Welling). However, it wasn't as if they were the biggest stars of their franchises, so it would be fairly easy for them to disappear into other roles.
I can say I never had a problem with Ashmore's casting in the first two X-Men films - we dare not speak of that thing called Last Stand - but that's mostly because I took the character for what he was in the films. Lastly, I would say the scene with his parents was his best scene in X2 but, as has already been said, he had a lot of standout moments.
Added Note: I must be one of the few people who loved the first X-Men. I'm not saying it was flawless but I thought it did a great job bringing the X-Men world to the screen (I wouldn't have given a damn about X2 if it didn't work so well).
I seem to remember them both popping up (playing twins) in a reasonably decent episode of Fringe last season.
LOVE that scene in X2, and thought Ashmore was good as Iceman. The other Ashmore is always fun when he pops up on TV, and I'm actually ashamed I never realized they were related, let alone twins. I never thought they were the same person, but one never crossed my mind when seeing the other in something.
I'm curious to know where you thought the casting problems occurred in the X-Men movies. I'll admit that the one that caused me the most pain was Anna Paquin as Rogue. Love her and love comic book Rogue, but that just seemed like the worst casting choice they could have possibly made. I thought Halle Berry was lazy casting for Storm, but that she was okay, and I still wish they had cast Milla Jovovich as Jean Grey instead of Famke Janssen, although I concede that she was pretty good (in the first two films).
Denny -- just about the only character that I thought was ideally cast was Hugh Jackman as Wolverine... and he wasn't even the first choice! I also thought James Marsden was pretty strong casting as Cyclops though the movies didnt' know what to do with him really. Everyone else seemed like lazy or careless casting (even if they were good in the movie). I have the same feelings about Anna Paquin as Rogue. Love both of them... but together? Er no.
Wait. What about Patrick Stewart as Professor X?
I was just going to say what Daniel Armour said. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan were pretty genius casting choices, I thought. I remember also really liking the idea of Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, but only once I saw pictures. I totally agree with you on James Marsden, BTW. And how can you not love Alan Cumming for Nightcrawler? Although I admit that in this case my love of them separately might have completely overshadowed anything wrong on paper. The other really confounding casting choice for me was Kelsey Grammer as Beast. That one was a HUGE WTF.