Caleb Landry Jones Rumored to Play Banshee in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

On the heels of yesterday’s news that Alice Eve (She’s Out of My League) will play Emma Frost in Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class, there may be some more casting news this morning.  Latino Review reports that Caleb Landry Jones “is the top contender to bag the role of Sean Cassidy aka Banshee.”  Who is Caleb Landry Jones?  He did a turn on Friday Night Lights, is in the upcoming The Last Exorcism, and was “Boy on Bike” in No Country for Old Men (pictured above).

And who is Banshee?  Banshee’s mutant ability is a sonic scream (he can also fly for some reason).  Wikipedia notes that “Banshee was always a decade older than most of the X-Men.”  In the comics, he also falls in love with X-Men ally Dr. Moira MacTaggart, a character rumored to be in the film and played by Rosamund Pike (An Education).  Consider Jones’ age, I doubt that this will carry over into the movie.  Hit the jump for more on X-Men: First Class, which is slated to open on June 3, 2011.

In addition to Eve, the film’s cast includes James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) as Magneto, and stage actor Benjamin Walker as Beast.  It’s also been rumored that Amber Heard (Pineapple Express) is in the running to play Mystique and Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) to play Cyclops.  Screenwriter Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass) is working on a script from a treatment by producer Bryan Singer.  The film centers on the breaking of the friendship between Xavier and Magneto over the interaction between mutantkind and humanity.  This falling out occurs against the backdrop of the two creating the first mutant academy.