When an actor makes a play for a role in full view of the public, the results aren’t usually kind. For every Zachary Quinto, who told the press that he wanted the role of Spock in Star Trek and eventually got it, there’s a Bradley Cooper, who let the New York Times know that he desperately wanted the part of Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, then seemed to realize that he’d said too much and was passed over. Still, Isaiah Mustafa isn’t daunted: Best known as the Old Spice guy, Mustafa has filmed his own teaser trailer for the Luke Cage movie he has publicly lobbied Marvel to star in. With that kind of chutzpah, Mustafa is taking a page from Josh Hutcherson, who filmed his own flip-filled stunt video for Spider-Man when he was one of the finalists to star in the reboot; of course, Andrew Garfield ended up getting that role, and he did it without any extra-credit projects. (And famously, Donald Glover was never even in the running, so you might understand why Mustafa would go the extra mile when it comes to landing Marvel’s cornerstone black superhero.)
