January 14, 2010

Does the Spider-Man reboot already have a frontrunner to sit in the director's chair?

Perhaps so, and while the names Wes Anderson, James Cameron, and David Fincher have been thrown around, the person most likely to take the reigns may raise an eyebrow or two. Here's what Deadline Hollywood has to say:

Marc Webb, the (500) Days Of Summer director, has climbed to the top of the Sony Pictures' list to rebirth the Spider-Man franchise. While the studio has a wish list of star directors like James Cameron, David Fincher, and Wes Anderson, the emergence of Webb as director comes as a huge surprise. But Mike Fleming's sources tell him Webb met about the Spidey reboot with the pic's producers and executives looking to get the picture into production later this year for a Summer 2012 release. Why will the pic take so long? Because it's likely to be shot in 3-D, and Sony Pictures plans to make an announcement about that "at the appropriate time".

Though he has the perfect name for the job, Webb has no prior superhero experience. Then again, neither did Sam Raimi. And Chris Nolan was the director of Memento when he signed on for Batman Begins. Webb is also a newbie if Sony greenlights 3-D. But among directors, almost all would be.

What has Sony execs excited is the fact that (500) Days of Summer introduced a director with a grasp of how to depict the way young people think and feel. This is critical because the Jamie Vanderbilt script covers the formative years of a high school-aged Peter Parker, and that POV is as important as the action sequences. Especially after Sony and Sam Raimi retired the original Spidey franchise because they realized the film would have been same old/same old at a huge budget. Injecting new blood with an up-and-coming director is a bold stroke. Too bad Webb’s (500) Days star Joseph Gordon-Levitt is too old to play the high school-aged wall crawler. He’d be perfect.

-I think Webb could be a terrific choice, but that's just me...thoughts?

14 comments:

  1. Honestly, the Spiderman franchise has never really satisfied me, so I'm not that fussed about whether a fourth one is made or not.

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  2. well, it won't be a 4th one, it'll be a 2nd first one, if that makes sense...

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  3. To me, this is one of the most baffling decisions I can think of in a long time. The original 2002 Spider-Man is still relevant and fresh. And I can't think of a better way it could be told. When I think Spider-Man, I think Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and Kirstin Dunst. I literally cannot imagine how this new Spider-Man can convince me to be interested in watching the same story told again, but just with different actors and scenes.

    Blah.

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  5. Argh, I felt the same way when the Incredible Hulk reboot was announced. (though I understand their reasons are a bit deeper than for the sake of starting a new franchise -- it was for the Avengers)

    Even though I didn't particularly care for Ang Lee's Hulk, his film still felt relevant to me. Though I thought the director did a great job at making it feel like both a reboot and a sequel to the original Hulk at the same time. I can't possibly imagine how this Spider-Man could accomplish that by taking him back to high school.

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  6. I'm not so sure a reboot will work. It worked with Star Trek because a) It's been so long since last time, and b)the whole timetravel part allowed it to be faithfull to the originals, while still starting over.

    I just can not see it work. But since it's coming no matter what I want, I think Webb would be a very interesting choice. He could do a great job.

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  7. At least I hope they have the curdicy to call it Spider-Boy then...

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  8. Im still not really on board for this thing (though I know I will be in due time) but I think Webb may be able to pull of a good job...

    But oh God if they would just give it to David Fincher--I would be on board with that flick right away!

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  9. Well, we shall see, but of the 4 names, I think Webb has the best chance of succeeding with a Spidey flick...

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  10. If James Cameron made Spider-Man 4 I think it could be as big of a success as his last superhero film. Aquaman with Vinny Chase (not the horrible sequel with Jake Gyllenhaal).

    -Robbie

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  11. Didn't Cameron do a ton of work on a failed Spidey film in the mid 90's? The fact they already have a script they like and his plate is pretty full at the moment would probably dissuade him from even considering the project though. I agree that Webb will give us a really good look at Peter Parker though, I'd just like to see how amazing a Cameron Spidey flick would look.

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  12. Yes, he did, so it's unlikely he'd go back, but you never know.

    Webb seems like a great choice though...

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  13. Also Cameron might have his hands full with the Avatar sequel(s).

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