Filmonic » Spider-Man 4

You’ll never guess which movie Anne Hathaway might be joining!

Liam — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:51:21 +0000

First Rachel McAdams, then Julia Stiles, and now Anna Hathaway. Over the past few weeks we’ve been hearing that they’ve all apparently been talking/emailing/calling/communicating in some form with producers/casting people/Sam Raimi regarding a role in Spider-Man 4. This one comes from Nikki Finke who say that “producers have approached Anne Hathaway to star in the film”, however she doesn’t know for what role.

Since the first bit of casting news it was assumed the role was for Black Cat, and with the actresses we’ve been hearing about it seems that may be the case. They wouldn’t be talking to people like Hathaway and Stiles if the role wasn’t important, and Black Cat seems to be the only important female left to bring in after Gwen Stacy.

Will we hear about any more actresses in the near future? Who’s your choice to play Black Cat?

Julia Stiles in talks for Spider-Man 4?

Liam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:02:53 +0000

Earlier today we got a quote from Rachel McAdams saying she wouldn’t be playing Black Cat in Spider-Man 4 after there was talk she had met producers. Now we have word of another actress who has apparently been meeting with the Spidey team: Julia Stiles.

From UGO:

UGO has learned that Julia Stiles has met with a casting company in New York to discuss the upcoming Spider-Man 4!
This makes sense based on the recently debunked rumor that Rachel McAdams was set to star. Could this mean we’ll be seeing the Black Cat saving Spidey’s last dance? We haven’t heard specifics about which role she was eyeing and assume it’s all early talks, but why not?

We haven’t really seen Stiles in a big way since The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007, however I think she would be a great choice for Black Cat, if that is in fact who they are looking to cast. From all the rumors it looks like they are looking for a new female character anyway, and if they’ve been talking with actresses such as Rachel McAdams and Julia Stiles then it’ll probably be a significant role.

Rachel McAdams won’t be in Spider-Man 4, says Rachel McAdams

Liam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:45:58 +0000

Last week a rumor started floating around the interweb saying that Rachel McAdams would be playing Black Cat in Spider-Man 4, and that she had already met with the producers. Well according to McAdams herself that is indeed, just an internet rumor.

From Entertainment Weekly:

“That’s a total rumor, I have to say,” the actress, who will next be seen in the Dec. 25 action-adventure tentpole Sherlock Holmes, tells EW. “I was hanging out in Toronto the other day and someone came up to me and said, ‘I just heard you’re doing Spider-Man 4.‘ And I said, ‘Really? No one told me!’ It’s not true.” A rep for Sony Pictures concurs: “It’s an Internet rumor, as so many things are these days.”

It could be the case that McAdams is denying it as things haven’t been finalized yet, although I’ve got a feeling that it wasn’t true to begin with. Hopefully we’ll find out who will be in Spider-Man 4 in the near future, as we know casting is certainly under-way.

Spider-Man 4 casting call asks for toddlers

Liam — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:59:45 +0000

This bit of Spider-Man 4 casting info could be revealing something quite interesting, or it could just be nothing. Spoiler TV saw a casting call that was sent out by the Spider-Man 4 team asking for young toddlers aged 2 or 3.

Spider-Man 4 – Official Casting Call for Baby Boy with Red Hair
[TODDLER BOY]
2 or 3 year old boy to play 2 year old, Caucasian with RED HAIR, an adorable toddler with an engaging personality, on set experience preferred. IDENTICAL TWINS ONLY

The twin request will probably be so that they can switch toddlers so one youngster isn’t doing all the work. I’m sure there are rules on how long young children can ‘work’ too.

Mary Jane-Watson has red hair. Could we be seeing a Spider-baby? Some fans have suggested it could be a young Cletus Kasady, who eventually grows up to be the villain Carnage. Others have said it could be Dr. Curt Connors’ son. We probably won’t find out for a while, so lets speculate away!

Will Black Cat be in Spider-Man 4?

Liam — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:42:40 +0000

Sam Raimi said a few weeks ago that Spider-Man 4 will begin filming in March, which means over the upcoming months and weeks we should be hearing about casting, and what villains might be appearing. Dylan Baker revealed he would be returning to play Dr. Curt Connors, which rose speculation that The Lizard could be the main villain. However Mania are now saying that the villain could be Black Cat, the skilled cat burglar, and they apparently know which actress is the front runner to player her.

We can exclusively reveal that actress Rachel McAdams has met with the producers of the film for a major role. McAdams (of ‘Wedding Crashers’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes’ fame) is said to be a top contender for the role of Felicia Hardy, known to comic fans as The Black Cat.
Our sources tell us that the Black Cat’s story fits well with Raimi’s Spider-Man formula, which always finds the villains troubling not only the costumed hero, but also becoming entangled in Peter Parker’s personal life as well.

In other casting news actress Romola Garai (Atonement) wrote in The Observer that she recently audition for a role:

“Love is at the root of everything good that has ever happened and will happen.” This phrase swam into focus as I moved up the escalator at Oxford Circus tube on Tuesday morning on my way to put myself “on tape” for a part in Spider-Man 4. This is the acting equivalent of the London Marathon in that it’s important to try your best as long as you understand that you aren’t going to win.

It looks like Mary Jane may have some more competition in Spider-Man 4, that is, if the Black Cat rumour is true.

Dylan Baker returning for Spider-Man 4

Liam — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:20:01 +0000

Some Spider-Man fans have been hoping/speculating that the Lizard will be the villain in Spider-Man 4, and in order for that to happen Dylan Baker who plays Dr. Curt Connors would need to return. Well today he confirmed that he will be.

From UGO:

During a post-screening Q & A, Baker confirmed that he is on board for Sam Raimi’s forthcoming Spider-Man 4. According to reports, Baker said that he had just gotten his first call concerning Spider-Man 4 that very day. Baker appeared in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 as Dr. Curt Connors, a professor at Empire State University.
When Dougherty ribbed him about “just appearing in the background” Baker said that, basically, that’s what he’d be doing. It was unclear if they were being truthful or if, in fact, Dr. Connors would become supervillain The Lizard in this fourth entry in the film series. During their riffing, Dougherty used the phrase “co*ktease for another year” as to whether or not we’d see The Lizard.

It could be the case that Dr. Curt Connors will just be helping Peter Parker out now and again like he’s done in the previous films, however we probably won’t know until the casting and (eventually) villains are revealed. There is the possibility that they will use a different villain in the film and set the Lizard up for Spider-Man 5 which is currently being written. Let the speculation begin!

Sam Raimi going ‘back to basics’ with Spider-Man 4, talks 5 & 6

Liam — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:14:43 +0000

Sam Raimi has been interviewed quite a lot recently and earlier this week he was talking about possible villains for Spider-Man 4. Today Coventry Blog have a quote from him saying that he agrees that there were too many villains in Spider-Man 3, and that he learned ‘limitations’ while filming Drag Me To Hell which he hopes to bring to Spider-Man 4:

Asked about complaints that there were too many villains in Spider-Man 3, he said: “I think having so many villains detracted from the experience. I would agree with the criticism.”
Raimi added that he had learned some new lessons and storytelling tricks from his last film, Drag Me to Hell. “I think I’ve learned about the importance of getting to the point and the importance of having limitations, and I’m hoping to take that into a production where I’m actually allowed to explore with more of the tools to pull it off with a little more splendor.
“I hope I don’t lose that edge that I’ve just found. That would be my approach to ‘Spider-Man 4′: to get back to the basics.”

Raimi was also asked by MTV whether he would return to direct Spider-Man 5 and 6 which are currently being written by James Vanderbilt:

“Every time I make one of the ‘Spider-Man’ movies, I have to ask myself, is the character still intriguing to me?” Raimi told MTV News. “Do I love the character? Am I dying to tell the next story of Peter Parker and Spider-Man?”
“And so far the answer has been yes,” he said.
“If ever I feel sated, like I’ve got no more to say or I’m not really super-excited about it,” Raimi continued, “because I know I’ll also love it, but I’ve got to be super-excited about it. If I can’t reach that level of commitment and excitement, I think then there’d be somebody else better to do justice to the story.”
“You have to ask me in two-and-half years,” he laughed.

If Raimi decides to return in a few years there is always the question of whether Tobey Maguire will. Does he want to make 6 Spider-Man movies? If not there has been talk that 5 and 6 would reboot the franchise and another actor would come on-board as Peter Parker. They’ll have to wait a few years though as I don’t think the audience will be willing to accept a new Spider-Man that quickly.

Sam Raimi talks Spider-Man 4 villains

Liam — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:28:29 +0000

It doesn’t take a person with high intelligence to work out that Spider-Man 4 director Sam Raimi won’t be revealing any important plot points or possible villains at this stage in the game, but Splash Page tried to get something out of him, and while he didn’t let anything out (as expected) he did talk about the thought process behind choosing the next villain.

“I love the Lizard,” said Raimi. “There’s a great story there in the Marvel comic books about Dr. Connors. I’m less familiar with Carnage.”
Raimi then took a long pause. “I’m not allowed to say at this point,” he confessed.
“What we’re trying to do right now is really understand the journey Peter is going to go on this time and have the villain maybe be a counter to that growth, something that he has to overcome,” Raimi said. “Or maybe he has to grow in a way to overcome the villain, because there always seem to be stories of coming of age, of a young man growing up and learning things about life, so once we are identifying the exact movement that Peter has to grow to, I think the villain—and we’re trying this right now; we’re trying to choose a villain based on who would be the proper counter to that growth, so we really have dramatic conflict.”

I hope they go for the Lizard. It’d be interesting to see how Peter Parker deals with his professor turning into a reptilian humanoid monster. I’m not sure how the Lizard would cause Parker to grow as a person though. Maybe he has a phobia of reptiles?

Spider-Man 4 to start filming in March

Liam — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:57:26 +0000

Earlier this week we learned that Gary Ross would be re-writing Venom and may end up directing, however Spider-Man director Sam Raimi recently told Splash Page that at the moment Ross is still hard at work on the script for Spider-Man 4. Raimi also said that pre-production is coming together and they hope to start filming next March.

“We’re hoping that it’s the first week in March,” said Raimi.
At the moment, pre-production is in full swing, even as screenwriter Gary Ross (”great director and a very fine writer,” said Raimi) continues to work on the script.
“He’s working on a draft,” he continued. “I just gave him some notes and he’s doing a rewrite right now.”
On other fronts, “Spider-Man 4″ continues to chug along. “The production is starting to come together,” Raimi told us. “I’ve got a production designer who is starting to design the sets and the environments that the picture will take place in. We just brought aboard Scott Stokdyk as one of the two visual effects supervisors, and I worked with him on all three ‘Spider-man’ pictures.”
With Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst set to reprise their roles, Raimi and his team will soon turn their attention to filling out the rest of the cast. “None of the casting has really taken place, but we’re starting to think about that now,” the director said.

I doubt we will know which villain(s) will be involved until the casting gets under-way in a few weeks/month.

Now is a good time to be a Spider-Man fan with both Spider-Man 4 and Venom in the works. I think Raimi knows what mistakes were made last time round so Spider-Man 4 has the potential to be better than Spider-Man 3.

Gary Ross to write and direct Venom

Liam — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:21:53 +0000

Venom screenwriter Paul Wernick said just two weeks ago that he and co-writer Rhett Reese had handed in their second draft of the script to Sony, and that Sony would now be “pushing forward in whatever ways they push forward”. Well it seems a fair bit of pushing has been taking place, as according to Variety a director has been hired. He’s called Gary Ross and he’s no strange to the universe, as he is currently re-writing the Spider-Man 4 script.

The relationship between Columbia Pictures and Gary Ross that began with his rewrite on “Spider-Man 4” is taking a “Venom”-ous turn.
I am hearing that the studio is in talks with Ross to helm the Spidey-spinoff “Venom,” and rewrite the script.
Ross will begin writing the script as soon as he completes the “Spider-Man” film.
While Venom showed up in the last Spidey installment, the intention is to start from scratch. Topher Grace played him in the last picture but the role will likely be recast.

Ross’ past directing credits include Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, and while they aren’t big action movies they are good films, so Venom should be in capable hands.