The casting search has begun over at Universal for an actor to lead The Bourne Legacy, which has Tony Gilroy (Duplicity, Michael Clayton, writer of previous Bourne films) in the director’s chair. The movie won’t involve Matt Damon or Jason Bourne, and will instead focus on a new character in the same universe.

So who is in contention for the lead role? Just about everyone.

Variety and Deadline give the following list of names:

Joel Edgerton, Josh Hartnett, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Paul Dano, Michael Pitt, Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Luke Evans, Alex Pettyfer, Taylor Kitsch, Benjamin Walker and Kellan Lutz.

According to Variety Gilroy has an idea of what kind of actor he wants, but Universal has also brought its picks to the table (most likely the more known actors). So far no front-runner has emerged and lesser-known actors still have a shot as Gilroy wants to screen-test all candidates.

Last year Gilroy cleared up what The Bourne Legacy is actually about and insisted it won’t prevent Matt Damon from returning in the future.

“It’s a completely original screenplay.” Secondly, “This is not a reboot or a recast or a prequel. No one’s replacing Matt Damon. There will be a whole new hero, a whole new chapter…this is a stand-alone project.

“The easiest way to think of it is an expansion or a reveal,” Gilroy says. “Jason Bourne will not be in this film, but he’s very much alive. What happened in the first three films is the trigger for what happens. I’m building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy…the world we’re making enhances and advances and invites Jason Bourne’s return [down the road].

Universal is targeting an August 2012 release for The Bourne Legacy with filming expected to begin later this year.

Who’s your pick?

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Just yesterday we heard that James Franco had landed the lead role in Rise of the Apes as a scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes. Well today HitFix got some interesting news regarding another actor who was also up for the role and a possible reason why he didn’t get the part.

Apparently Tobey Maguire, who starred alongside Franco in the Spider-Man trilogy, was in talks with 20th Century Fox for the lead part however his creative input may have caused them to back off and go with Franco instead.

According to HitFix sources, when Maguire came back to the table with script notes for the studio, the conversations abruptly stopped, and Fox moved quickly to close a deal with Franco, another of the final contenders for the lead role.

Rise of the Apes will be released in just over a year’s time on June 24th, so Fox don’t really have time to be making changes to the script as they are already on a tight schedule as it is. Even more so because they are using Peter Jackson’s visual effects company WETA Digital to render photo-realistic apes rather than have actors in costume, so the sooner they start that process the better.

Maguire would have probably been at the end of filming Spider-Man 4 now if Sony didn’t decide to go ahead with the reboot. If IMDB is anything to go by it seem Maguire’s next film isn’t set yet, so it’ll be interesting to see what path his career will go post-Spidey.

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Back when Spider-Man 4‘s production was moving along relatively well John Malkovich was in talks to join the film as The Vulture. Director Sam Raimi had wanted the winged villain to appear in previous Spider-Man movies, and it seemed he was finally going to get the chance to introduce the character as Peter Parker’s foe in Spider-Man 4. That was, of course, until the film was scrapped.

Since then Malkovich has moved on and recently signed up to appear in Transformers 3, however in a recent interview he spoke of his disappointed about the situation, and suggested that The Vulture may have actually been a reason for the films demise.

From Collider:

Well, I think a lot of the people who sort of follow that genre… I’m not sure, I never really spoke with Sam about this, but I’m not sure they — maybe the kind of fanbase, the fanboys — either didn’t approve of that character as an adversary for him to some extent…or maybe the studio. Or maybe that was totally unrelated to why it fell apart.”

I then told him the fanboys and online community were extremely excited that he was going to be the Vulture. So was he disappointed when the project fell apart?

“Yes [I was disappointed],” he says. “But because I like Sam and I like Toby [Maguire] and all that stuff, and the producers, two of whom I’d met before because I’d been offered the first [film] … I came to like them, so sure why not? But it didn’t play out.”

In case you were unaware, he was offered Green Goblin in the first Spider-Man.

Malkovich’s statement seems to back up what New York Magazine’s Vulture blog (funnily enough) suggested in February:

Condensed, it went something like this: Peter Parker gets over MJ, finds a new girl, falls in love. But: Peter also discovers her father is actually the Vulture, a naughty green guy with wings to be played by John Malkovich. Peter is torn between the love of his new lady and taking down the Vulture. Being a Spandex tight-ass, he decides to take down the Vulture, and kills him. This patricide goes down poorly with Peter’s new fiancée, and she rejects him. Despondent, Peter decides to abandon his superpowers, and Movie No. 4 ends with Peter Parker throwing away his Spider-Man mask, and audiences wondering if they are watching Superman II.

Sony’s execs didn’t much care for this dour story line, and its consumer-products division especially detested the villain who, let’s face it, is pushing 60. (But hey, John Malkovich, from one Vulture to another, we think you look great! Really!) Columbia’s toy partner, Hasbro, also worried that suggesting its main character was packing it in might hurt future toy sales. And these days, toys are a key revenue stream, and demand far more forethought than that given to the scripts of $200 million movies.

I was actually looking forward to Spider-Man 4 but maybe the film falling apart was a blessing in disguise. The script underwent numerous re-writes and Raimi and Sony were having disagreements over the story, casting and budget. Sony also hired James Vanderbilt to write the reboot while Spider-Man 4 was in production as a back-up plan in case the film didn’t go ahead, and in the end they chose the (less expensive) reboot.

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Before we talk about Spider-Man i’d like to give people a little reminder on rights. The reason 20th Century Fox continue to churn out X-Men films and the reason the Spider-Man franchise will continue is because Marvel will have an opportunity to re-claim the rights if the studios don’t put them into use (each deal varies, but it’s usually 4/5 years with no active development). Warner Bros. is at risk from losing the Superman rights if it doesn’t get a movie in development over the next few years. With the rights in mind, lets look at the recent news that Sony will be rebooting Spider-Man in 2012.

There was talk of Sony rebooting the franchise before Spider-Man 4 was announced. This was before Sam Raimi signed on to direct and Tobey came onboard, but their return put those plans on the back burner. James Vanderbilt was the first writer to start work on the script, however David Lindsay-Abaire was then hired to do re-writes (or possibly start from scratch). In July Gary Ross was brought in to do further re-writes, which didn’t look very good at all. Something was obviously not working if three writers were needed to do revisions of the script.

With hindsight the news in August that James Vanderbilt had been hired by Sony to write Spider-Man 5 & 6 should have got a bit more attention, however as Spider-Man 4 was developing nobody though much of it. According to the report Vanderbilt’s script would be the blueprint for a franchise reboot should Maguire, Raimi and Dunst choose not to return. Looking back it seems Sony were developing a ‘Plan B’ in case Spider-Man 4 didn’t work out. With the continued re-writes and Raimi signing on to direct World of Warcraft things weren’t certain.

There are a few reasons why Spider-Man 4 didn’t work out. It was made public that Raimi wasn’t happy with the script, and filming was delayed. Rumor has it that the script contained ‘The Vultress’ who Anne Hathaway was in talk to play. The character would have borrowed elements from Black Cat, however she would have been the daughter of The Vulture, who John Malkovich would have played. There were also rumors that Peter Parker and Mary Jane would have had a baby. This hasn’t been confirmed, however there was a casting call asking for a 2 year old toddler with red hair.

During the big meeting this week to decide the fate of Spider-Man 4 Sony went into it knowing that they have a script for a reboot ready and waiting. They knew they would reboot the franchise at some point in the future anyway as Tobey and Raimi wouldn’t be around forever. The benefit of having a reboot with a cheaper cast and lower budget was probably more appealing to them than paying the fees Maguire and Dunst would have received with a $250 million+ budget. They asked Raimi if he could make the film for summer 2011, he said he couldn’t keep the film’s creative integrity with that schedule, so it was scrapped and Plan B came into function.

Since the announcement that the reboot would be happening and we would be seeing it in 2012 there have been a few indications as to where it might go. Sony tweeted that Peter Parker would be heading back to high school, which spawned suggestions that Sony were going to aim for the Twilight/teen market. Now EW are saying that “the series will place Peter Parker in a more contemporary setting, as a teenager battling today’s issues” and that Sony are “interested in a more gritty, contemporary redo of the series”. This reboot could very well be what Batman Begins was to the Batman franchise, but I do think it is rather soon to have a reboot. However it goes back to the rights issue. Sony don’t want to let them slip away so a reboot is their only option.

As for Raimi, there is talk he will now be turning his attention to World of Warcraft, which i’m quite looking forward too. Raimi has wanted to get his hands on a fantasy film for a while, and it has the word ‘epic’ written all over it.

In the meantime, Sony said they would be releasing more information about the Spider-Man reboot in the near future. They need to hire a director, if they haven’t been talking to some already, and they of course need to find a young teenage male actor to play Peter Parker 2.0. Any suggestions?

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We knew last week when filming was halted that things weren’t going well with Spider-Man 4, however Tobey Maguire didn’t seem too worried about it. In fact he said he was “excited” and that the delay was just a “process”.

Well we have some bad news (or good) depending on your view, as Nikki Finke is reporting that Spider-Man 4 has been scrapped, Tobey Maguire, Sam Raimi and Kirsten Dunst are out, and a reboot is under-way:

Mike Fleming and I have just confirmed that Sony Pictures decided today to reboot the Spider-Man franchise after Sam Raimi pulled out of Spider-Man 4 because he felt he couldn’t make its summer release date and keep the film’s creative integrity. This means that Raimi and the cast including star Tobey Maguire are out. There will be no Spider-Man 4. Instead, the studio will focus on a reboot script by Jamie Vanderbilt with a new director and a new cast. All this took place today at meeting on the lot today. An official Sony Pictures news release about it is expected.

My sources tell me that Raimi told Sony Pictures: “I can’t make your date. I can’t go forward creatively.” And, so, once he said “That’s it”, Sony Pictures co-chairman Pascal and Columbia Pictures’ Matt Tolmach decided they didn’t want to replace him and instead chose to reboot the franchise. Insiders also tell me that Tobey Maguire heard the news in a phone call with Amy today. I’m told Tobey wasn’t upset. “He’s made 3 great Spider-Man movies. He’s done really well. But he’s the kind of guy who, if Sam wanted to go forward, would have been there for Sam and the studio. Absolutely.”

I’m actually pretty disappointed by this. I was looking forward to Spider-Man 4, and it’s way too early for a reboot. Why couldn’t Sony just release the film in the summer of 2012 instead of scrapping the whole thing?

As to where the reboot will take Peter Parker, Sony tweeted this little nugget of info:

Spider-Man: Summer 2012: Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012.

Oh dear…

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Earlier this week we learned that Spider-Man 4 would not begin filming in March as originally planned due to script problem. This was swiftly followed by Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides shifting releases dates as they assumed Spider-Man wouldn’t be able to make it’s May release, which it probably won’t. However Tobey Maguire recently spoke to The Associated Press and said that we will still be seeing Peter Parker in 2011.

“Like anything, it’s a process,” Maguire said Thursday. “We’re just in the midst of the process. We have a lot of great stuff in terms of story and script. We’re just trying to dial it in and get it ready as quickly as possible. Of course, these movies are a very big undertaking and take a lot more time than a drama or something more straightforward.”

Marvel Studios spokesman Paul Pflug declined to comment on reports that production had stalled amid script revisions.

Maguire, who has played Peter Parker in all three films, said the plan is to still release the movie in 2011, but wasn’t more specific about the date. Whatever happens, he’s enthusiastic about Spidey’s future.

“Not only do I have specific ideas, but the ideas are evolving on the page,” he said. “It’s all happening right now. It’s all sort of coming together. It’s very exciting to me. I think the evolution of the character is really exciting, to be rooted in the history of what we’ve done already and to have a continuity, yet have a progression or evolution.”

I think Sony will still try and aim for a summer 2011 release, possibly June/July if they are able to get the script sorted.

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Yesterday Latino Review got a ‘scoop’ which said that Tobey Maguire and his agency were in early talks for him to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. After I read this my first thought was obviously Spider-Man 4. Sam Raimi recently said they were aiming to start shooting in March, and Peter Jackson said last week that The Hobbit is on track to start filming in the first half of 2010. If this rumor is true that would give Tobey Maguire 2-3 months to film Spider-Man 4, which wouldn’t be possible considering filming on Spider-Man 3 took 6 months.

Thankfully this rumour has been cleared up by a few places. TheOneRing.net confirmed with their source that it wasn’t true, and Movieline asked Maguire s publicist who said that this news was false.

As you were.

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Hugh Jackman has played Wolverine 4 times now, and he’s still keen to keep on going with a Wolverine 2 in development, however some actors and actresses can becomes tired of playing the same character over and over again, not only because it can become a bit repetitive, but there is also the risk of being typecast.

During the early stages of Spider-Man 4 there were rumors that Tobey Maguire might decide not to return, however those were squashed when it was announced that both Sam Raimi and Maguire would be back. So was Tobey reluctant to return at first? Did he have to think long and hard about his decision?

From The Boston Globe:

“It’s not that I was reluctant,’’ he says. “For me, it’s a big process to decide whether or not to do a role. . . . I have to want to wake up in the morning and feel like I can’t wait to get to work. I’ve got to feel OK about leaving my kids for 12 or 13 hours a day for five months. It’s a big commitment.’’

“Hopefully I’ll be able to evolve the character in a new direction,’’ he says. “He’ll still be Peter Parker, but I hope I can move him forward a bit and take him to a place where there will be new challenges for me as an actor.’

I suppose we will get a better understanding of where Parker will go this time when the villain(s) are revealed. We’ve had ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ and ‘how long can any man fight the darkness before he finds it in himself’. It’ll be interesting to see what inner-turmoil Parker has to deal with next.

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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.

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Sony haven’t got a Spider-Man 4 script worthy of shooting yet, but that hasn’t stopped them from hiring James Vanderbilt to write the scripts for Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6. Vanderbilt wrote the first draft for Spider-Man 4, and then David Lindsay-Abaire was brought on board to do a rewrite, and now Gary Ross doing a rewriting of that.

From Variety:

Raimi didn’t embrace all of Vanderbilt’s ideas, but execs at Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios have. Vanderbilt has been hired to pen the fifth and sixth movies, which have an interconnected storyline. That’s what was originally discussed when Vanderbilt signed on to write “Spider-Man 4,” but the idea of shooting a fourth and fifth film back to back with the original cast was scrapped.

Sources said it was unclear whether Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst will be back. If they aren’t, Vanderbilt’s script would be the blueprint for a franchise reboot. After committing to his fourth “Spider-Man” film, Raimi signed on to direct a new franchise based on the massively multiplayer role-playing online computer game “World of Warcraft” for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Maguire and Dunst were locked into the first three pictures and made a new deal for “Spider-Man 4.” It’s unclear how long they want to continue with the series.

Spider-Man 4 starts filming next year for a May 2011 release, and if it ends up as good as Spider-Man 2 and makes gazillions like the previous films then why the hell not make a Spider-Man 5? However, if 5 is a reboot they’ll have to wait a few years before giving it too us. We accepted Hulk because the first one wasn’t all that, but Spider-Man is a tad more popular and rebooting that universe won’t be as easy.

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