Marc Webb to helm the new Spider-Man

Posted on January 20, 2010
Filed Under Actors, Adaptation, Directors, Sequel

I know many of you have been wondering what will happen to “Spider-Man 4” now when director Sam Raimi and all the stars walked away. I’ll tell you – they hired Marc Webb. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Webb has finalized a deal to helm the new “Spider-Man” movie for Columbia.

As most of you know, the studio last week scrapped the fourth installment of the web-slinging hero under director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire and decided to reboot and scale down the franchise. While unlikely names such as James Cameron and David Fincher were floated, Marc Webb quietly rose to the top of the list of candidates.

Webb became a sought-after director with “(500) Days of Summer,” his comedic romancer for starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, earning him praise for the realistic way he portrayed a modern relationship.

Columbia issued a press release regarding Marc Webb directing “Spider-Man,” and here’s what Marc Webb himself had to say: “This is a dream come true and I couldn’t be more aware of the challenge, responsibility, or opportunity. Sam Raimi’s virtuoso rendering of Spider-Man is a humbling precedent to follow and build upon.  The first three films are beloved for good reason.  But I think the Spider-Man mythology transcends not only generations but directors as well.  I am signing on not to ‘take over’ from Sam.  That would be impossible.  Not to mention arrogant.  I’m here because there’s an opportunity for ideas, stories, and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas, and creative voice to Spider-Man.”

Webb, who has options on two sequels, will now tackle a James Vanderbilt script that sees a “Spider-Man” movie that will look and feel very different from the big movies that went before it.

The plan for the movie is to be in the $80 million range and feature a cast of relative unknowns. And the story will be pared down to center on a high school kid who is dealing with the knowledge that his uncle died even though the teen had the power to stop it.

The touchstone for the new movie will not be the 1960s comics, which were the inspiration behind the movies by Raimi, who grew on up on them, but rather this past decade’s “Ultimate Spider-Man” comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley where the villain-fighting took a back seat to the high school angst.

The production will begin this year.

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