Spider-Man! Spider-Man!

Director Marc Webb sat down with The Daily Beast and opened up about his upcoming film. Just in case you’ve been living in a cave, that film happens to be the sequel to his reboot of Spider-Man. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set to swing into theaters in a few short months, and so the director was asked several questions about which way the franchise was heading. During the talk, he even reveals how much longer he intends to be the shepherd of our friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man.

Webb tackled a bit about the scope of the film, and where Peter Parker finds himself at this stage of the story:

“He knows he has to be Spider-Man and he’s contemplating the sacrifices Peter Parker has to make. His relationship with Gwen is the central engine of the film, but just from a dramaturgical standpoint, you’ve got to come up with villains and obstacles bigger than any he’s had to face, and he’s learning things about OsCorp that are more dangerous than anything he could’ve imagined. It’s just about throwing crazy shit in front of your hero and seeing how that changes him, and how he evolves.

What kind of “crazy shit” exactly? Here the director elaborates on what weshould expect from the film’s villains:

“Electro’s really the main villain in the movie. Rhino makes a brief appearance. With Electro, he has enormous cinematic potential—the way he looks is cool—and how do you stop that guy? I thought it was a worthy adversary for Peter Parker, and it was always something I was fascinated by in the comic books, about how you’d render that visually. But I thought there was enormous potential in exploring the character of Max Dillon before he becomes Electro, and enormous pathos. You feel for this guy who’s been pushed into the shadows and whom no one listens to. He’s humiliated and feels shame and emerges, through his transformation, in a darker and more destructive way. Feelings of shame and unworthiness are universal precursors to one of two things: an act of destruction and an act of heroism. Heroes and villains have so much in common. Peter caused the death of his uncle and has been abandoned by his parents, but he approaches that in a positive, more constructive way.”

 

I recall feeling like Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man wasn’t funny enough. What did Webb do to make sure that the character’s trademark wit came through in this one? He hired comedians!

“We did a comedy table and got a bunch of comedians to talk out joke suggestions, because Spider-Man is known for his quips. I’m not allowed to say who it was, butreally wonderful comedians. We wanted that wit and humor to come across.”

On the subject of Harry Osborn, Webb discussed that Dane DeHaan’s Harry won’t be as “dopey” as James Franco’s, and that their relationship will be more “like brothers” this time around. He also confirmed that we would be seeing some Green Goblin action in this film.

He also tackled the nagging questions about whether there’ll ever be a crossover between his Spider-Man and Marvel’s Avengers:

“We’re building out a more complicated Spider-Man universe with characters that people haven’t seen in other Spider-Man movies—The Sinister Six, Venom, and more. We’d all love to overlap with other studios, but it’s beyond my pay grade.”

Lastly, he revealed that he will be bowing out after the next installment of this new Amazing Spider-Man series:

“I’d like to be involved as a consultant, and I’ve already talked to these guys about it, but in terms of directing it, that will close out my tenure. I’ve had so much fun doing it, but after the third movie, it’ll be the time to find something else.”

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 arrives on May 2.

SOURCE: The Daily Beast