Please, just tell us that you’ve learned something from Spider-man 3, Mr. Raimi.
So what’s up with the next Spider-Man movies? Well, other than Tobey Maguire returning as Peter Parker, there’s still a great deal of uncertainty. Sam Raimi tells MTV’s Splash Page that they need a script first before they can decide on a bunch of other issues. Sam?
“I’m really excited about Spider-Man, and I’m hoping to direct it. I don’t have a script yet, but production would start probably by March of 2010, I’m guessing. It sounds like a long time away, but we need a script first, and a lot of pre-production has to take place.”
Soooo…would Kirsten Dunst be back? Raimi doesn’t know yet, but he has kind of a hard time letting go:
“I hope she’ll be written into it. I couldn’t imagine making one without her, and I think she’s an important part of the movies.”
Nevertheless, Raimi admitted that the very nature of an episodic series requires that characters come and go. “I wish I could work with James Franco again,” said the man who directed the first three hit movies. “But his character died in the last one; same with Uncle Ben. Fortunately, we’ve been able to bring back all the dead characters [like Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn or Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker]. I can’t let them go, in each and every picture; but it gets harder and harder.”
Sam, we all wish you could find a way ot put James Franco into the script. How about just simply, “I’m not dead!” Maybe he could have amnesia and a totally different character.
Speaking of supporting characters and villains and such, Raimi hinted at the idea that Dylan Baker’s character Curt Connors aka The Lizard will provide the bad-guyness for one of the upcoming films, though this is far from definite.
“He’s a great actor, and I think one day The Lizard’s story will be told,” he teased, referring to Baker’s Curt Connors character. “I don’t know if it will be this one or not. I just don’t know. I’m definitely hoping to work with Dylan in the picture. I just don’t know who the villain is yet.”
And yes, if they have two scripts ready to go and compatible landscapes, there is a distinct possibility that they’ll film back to back. That makes a lot of sense and probably should happen.
Now as to the sequels themselves–I can’t tell you this enough times, Mr. Raimi–go with just one villain per film. You’ll feel so much better. And audiences will feel better, too. Come on, you can make at least one of these movies better than Spider-Man 3, can’t you? Good lord, we all hope so.
