It’s common for actors to be recast in popular movies, be it when the actor chooses not to return for a sequel or when they’re not suited for the role. In the case of actress Shailene Woodley, cast as the new Mary Jane Watson in Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, her role was cut after all her scenes were shot. A rare occurrence in multi-million dollar movies and something that hasn’t really sat well with some of Spidey’s fans.
In a recent interview with Crave Online the director opened up, explaining his decision to cut Woodley from The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Simply put, she got in the way of the Gwen and Peter relationship, but for further explanation here’s Webb’s response from the interview:
It wasn’t [cut]… The character was just teased. It was a very minor inflection, and I felt it was important to really focus on Peter and Gwen’s storyline. It was hard, because I love Shai. I think she’s such a brilliant actor and such a lovely, wonderful warm person. That was hard, and having her presence in a movie is great, but I thought it was important to focus on Peter and Gwen. I’m excited to see Spectacular Now, though.
That last part seems a bit cryptic, but we could be making something out of nothing. At least it’s nice to see Marc didn’t want to cut her part, but thought it was best in the grand scheme of the sequel, maybe even allowing her to return to the part as long as her schedule lines up with the third Spidey film. With all the characters Marc has planned it’s easy to why the director has to make decision in the name of the plot and the sequel’s running time.
Speaking of characters, other actors involved in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 have either inadvertently confirmed or accidentally let slip who they’re going to be in the Sony Pictures sequel. Actor Colm Feore was revealed to be playing Adrian Toombes, aka The Vulture and Felicity Jones is also rumored to be playing The Black Cat, both of which Webb has denied. Sitting down with Total Film the director admitted he has been “intentionally concealing” these secrets,
Hmmm… Well, how do I answer that? How about this? Anything you expect, you’ll be surprised. To be totally honest, I intentionally conceal these things because I want people to be engaged and surprised when they see the film and experience it for the first time. It’s not like Harry Potter or Twilight necessarily where you know the stories.
And we are constructing them from elements of the comics obviously, from the canon, and we pay homage and are very protective of certain elements of the canon, but we want people to experience it for the first time in the theatre and I think that’s an experience that it often robbed from the audience, so you’ll forgive me being coy.
So, it sounds like Webb could be going with a mixture of known elements, and with over 50 years of history to work with there’s plenty to pull from. That leaves plenty of surprises ahead audiences. What do you think though? Will it be something worth while, using a blend of characters to pull of something original or should they stick to what everyone already knows?
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hits theaters everywhere May 2nd, 2014.
Sources: Blastr, CBM
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