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(500) Days Of Spidey? Or will the new director be a Nimrod?

Ali

14th January 2010

Prepare for these rumours to get very old, very fast. With Spider-Man ready to slip on his reboot, the hunt is on to name the new director. (500) Days Of Summer's Marc Webb is the candidate with the most humorous name so far. Or is he?

Spider-Man 4's problems were well-known, but at least we knew we'd be getting a half-decent movie at the end of it. Now it's been scrapped and a 'gritty' reboot is in the works for 2012, we have to wait two and a half years to see the finished product - and endure endless, endless casting rumours before that. Excuse me in advance for being part of the problem.

While TeenScream magazine squeegees its knickers over which heartthrob will play Peter Parker (official Shiznit guess: Jennifer's Body star Johnny Simmons, or at a push, Michael Angarano), the far more important decision of new director is currently being discussed.

Straight off the bat, you can discount any established director - Sam Raimi commands huge respect from his peers, and with his tussles with studio Sony extremely public, no filmmaker worth his salt is going to want to sup from this poisoned chalice. Nope, Spider-Man 2012 will need a young, eager director; preferably one which Sony can tell exactly what to do. Some guesses have been way wide of the mark. Wes Anderson? Somehow I doubt Spider-Man could comfortably fight crime wearing corduroy.

One interesting rumour is that (500) Days Of Summer director Marc Webb is an early favourite. Having just rewatched it last night, I can attest to its brilliance, and I stand by my five-star review, but with only one film under his belt - a low-key indie romcom at that - he's hardly the ideal candidate to steer the Spider-Man juggernaut back on track. Still, his surname + Spider-Man = funny headlines.

QuiteEarth put it that Sam Raimi has a successor in mind himself: Vacancy and Armored director, Nimrod [insert childish joke here] Antal. Currently shooting Robert Rodriguez's Predators, buzz is apparently excellent and he does at least have some half-decent credits to his name. Also, Sony executives won't have to think up an insult when they visit the set to bark orders at him.

We'll be following this saga closely, because we're Spider-fans through and through, but more importantly, 2012's gritty Spider-Man reboot (starring Zac Efron and directed by McG) has the potential to be an absolute train wreck. Commence rubber-necking... now!

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