After Sony scrapped Spider-Man 4, effectively ending director Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s run with the character, the studio moved quickly to assemble a reboot in order to keep the franchise alive. Sony put together a shortlist of directors to take over the job, and while Marc Webb eventually ended up with the gig, David Fincher was apparently on Sony’s list (he was also considered to direct the first Spider-Man). The director is currently doing the press rounds for his latest effort The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but he recently took a moment to talk about what his vision of Spider-Man would have looked like. It’s pretty fantastic, and I suggest you hit the jump to see what he had to say.
Speaking with io9, Fincher revealed his big issue with the Spider-Man character and talked about what his iteration would have entailed:
“My impression what Spider-Man could be is very different from what Sam [Raimi] did or what Sam wanted to do. I think the reason he directed that movie was because he wanted to do the Marvel comic superhero. I was never interested in the genesis story. I couldn’t get past a guy getting bit by a red and blue spider. It was just a problem… It was not something that I felt I could do straight-faced. I wanted to start with Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin, and I wanted to kill Gwen Stacy.”
And just how exactly would Fincher have set up Stacy’s death? With an elaborate, operatic title sequence of course:
“The title sequence of the movie that I was going to do was going to be a ten minute — basically a music video, an opera, which was going to be the one shot that took you through the entire Peter Parker [backstory]. Bit by a radio active spider, the death of Uncle Ben, the loss of Mary Jane, and [then the movie] was going to begin with Peter meeting Gwen Stacy. It was a very different thing, it wasn’t the teenager story. It was much more of the guy who’s settled into being a freak.”
While wildly different than what Raimi did (and presumably Webb as well), it’s an interesting take on the character. I’ve always wondered what a David Fincher superhero movie would look like, and now we finally have an idea.
Steve recently sat down with Fincher as well, and if you missed any of his interviews I highly suggest you check them out. For his detailed answer on which of the Star Wars films is his favorite and why he won’t ever go back and alter any of his movies, click here. For updates on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Cleopatra, and his Netflix series House of Cards, click here.
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House of Cars? I’m all revved up for it.
This unironic sycophancy with absolutely no nuance for the subjects of your interveiws and the directors you are in thrall to is deeply unsettling.
How could your reaction to a sycophantic article about the Amazing Spiderman possibly be deeply unsettling?
Meh. I’m one of the few people on Earth who didn’t care for the Spider-man movies — way too much teen angst for me. It’s hard to say if I could’ve gotten excited about this idea b/c there’s really not much to it.
This I could have gotten behind. This is a really interesting take on a new Spider-Man movie and I would have loved to see this rather than yet another take on the origin story.
I like Marc Webb, I like the cast, but I really just can’t get excited for The Amazing Spider-Man.
Fincher should do the new Wolverine film
The origin sequence title montage worked great in The Incredible Hulk. Honestly, when dealing with A-list superheroes, we don’t need a long and detailed story of their origin. Everyone knows Spider-Man was bitten by some sort of freak Spider. Show it quick to remind anyone who may not be as nerdy as most the audience, and move on.
… sounds cool… I wonder how a David Fincher Batman movie would be… maybe after Nolan? (but please not another reboot)
The next Batman film is going to be a reboot. It’s been confirmed by WB, already. Nolan is ending his trilogy in definitive ways, so it CAN’T be picked up and continued. Which IMO is how it should be.
If Fincher were to direct the reboot, no one is saying you LITERALLY have to retell the origin from start. He can use the idea he had here for Spider-Man … give a run down of the origin in the opening credits, for a refresher, and then pick up the story from there.
Batman ’89 would’ve been so much better if they did this … and just kept Batman entirely mysterious the whole movie. Instead of throwing in scenes that dragged.
This is the guy who directed Alien III. Stay away from Spidey, Mr Fincher!
And also the guy who directed Fight Club, Zodiac, Seven and The Social Network since. True, he has his ups and downs. But that does not make him any less a director.
Sorry David, but I cannot say that I regret you didn’t helm Spiderman.
I prefer Sam Raimi’s vision 1000 times than yours.
Just stick with the movie genre. And please don’t do a twitter movie.
And that’s why David Fincher didn’t get the job (twice!)