It seems the Spider-Man reboot was put into production just to give fans something to speculate about. First, it was who would take over the creative reins from Sam Raimi. After weeks of back and forth, with several big names being bandied about, Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) ended up with the prize. Next came the starring role, with Andrew Garfield (Lions for Lambs) beating out every young actor that could convincingly play a high school kid. That leaves two roles open: the villain and the love interest. While there has been no word as of yet on who the bad guy is even going to be in the new flick, there have been some new rumblings as far as the girlfriend role goes.
A report coming out of THR says that five actresses have read for the part, with four still in the running. It’s not clear if the actress already out of the running, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World), dropped out or if Sony did the dropping. Still fighting it out over the part are Emma Roberts (Valentine’s Day), Lilly Collins (The Blind Side), Teresa Palmer (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), and Ophella Lovibond (the upcoming Nowhere Boy, also starring Garfield).
The question that remains, however, is who will they be playing? Everyone on the creative end of the reboot has made it clear that they want to start in a new direction with this reboot, and that there will absolutely not be a Mary Jane Watson in this movie. When the film was announced, it was rumored that Peter Parker would be a high school student for at least 3 films, if the new direction was successful. Of the women in Peter Parker’s life from his comic origins, Gwen Stacy would be the most popular choice, although I suppose it’s always possible they could go with an original character.
Just please Mr. Webb, whatever you do, no Autumns this time, okay?