Spider bite is the origin. They're not going to make this movie an origin story though. Everyone knows how homeboy got his powers at this point. This should be straight up awesomeness.
it shouldn't be, especially since they already revealed him in civil war. I don't mind a 5 minute flashback for summary, but we don't need a whole movie explaining something we already know. But it does look like they are going to stay focused on his teenage years, which is fine by me. and finally, no idea who this girl is but she's going to tower over Holland. Says she's 5'10 and Holland is 5'8.
She's that girl on the disney show my daughter used to watch. I thought she looked familiar. At least they picked an age appropriate actress. As much as I LOVE Emma Stone, she was not a teenager.
As best I can tell, she if famous for doing zitcream commercials in the middle of the day. Kam could probably tell us more.
Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn qoute about the casting and internet uproar: Spoiler "People get upset when something they consider intrinsic to a comic book character changes when adapted for a film. I get this. There are movies I dislike because I think there’s a basic misunderstanding of the story or the character when the comic is transferred to film (I still hate how in the first Batman movie the Joker was revealed as the murderer of Bruce Wayne’s parents, for instance.) That said, I do not believe a character is the color of his or her skin. When Michael B Jordan was cast as Johnny Storm I didn’t understand the uproar. The primary characteristic of Johnny was not, to me, that he was white, or that he had blonde hair, but that he was a fiery, funny, big-mouthed braggart of a hero. I was happy that he was going to be played by one of the finest and most charming young actors out there. Yesterday, a rumor broke out that the character of Mary Jane was being played by a young black woman, Zendaya, and all hell broke out on the Internet (again). I tweeted that if people find themselves complaining about Mary Jane’s ethnicity they have lives that are too good. (For those of you who think this means I’m confirming that Zendaya IS playing MJ, realize that although I’ve read the Spidey script, and I’ve met the actress in question, I have no idea what her role is. There’s a good chance someone told me at one time or another, but, if so, I can’t remember. I’m going to find out when I go into Marvel this afternoon, but I feel free to speak until that time because it’s about the concept about a black woman playing Mary Jane, not the actuality or hypothesis of it.) I got a thousand or so responses to my tweet. Most of them were positive. Some folks disagreed – they thought the character should look like what she looks like in the comics – but were thoughtful. And a handful were flat out racist. I can’t respond to the racists – I’m not ever going to change their minds. But for the thoughtful majority of you out there: For me, if a character’s primary attribute – the thing that makes them iconic – is the color of their skin, or their hair color, frankly, that character is shallow and sucks. For me, what makes MJ MJ is her alpha female playfulness, and if the actress captures that, then she’ll work. And, for the record, I think Zendaya even matches what I think of as MJ’s primary physical characteristics – she’s a tall, thin model – much more so than actresses have in the past. Whatever the case, if we’re going to continue to make movies based on the almost all white heroes and supporting characters from the comics of the last century, we’re going to have to get used to them being more reflective of our diverse present world. Perhaps we can be open to the idea that, although someone may not initially match how we personally conceive a character, we can be – and often are – happily surprised." I get what he is saying and as a non Anglo American i can't help but be torn on this idea that characters don't have to be the the way they were written. I disagree that a character is shallow if he has to be a certain skin color, hair color or eye color. That's just the way it is written. Their detailed description is in there for a reason-to give the reader an image of what the character looks like. Bruce Wayne IS a white man. Superman IS a white man. James Bond IS a white man. The thing that gets me with all of these characters is that they are supposed to be black hair with blue eyes characters and that pisses me off they never get that right. At the same time there are non white characters that are written specifically to be a non white character. So on one hand i get sad as a Hispanic when they are the largest minority(55 million) and extremely underrepresented in Hollywood and are typecast as macho cholos, evil cartel, rich/womanizing colombian drug lords and beautiful latinas are play things for handsome white male leads. It saddens me when real Hispanics are cast as Anglo White Males and anglo Americans argue that there are white hispanics as if that makes everything okay. If the character is an Iberian European looking hispanic, then cast an Iberian European looking hispanic because a northern/anglo european decent person usually does not look like an iberian/Mediterranean person and only when it comes to movie roles does it matter that they are both supposed to just be white. Charlie Hunnam(Jax on Sons Of Anarchy) was cast as a Mexican American drug lord. Are you kidding me? Not only are the roles typecast or based off of real life bad people instead of heroes all the time,but now the roles are still going to Anglo white men. Argo? One of the few examples of a Hollywood story about a real American hero who was Hispanic American and mestizo looking. But, no. Can't cast that. Michael Pena wouldn't sell even though he is the same size and closely resembles the real life person. Has to be tall, studly Ben Affleck who thankfully is Anglo! Same thing has been happening to Asians for as long as i can remember. Hollywood is robbing young non white children's heroes that they can relate to. Going to the movies is an amazing experience when you are a kid. You think they won't eventually look at themselves in the mirror and see their appearance is never that of the heroes they see portrayed in the stories they read or watch? To even see people of their own appearance being weak and always being saved by a beautiful white hero? I'm cringing so hard right now thinking about that scene in Batman V Superman where Superman saves some Mexican kid(I assume Mexico b/c of the Day of the Dead face painting) from a burning building and all the Mexicans are all crying and reaching out to their white god. Mexico and most Latin America is already ****ED from the inside-out. They aren't subtle about it. WHITE IS BEAUTIFUL. Dark is dirty and poor. They don't even hide from it. The last thing i want to imagine is my young children growing up in a culture that tells them they are unattractive bc they lack pale skin or colored eyes and then go to a fun movie like BvS and see people who look like them begging and submitting for their superior blue eyed white god. With all that said, WHY do we then have to go and replace long time white characters with non white actors for the sake of diversity? That just pisses me off. You can't go and replace a pretty much unknown Asian character in Dr. Strange with a white woman and then go and replace A MAJOR character who's white with a non white actor. You just can't do that. All of this needs to stop. You want the answer? WRITE NON WHITE CHARACTERS! Cast Zendaya as Peters love interest. That's 100% fine. BUT, WRITE HER AS A NEW CHARACTER. Don't replace the iconic Mary Jane in the name of diversity. That's just half assed bull****. It's lazy. Not being able to write new non White characters is the same lazy problem that Hollywood has with casting white people in Hispanic/Asian/Middle Eastern/Indian roles. Because white people sell? What a bull**** and lazy excuse. YOU ALMOST NEVER EVEN GIVE A NON WHITE LEAD A CHANCE TO SELL. And if they do, and it bombs, that's it? That's proof that a non white lead can't sell? That's bull****. You think you can't create an awesome Prince of Persia story and give the role to Riz Ahmed and give him a year to build an incredible body and he won't sell? The story sells itself. Make a great story/script and the rest will fall into place. My final opinion that might be offensive to some, but Hollywood/American media needs to stop having bias for one race/ethnic group over others. I mean specifically that Black actors who are getting most roles which are being diversified because of the tension in America with white and black relations and because of "#OscarsSoWhite" which tells me they are just trying to bank on what's hot because it will sell right now masked in what they want to say is diversity. If you really want to push diversity, PLEASE write new roles for all and PLEASE don't forget about the 55 million hispanic/latinos in the US and a large part of the world who are majority Michael Pena(typecast goofy cholo), George Lopez, Jay Hernandez(El Diablo typecast cholo), Miguel Gomez(typecast cholo-The Strain and Southpaw) looking people and not just white people. PLEASE don't forget there are about what? 20 million+ Asian Americans(India included) and over 4 billion more that are a HUGE market. 60% of the worlds population and they can't ever get any leading roles in movies unless they are doing martial arts. Don't forget about the Middle East not just all being terrorists. There are many good people and BEAUTIFUL looking people all around those parts of the world. I hope i personally don't sound like i have bias toward only my own ethnic groups representation in Hollywood/media. I used to feel like everyone only complained about their own group, but the reality is that it's what we know more of and can argue for. I'm sure we all want a fair shake for all, and not just our own.
I agree with this post so much man but I don't understand why in those Oscar threads I was saying the very same thing and found so much dissension from you? Even the point about how Katniss could have legitimately been played by a latina giving her description and how the casting call for her was basically "MUST BE WHITE." they didn't even give anyone else a chance. As for Zendaya, I heard awhile back that she would play a different love interest so I'm not sure if this is true but I wouldn't be surprised if it is. Marvel has been changing a lot about its heroes nowadays. I don't really disagree with the changes? I mean anyone that reads these comics nowadays knows the source material is always changing any ways.
I remember that thread, and that's when i said that i used to believe it was just everyone looking out for themselves. I was 100% wrong. It's a very sensitive subject. You don't want to look like you're for 1, then you're still a racist. I'm no saint and have 110% had MANY racist thoughts throughout my life. I honestly don't know how other peoples brains work, but when there are people who claim they have never had a racist thought go through their head ever in their life, i usually believe that person to be full of **** and the most shady type of people that go behind your back and talk **** or maybe even worse just think bad thoughts about you privately and never speak of it. I could be wrong though. Maybe there are saints in the world. No one will ever truly know. As far as Katniss casting goes, i don't remember having a talk about that specifically in that thread. You say i was defending her being cast as white? Opinions can change with time but i'm not sure i would have argued for her to be white. That doesn't sound like me at all. Again, i could be wrong b/c things can change quickly. As i recall, the backlash around the internet was that she was supposed to be black because she had darker than white skin where i argued that not everyone who is not pale skinned is black and i believe i was pointing out varying shades of non black people. IIRC i read blog posts, etc about her olive skin and dark eyes etc which black people were saying meant she was black when i thought that was pretty ridiculous especially considering the rest of her family had anglo traits. A tanned, dark haired dark eyed child with a sibling who has green/blue eyes and light brown/dark blonde hair is not so uncommon to Latin America and the Middle East. The vast majority of the world is darker skinned with dark brown eyes and they aren't black. So i think that is what the argument was about. I may be 100% wrong. I don't know where that thread is to read. I cringe at the thought of embarrassing myself with ignorant posts, but you can link it here if you have it and we can discuss it further.
Yes I remember that, you more thought it was a black-white thing when it shouldn't be. I know in the thread it was shown that if anything blacks were over represented in hollywood (when it comes to acting, not sure about directing and stuff) but I remember arguing that #Oscarssowhite wasn't really about just black people, you had people like Chris Rock speaking out for hispanics and their lack of representation as well. I've always thought of the whole Oscar thing as not a black-white thing but it just turned out that a lot of black people were a lot more vocal about it. I know some Hispanic actors have spoken out about it and I think anyone that looks at the numbers of it...it's a bit silly. Such a large % of the population isn't represented very well in hollywood. I don't think I had the Katniss discussion entirely with you maybe, I think that was with another poster. I do remember having disagreements with you in that thread but not that it matters because yeah opinions can change and views on things can change. For me I never really cared about what she was supposed to be, the books are pretty vague about race in the first place. I always just thought it wasn't right for her to be exclusively cast as white and give no other young actresses a shot at such a career defining role. I just mentioned it here because I agree with you, for me Katniss could have been latina but what irks me is that the casting call wasn't even open to the idea of it and what's worse is some of these casting calls can be so openly discriminatory and what's an aspiring actor to do? Turn down role opportunities? Even if the role being asked to play is "D GIRLS: These are African American girls. Poor, not in good shape. Medium to dark skin tone..." people gotta eat. Can't turn down roles even if they are insulting. Also you're right. I think every one has a bias if not a racist thought. I think to get past that is to recognize that and realize where it is coming from. I think most people have a bias and Any ways we don't have to drag that discussion here, i don't think anyone in that thread came off as ignorant any ways or racist. I just think some people don't quite get the impact media perceptions can have and how much Hollywood can sway such perceptions.
I agree with you. I actually hated OscarsSoWhite before, but now i understand it and i hope it inspires Asians and Hispanics to be more vocal about it. I just don't think the movement went about it the right away. I'm all about minorities getting non stereotype roles. Not just lead roles too, but any roles. I would LOVE to see them as leads though, but lets start somewhere at least. What OscarsSoWhite felt like to me was about white people won't give black people awards when in reality it was just Idris Elba who was screwed over but i think i remember mentioning that it might have been more of an issue with Netflix movies that aren't released in theaters. Maybe those don't count or the people who run the Awards are against Netflix taking money away from them? If not, Idris 100% deserved an Oscar nomination. I look forward to Idris becoming a leader star in Hollywood. Dudes got the looks, the personality, the voice. Everything. Too bad he's already appraching his mid 40's and he's just really getting started when The Wire started 14 years ago and should have made him a star back then. Agreed with the casting call for Katniss. That's just awful and like i said, how will Hollywood ever know if a non Anglo white woman could have made the series even more of a hit if they never even thought to give her a chance. On top of it, JLaw pretty much half assed it IMO. She clearly didn't give much of a **** about the last few films. Just another day and another huge paycheck to show up when it could have been someones dream and life changing role. It just takes a few chances. One massive hit is all it takes. I'm just so afraid that if they do take a massive budget film and use a non white lead and it bombs, they will never try again as if white lead movies don't bomb all the time. You're 100% right on media impact on people. It's a powerful tool that can so easily be used for right or wrong depending on what can make more money. We know what sells more and that's the peoples fault.
Her not being white doesn't bother me all that much, but as love interests go, her physical appearance is probably the most defining of all of the them. She's supposed to be a perfect 10, green eyed red-head. But again, the appearance issue I can get over. The thing that bothers me, is that Mary Jane isn't supposed to be a childhood pal, high school sweetheart. She is the end game grown woman. That issue bothered me in the earlier Spiderman movies as well. I just don't understand why the movies feel so compelled to use established comic characters. They could create a brand new, and extremely good character with no established expectations. Instead they are gonna change basically all of her actual attributes, while just using the name. They are setting the actress up for trouble, because she is already in a hole with a big portion of the audience. When most (not all) of them say it's about being true to the character, not race, they mean it. Nerds are very protective of their characters. Just make some new characters, because this one is likely gonna be Mary Jane in name only. Harley Quinn is a perfect example of a non-comic character working her way backwards into a huge property. A new Spiderman love interest could do the same thing, maybe even usurp MJ's crown.
so glad to hear the fascinating commentary about society based on the casting of a character about a story of a boy who is bitten by a radioactive spider and thus gains super human powers. Truly enlightening.
