"The Amazing Spider-Man" didn't do everything right. In fact, it did an awful lot wrong. But one thing that Marc Webb's summer superhero picture did nail was the casting. The smaller roles were played by heavyweights like Martin Sheen, Sally Field and Denis Leary, who all brought new twists to familiar characters, while in the leads, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone proved to be about as appealing of a central couple as you could ever ask for in such a film, their chemistry pretty much carrying the film when all else round it fell apart.
You might have mixed feelings about Webb returning for a sequel, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (and with a script from "Star Trek" and "Cowboys & Aliens" scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, no less), but you couldn't deny that this run of solid casting has continued. "The Descendants" breakout Shailene Woodley was first on board in Kirsten Dunst's old role of Mary-Jane Watson, while Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx joined soon after as villain Electro. And now, word has leaked out about some actors in the running to reboot the part of Harry Osborne, Spidey's best frenemy, played by James Franco in Sam Raimi's trilogy.
The Hollywood Reporter say that a trio of generally indie-inclined names are being looked at by Sony executives for the part; Brady Corbet, of "Mysterious Skin," "Melancholia," "Martha Marcy May Marlene" and this year's "Simon Killer," Alden Ehrenreich, star of Francis Ford Coppola's "Tetro" and next year's "Stoker," and Dane DeHaan, who broke out with "Chronicle" earlier in 2012, and impressed on the festival circuit with parts in "Lawless" and "The Place Beyond The Pines."
Apparently once written as a more athletic, jocky type, the part has since been reenvisioned for an 'edgier' actor, which explains what this central trio is doing here. We're not quite sure who we'd favor of the trio; Corbet's last major studio role in "Thunderbirds" didn't turn out so well, while Ehrenreich was actually in consideration to play Peter Parker before Garfield landed the gig, and will lead young adult hopeful "Beautiful Creatures" next February, and DeHaan has mostly avoided studio fare to date. And the trade do warn that the part is 'still evolving,' so someone else may end up taking it. Three cheers for hedging your bets!
Either way, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is heading towards a February start date, so we won't have to wait all that long for a decision. We're certainly on board with the choices so far, we just hope that all concerned are just as focused on getting the script right, so we don't end up with a film that reeks of post-production triage quite so much. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" will hit theaters on May 2nd, 2014.