As we try to avoid that leaked ‘No Way Home‘ trailer that is making the rounds online, let’s take a trip back to the beginnings of the Tom Holland-led ‘Spider–Man‘ trilogy. Several years ago, when Marvel Studios and Sony were on the hunt for the right filmmaker to reboot the “Spider–Man” franchise in the MCU, Jonathan Levine was one of the few left towards the end of the search. However, before the final decision could be made, the “Warm Bodies” filmmaker walked away from the opportunity. And according to Levine, there were a number of reasons why he wasn’t ready to make the superhero leap back then.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Playlist Podcast, Levine talked about his flirtation with Marvel Studios and Sony regarding the film that would become “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” And while he wasn’t ready back then to tackle such a huge project, he thinks his recent experience with “Nine Perfect Strangers” and more projects under his belt has set him up for a possible superhero project down the line, if the right one comes up.
“I read an article where I turned down ‘Spider-Man’ to pursue studio comedies and that’s not exactly accurate,” the filmmaker explained. “The more accurate thing was, it was like kinda breaking up with someone right before they break up with you. I could see it probably wasn’t going to go my way or that I was unwilling to keep moving forward with the process, so I pulled out. I’m not necessarily sure I wouldn’t gotten it. I don’t think I would have gotten it, but I was one of the last three people in the mix.”
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Levine said he did have admiration for those that pulled off super-hero films that inject personality into them and had lots of praise for Jon Watts’ “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” “There are certainly people I know who are able to do it and do it with their own idiosyncratic voice and I’m incredibly jealous of them. To make something creative, that has a point of view within that framework is a beautiful thing. So I’m still down to find one that I feel like I’m a good fit for.”
Levine said part of the issue was that the demands of trying to land one of these gigs, itself, was a month-long “full-time job,” which was taxing and he was juggling other projects at the time, doubly so if you’re not familiar with the comic-book property (he says “Fantastic Four,” “Spider-Man,” and “X–Men” are his jam, but that’s it). Levine said the process “left a pretty bad taste in my mouth,” and for a while, he was turned off the entire idea of doing superhero movies. However, he said, “They just keep doing so much good shit,” so the appeal is still there. “‘WandaVision‘ is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen!” he added.
Levine says he’s much better suited for blockbusters and Marvel movies now, having accrued more experience and found a way to insert his own personality and voice into something that wasn’t his own like the recently-made “Nine Perfect Strangers,” which recently debuted on Hulu. You can hear the full podcast interview below: