Should Sam Raimi decide to run for office, a recent interview with MTV proves that he has the kind of circuitous non-answering gene that most politicians need to survive in today’s media world. For example, when asked whether Kirsten Dunst would be back in Spider-Man 4 and 5:
“I hope she’ll be written into it. I couldn’t imagine making one
without her, and I think she’s an important part of the movies.”
Hope? Like it’s out of his hands? Come now, Sam!
He gives lots of other non-answers in the interview, including whether or not the next two films will be shot back to back:
“It’s Amy Pascal’s decision. I don’t think it has been decided yet, and
she’s the one that’s really going to make that decision; I’m really
curious myself.”
And whether The Lizard will finally make his appearance in a Spidey film:
“[Dylan Baker’s] a great actor, and I think one day The Lizard’s story will be
told. I don’t
know if it will be this one or not. I just don’t know. I’m definitely
hoping to work with Dylan in the picture. I just don’t know who the
villain is yet.”
Pretty much the only thing that Raimi answers straight is that the new film will go into production in 2010, I do understand that there’s a lot of stuff that, this early, is still up in the air (including, apparently, whether or not Raimi is even directing the next two), but you’d think that Sam Raimi might have a clue whether or not Mary Jane makes it into the next film. I mean, that would be a pretty big departure from the status quo at the end of 3 if they just wrote her out. As far as I’m concerned, saying you hope Mary Jane gets written in is like saying you hope you can squeeze Peter Parker into this next installment.
As for The Lizard: I chilled with Avi Arad on the set of The Grand in Vegas two years ago, and he swore up and down to me that The Lizard was the villain in the fourth film. Obviously Avi is not now the Avi he was then, and his insistance that The Lizard would show up was based on his personal love of the character. Still, it seems almost pathological to keep having Dylan Baker show up as Curt Connor and never give him a damn thing to do in these movies.