First HitFix
reported that Logan Lerman, star of the
still-born franchise Percy Jackson and the Olympians, was all but hired to play
Spider-Man in Sony’s upcoming reboot.
Then Deadline
said it was exactly the opposite and that
Lerman was like the last guy they wanted for the part.
There’s
one of two things going on here:
1) Sony sources lied to Deadline.
Sony lied its pants off in December when Sam Raimi was being pushed to
the wayside and Spider-Man 4 was being scrapped, so there’s no
reason to believe they aren’t lying again.
2) Someone fed HitFix bad info on
purpose. The main reason for this would be a negotiating tactic –
there’s someone the studio wants but that actor is playing hardball; by
making everybody think that Logan Lerman is 99% of the way to the Spidey
suit, the other actor gets nervous and abandons his hardball positions.
Let
me make one thing clear: the only actor whose name has been bandied
about lately who should get the role is Johnny Simmons. You may have
seen him in Jennifer’s Body, where he’s Needy’s boyfriend and
is, in my opinion, absolutely terrific. He’s also in Scott
Pilgrim vs the World as Young Neil, and it seems like
he’s great in that too. Simmons looks the right age, he has the right
demeanor and he can act. He’s also got a really wonderful screen
presence. The only question I’d have about Simmons is how he would
handle the action, but the reality is that Spidey is the easiest
superhero to stunt double ever.
So whether Logan Lerman is or isn’t
number one on the list, stop talking about him. Let’s only talk about
Johnny Simmons.