Rich Johnston’s website Bleeding Cool is reporting that Marc Webb and Sony have finally settled on their new Peter Parker, and he’s not one of those tween twinks we’ve seen bandied about. The site is reporting that the new Spider-Man is going to be Jamie Bell, once known as Billy Elliott, the little mining town boy who just wanted to dance.
The internet is already overrun with casting directors, so I won’t bore you with too many of my thoughts. Bell’s a really, really, really good actor, although his accent makes me a tad worried. It’s rare that any actor really ever totally submerges their accent, and even the faintest lilt coming out from under Spidey’s mask could wrench me out of the film.
But he’s a really strong actor, and if this is true I’m happy that Webb seems to have gone towards someone with chops, as opposed to someone with just a pretty face and a talent for working the MTV crowd. This casting bodes well for the reboot of Spider-Man.