Oct 31 2008Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright Writing 'Spider-Man', Probably Thinks He's Better Than Us
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire is in final negotiations to write Spider-Man 4. This will be the Spider-Man for the literati! From THR:
Lindsay-Abaire, who won a Pulitzer in 2007 for his drama "Rabbit Hole," is in final negotiations to write "Spider-Man 4" for Columbia.Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire are back as director and star, respectively, as are series producers Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad. Kirsten Dunst also is expected to return for the latest movie featuring the Marvel Comics character.
Lindsay-Abaire has said in interviews that his plays tend to be "peopled with outsiders in search of clarity," which would put his work on sympathetic terms with Peter Parker, who in his classic incarnation is the perpetual outsider.
A Pulitzer prize-winner writing a Spider-Man is nothing new, but a playwright this time? Yikes! Is this Spider-Man or Death of Spider-Man?! Is this Spider-Man or Spider-Madame Butterfly?! Spider-Man or Streetcar Named Desire, Which is Being Suspended by Webs of Spider-Man?! Spider-Man or Shrek the Musical...-Man????
Nah, this should fine. Almost anything would improve on the last sequel. Though I am slightly concerned that Lindsay-Abaire wrote Inkheart, which looks terrible (in fairness, everything with Brendan Fraser looks terrible), and Shrek the Musical, which is Shrek the Musical.
Reader Comments
1. DreamFolder - October 31, 2008 2:52 PM
Only in this one, Peter comes to the realization that he's gay, leaving Mary Jane broken hearted and wondering if it something she did. Meanwhile Peter hooks up with Harry and has a love/hate relationship with Harry / Green Goblin. Sure to be in contention for an Oscar.
2. Sueyo - October 31, 2008 4:06 PM
Hooray. The hideous cast and terrible director return.
Forget about the Spider-Man franchise; it was one of the biggest mistakes in my life going to see Spider-Man 3 in theaters and actually giving that piece of garbage even more money.
3. Montgommery - November 1, 2008 3:22 PM
Guess what im ganna go see and pay money for! Not this piece of shit! Did they not get how much everyone hates the pussy cry baby Parker? Was that not terribly obvious when EVERYONE made fun of the movies for that? 'Parently not. So they're ganna get a writer to try to jerk our tears? Here's an interesting concept for the writers: Spider-man actually kicking some ass. Not an hour of him running around bitching about his life and having a horrid obsession with MJ before the last hour where some science experiment goes wrong and the villain kills them self. But instead an hour of him kicking ass and being cocky about it before he beats the shit out of a villain who actually wants to be bad. I know this concept isn't that safe place directors are looking for when making a movie, but ass kicking is the only reason people go to see super hero movies. "I'm not a bad person..."
4. Narcissist - November 2, 2008 4:14 AM
They gotta make up for 3 in a big way. 2 had writers. Empire Strikes Back had writers.
@3 Steven Segal is still doing straight-to-DVD releases.
5. Mr. Jones - November 3, 2008 9:50 AM
Um, does anyone remember what a stinking turd the first "Hulk" movie ended up being? This, of course, was helmed by a high-brow, tear-jerker, mawkish director named Ang Lee, who directed "Ice Storm". BOOOORING!!
These Hollywood producers are so fucking clueless. Sure, having a solid, intelligent story is important. But the number one criteria for a super-hero movie is for it to BE ENTERTAINING. And you can't entertain someone if you put them to sleep.
And is this Lindsay-Abaire even a comic-book fan? Or is he going to "fix" the Spider-Man mythos with his "re-imagination", since several decades of comic books isn't worth mining for some really good ideas.
6. James B. - November 3, 2008 11:01 PM
Quick note: Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon was involved in the writing of the script for Spider-Man II, which turned out to be awesome, in my opinion. So lashing out against a guy just because he won a Pulitzer Prize doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Also, I've got faith that Raimi might turn it around. The first flick was entertaining; the second was great. The third, admittedly, turned out to be a lump of shit. But still – 66.6% successes isn't abysmal. In the movie world, I'd say 1/1 is a decent ration.
7. Amy - November 13, 2008 5:06 AM
"I know this concept isn't that safe place directors are looking for when making a movie, but ass kicking is the only reason people go to see super hero movies."
That's some impressive self-contradiction, right there.