spider-man

Evan Rachel Wood Proudly Announces The Search For Broadway’s Mary Jane Watson Is Over

8:15AM Seth | The long-gestating Spidey!: The Spider-Man Broadway Musical—words and music by U2, puppet-villains by Julie Taymor, early closing date by completely disinterested fanboy base—has secured the talents of Evan Rachel Wood to play love-interest Mary Jane Watson in the production, IESB.net reports: More »

Partying With Dunst!

6:00AM Seth | Having ended her relationship with Justin Long to pursue newer, more streamlined Macbooks, beloved Hollywood good-times gal Kirsten Dunst and friends partied Monday night away at La Poubelle—which, despite its name, Angelenos will recognise as a non-trashy hot spot on that little stretch of Franklin that mimics the look, pace, and feel of living in an actual city. With one flaccid ciggie dangling from her lips, the Spider-Man star and former Cirque Lodge resident appears to have overcome her sadness addiction, and is ready to tackle the world—and any impending, reluctantly embarked-upon tentpole sequel productions—one gin fizzie at a time. More partying photos after the junst! More »

Tobey Maguire Insists He Gets ‘Spider-Man’ Mornings And Evenings Off For Potty Training Duty

4:50AM Seth | The Spider-Man franchise has a reluctant protagonist in its star Tobey Maguire, who has now lived out more web-slinging adventures than quirky leading men twice his age, and who sounds more interested in watching his baby Ruby Sweetheart take her first earthbound steps than he is chasing The Lizard up the side of a skyscraper. Among the terms of his recent negotiation with Sony to shoot Spider-Man 4 through 5, he insisted, among the expected profit-sharing perks, upon a shortened schedule to accommodate for daddy-daughter bonding time, reports The Times Online: More »

The Death of ‘Austin Powers’ (And Six More Hobbled Franchises Worth Putting Down)

3:00AM STV | After the unfortunate reception for The Love Guru, it’s just too easy to write off New Line’s prospective Austin Powers revival (which Mike Myers is reportedly working on for New Line with former series collaborator Mike McCullers) as yet another ill-advised folly belching the black smoke of Myers’s career. In fact, taken as merely a part of the larger phenomenon we at Defamer like to call The End of Ideas, the Powers franchise is but a speck of the shit on Hollywood’s collective bathroom wall — a tableau diligently studied today by the haz-mat crew at Entertainment Weekly.

‘Spider-Man: The Musical’ Open Call Seeks Vocally Gifted Peter Parker Types

3:45AM Seth | A little over a year ago, we noted that celebrated director/visual-flourishist Julie Taymor would be tackling perhaps her most challenging source material yet. This project would afford no opportunities for portentous lion births, or soldiers lugging Lady Liberty across a model Vietnam in an extremely literal interpretation of a Beatles lyric. Rather, Taymor set about adapting Spider-Man into a Broadway musical. Helping to sell audiences on a hovercraft-enabled lead villain whose big showstopper, “Everything’s Coming Up Pumpkin Bombs,” closes the first act is none other than U2’s Bono and The Edge, who came on board as composers. Now all that’s left to round out this spider-shit insane idea is you, triple-threat Tobey and Kirsten types! More »

Paramount Preps, Fanboys Revolt as Box Office Waits for ‘Indy’ Windfall

5:10AM Defamer Hollywood | Paramount interns are plucking rose petals as we speak for Brad Grey’s arrival at the office tomorrow, by which time Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Do We Really Have to Write it Out Again will be on its way to the top five — and possibly even an all-time record — for a five-day opening weekend. Most midnight screenings around the country tonight are already sold out, with at least one prognosticator firming up his tracking to reflect a $173 million opening. The number would bump the final Star Wars installment Revenge of the Sith from the number-one spot and, paired with Iron Man, give Paramount the best May in its history. More »

9:10AM Defamer Hollywood | Earlier today over at McSweeney’s, we downloaded what’s reportedly author Michael Chabon’s original screenplay for Spider-Man 2. Reworked, reconsidered and rewritten a few dozen times (by three other writers; Chabon got story credit) before making its way to the screen as Sam Raimi’s blockbuster, the script features some of the moody, angsty masculine hallmarks threading the Pulitzer prize-winner’s novels like Wonder Boys and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. The skeptic in us has its doubts, but while we’re still torn over the overwhelmingly pranky nature of Oliver Stone’s W, we don’t know who the hell else would have written 252 pages of fan fiction this dynamic or, well, literary. In any case, we have our weekend reading cut out for us. [Via Videogum] More »

9:10AM Defamer Hollywood | Earlier today over at McSweeney’s, we downloaded what’s reportedly author Michael Chabon’s original screenplay for Spider-Man 2. Reworked, reconsidered and rewritten a few dozen times (by three other writers; Chabon got story credit) before making its way to the screen as Sam Raimi’s blockbuster, the script features some of the moody, angsty masculine hallmarks threading the Pulitzer prize-winner’s novels like Wonder Boys and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. The skeptic in us has its doubts, but while we’re still torn over the overwhelmingly pranky nature of Oliver Stone’s W, we don’t know who the hell else would have written 252 pages of fan fiction this dynamic or, well, literary. In any case, we have our weekend reading cut out for us. [Via Videogum] More »