200909141216
§ Access Hollywood has a rather flimsily sourced story that we so want to be true Bruce Campbell could have a larger role in SPIDER-MAN 4:

However, he may have a bigger role this time around. Bruce told Access that in the next installment in the superhero franchise, he’s been told he has a major part – but didn’t yet know anything about his character.

The villain – or villains — for the movie have yet to be revealed, though some fans have speculated that Bruce could take on the role of Mysterio – the master of illusion.


Fans have also suggested Campbell for Dr. Curt Connors, although Dylan Baker ended up playing the role. We say…what about…

Kravenmu

Kraven the Hunter!

§ The Megan Fox-Michael Bay war is heating up! Three anonymous crew members write a tell-all on Fox; however, a comment at DHD and forensics reveal that the author may well have…Bay himself!

200909141226Speaking of Megan Fox, Laura Hudson casts an investigative eye on her comics cred:

People seem pretty excited that a beautiful movie star is actually saying the names of comic book creators and thus creating the illusion that she’s a comic book fan, but after multiple Comic-Cons and years of working in comics-related movies, she’s basically able to name 1) The guy who drew the comic book her next movie is based on (“Fathom”), 2) The comic book that launched the movie she just starred in (“Jonah Hex”) and 3) an obscure comic by the creator of “Babylon 5” that he tried to make into a movie (“Midnight Nation”).

1 COMMENT

  1. Christ, no. No, no no. The last one was painful enough. I mean, the whole last movie was painful enough, but an increased role for Campbell? No. Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy, calling attention to itself cheese.

    He does look kind of like John Romita’s Richard Parker, though. Christ on a bike, tell me they aren’t doing the super-spy Spider-spawners storyline…

    //Oo/\

  2. This is the first I can recall hearing of an attempt to turn Midnight Nation into a movie. Rising Stars, yeah, and that movie attempt created the JMS/Top Cow split…which ultimately ended up hurting the Rising Stars comic book. But Midnight Nation?

  3. I maintain that Dog, Bounty Hunter from the self-titled Tv show is a perfect Superhero or villain, comes complete with checkered past, and is waiting for his Spidey Movie audition!

  4. The most logical (though not thrilling) villain WOULD be the Lizard, since the Dr. Connors character has appeared in both Spidey II and III, though nothing was done to plant seeds for his lizarding-out. I wouldn’t want Campbell to play him, though.

    Heidi’s suggestion of Kraven WOULD be perfect for Campbell, though I don’t think the character is right for what could very well be the final movie of the “Sony/Raimi era” (yeah, I know there’s a contract for more, but I assume buying it out is going to be Job #1 for Disney). Mysterio? Nah. As we learned from Spidey 1, a villain with an obscured face doesn’t work out so well…much less an obscured head like Mysterio.

    I’d love to see an off-beat choice like Morbius (especially with vampires all the rage….AGAIN!), perhaps played by Adrien Brody…but if I had to put money on it, I would have to pick the Lizard for at least a co-villain role (though I hope Raimi bucks the “2 villains for the price of 1” gimmick).

  5. “As we learned from Spidey 1, a villain with an obscured face doesn’t work out so well…much less an obscured head like Mysterio.”

    That’s one of the strangest pieces of movie analysis I’ve ever read. If villains with obscured faces don’t work, how do you explain the success of SCREAM? and STAR WARS? I think villains with costumes that work are what everyone wants — and the Goblin’s costume isn’t what people wanted. Mysterio’s costume, on the other hand, is what fans want since it’s … well, since it’s Mysterio’s costume.

    Mysterio would work better paired with another villain. I said PAIRED WITH ANOTHER VILLAIN. That is, two villains working TOGETHER on a growing, master plot. NOT the cheesey “plot” where two random super-villains meet three-quarters of the way through the film and say, “Hey, let’s team up to kill the hero of the film!”

  6. “That’s one of the strangest pieces of movie analysis I’ve ever read. If villains with obscured faces don’t work, how do you explain the success of SCREAM? and STAR WARS?”

    In the case of Scream, the killer wasn’t being asked to convey emotion (or even speak, for that matter), so the blank emotions work in that context. For Vader, the masked worked wonderfully when establishing his Bad Mo-Fo credentials, but not so great when delving into more emotionally shaded territory (such as his “conversion” in ROTJ). In other words, Vader worked in SPITE of the limitations of his mask, not because of them.

    Spider-Man villains, especially the Green Goblin, have always had a strong emotional element that artists like Ditko and Romita Sr. conveyed masterfully through facial expressions, and ideally you’d want to capture that on screen. Making the Green Goblin, essentially, a wildly gesticulating yet frozen-faced Power Rangers villain, robbed the character of his manic emotional core (Raimi may have realized this by shoehorning in the scene where the Goblin mask opens to reveal Dafoe’s mouth).

    As genuinely eerie as the Ditko Mysterio was, he’s more a Scooby Doo villain than a Spider-Man villain…and not the best candidate for an already diminished Spider-Man movie franchise. They need some major flash and emotional power in their next villain choice. Mysterio just doesn’t have that.

  7. It’s kind of a given that SAM RAIMI at least doesn’t like working with masked characters — you can see that from how he removes them every chance he gets.

    George Lucas……well, that’s a different story, don’t you think?

  8. I always assumed the removals of masks had more to do with actor vanity/contract requirements for a certain amount of “face time”….but I can definitely see a frustration factor for a director who desperately wants some facial expressions to convey high emotion…yet has a main character with a full face mask. That might explain the train rescue sequence from Spidey II where his mask was randomly sparked on fire and needed to be removed, thereby allowing Toby McGuire’s face to better convey “straining mightily”.

  9. I will only see Spider-Man 4 for Bruce Campbell.

    And he should be Mysterio. The movie should open with him in full Mysterio get up, Spider-Man in his clutches… He de-masks (de-globes?) and we see it’s Bruce. He monologues about knowing who Spider-Man was from the beginning… at the cage match, at the theater, at the French restaurant… and now he’s going to destroy Spider-Man for no reason whatsoever! But then he falls victim to one of his own special FX stunts, and Spidey escapes unscathed after making a quip.

    The rest of the movie could be about how there was a third, fourth, and fifth criminal involved in Unka Ben’s death for all I care.

  10. when Justin and I were on the set of the Jonah Hex movie, megan had already shot most of her scenes …so cut to comic con months later and i am up at the “press” section and her agent runs to her to tell her i am there, and megan takes a break and we speak about the movie, the book and some art…and then she is pulled back to the press group.

    My personal opinion…a sweet, smart and outspoken actress that understands the culture…and the character she and josh play.

    probably the coolest thing besides Josh and Jimmy Heyward on set was that the whole crew knew who we were, who the tallulah black character from the comic was that we created [ not in the movie] , and they had all read the comics. the conversations we had with everyone that day made my year.

    its part of the fun of this business .

    jimmy p

  11. I never knew much about Megan Fox until she showed up on Jimmy Kimmel promoting “Transformers 2.” She said she used to run around Comic-Con trying to sell herself as a comic book artist. Who knows if it’s true or not, but the sketch she did of herself and Jimmy was pretty good…

    I’ve always thought The Lizard and Kraven should be in the same “Spider-Man” movie, with Kraven coming to New York to hunt The Lizard and Spidey caught in the middle trying to stop Doc Conners from getting killed, so then Kraven decides to hunt Spidey. Meanwhile, the love Doc’s wife has for him convinces Peter to marry MJ.

  12. I agree! Bruce would do well as Kraven! :)

    But i would hate to hate him, as a villain. :( He’s too likeable!

    As for Miss Fox…wow, she actually looks pretty in that pic! O.O

    As for all that crap that’s going on with her and Bay…I couldn’t care less.

  13. bruce campbell as mysterio has been a nerd dream casting call of mine for some years now. if it’s not to be, hope they get quentin… tarantino.

    and what a great mary jane megan fox would be. she has the required psiché du rolê… i can’t help thinking she was drawn by john romita sr. in the pic above.

  14. I called dibs on Campbell doing Mysterio years ago. I’m glad Sony finally listened to one of my ideas before they shitcanned me.

    You need someone with a good strong thick Russian accent to portray Kraven.

    ~

    Coat

  15. “I can definitely see a frustration factor for a director who desperately wants some facial expressions to convey high emotion…yet has a main character with a full face mask.”

    Add to that the natural thought, perhaps from the studio-suit/marketing side, that says, “Hey, if we’ve gotten big-name-actor to play this part and we’re making a big deal about having gotten big-name-actor, shouldn’t we at least make sure that folks can see that it’s indeed big-name-actor?” which seems to have influenced all sorts of movies aside from comics ones. I’m thinking of that Robin-Williams-as-robot movie a few years back…

  16. Hmmm … how about Mysterio keeps the dome ON when he’s Mysterio … and he removes it for being plain old Quentin Beck?