Marc Webb - Tumblr Posts

First, some thank yous:

Marc Webb, you are my hero. This is the Spiderman film I have always dreamed of. All other attempts pale in comparison. It was so perfect I lost track of how many times I cried. Thank you, thank you, thank you for directing such a dream come true.

James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves; My heart cannot contain the joy and gratitude I feel for a Spiderman script/screenplay that actually depicts Spidey's snarky, smart-ass, playful humor in the same way that made me fall in love with him. Andrew and Spidey's lines were spot on.

Andrew Garfield, I've loved you since Dr. Parnassus and I've been giddy since I first read that you were slated to play Spidey however many ages ago that happened. You were adorkable, funny, sexy, clumsy, snarky and amazing in all the ways I've always imagined Spiderman to be. Now please stop making me cry. Thanks.

Francine Maisler, for giving us the amazing cast of this movie. Especially Andrew. Unless someone else cast him. Then extra special thanks to that person. Seriously. Cannot thank you enough. Ever.

Now, I just have to put this out there: In addition to The Lizard making me think of the kanima, well ya know Flash? He made me think unavoidably of Jackson. Aaand when Flash hugged Peter it cemented my budding desire to ship them. Even when Flash came up to Peter after his uncle died and Peter slammed him against the locker, I was already starting to ship that. So yeah, Peter/Flash forever. <3

Before I go, a couple things:

Separated at birth?:  

1: Gale Harold (aka Brian Kinney)  .  .  .  2: Andrew Garfield aka Peter Parker

Aaaand:

  Just sayin'.

Like many people, there are several many various stories that float around in the gray matter of my head. I've got some chapters and one shots completed and have to put them on the back burner for some RW work for awhile but one thing I've been toying with is Gwen and Peter and how they were aware of each other and the hints of that the writers, actors, and Marc Webb included that were so charming. We know she knew his name and he knew hers (even if kinda sorta acting like he didn't). He has a knack for sitting behind her in more than one class. He knows the class ranking (I love this because I 'get' that completely) and we know she does. It's the somewhat hypervigilant sensitivity for which high school is famous albeit in a soft way that explains so much with so little. Kudos to the cast and crew on that one.

Thinking a little more on The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2, seems like audiences would've been pleased with some of Webb's initial vision from #1 which focused on the relationships, witnessing the pathos of the character arc(s), along with the visual elements (swinging etc) had they been incorporated more into #2. #2 had that some of that feel but it seems like it fell apart towards the end. Maybe some of it was having two villains, plus having to follow the Gwen storyline, plus Peter discovering his father's past, etc but I don't know. Still thought that Gwen's death was depicted really well. That web hand reaching just beautiful. Wouldn't we all like to do that for people we care about to pull them back to us free from harm, free from dying.

Had the sequel been able to continue in the earlier style and use the easter egg method/hints that audiences (smarter than they're given credit) might've enjoyed sleuthing in between movies #2 and #3 (since 3 never happened) perhaps it wouldn't have had that overwhelming feeling of too much and too rushed.

Really thought Webb had the right idea but I also understand the love for the Raimi films as well. It's all good here, a little wishful thinking is all.

You completely read my mind and the Webb versions had so so so much potential I was telling friends for years (and yet I still enjoyed what we got). With that cast and the ability to meld the action that fans love with the emotional depth of the story that Webb and his professional stars could bring? Arrrrrrggh. Sony was big with the money but IMO corporate lost sight of the story and the story is what brings people to watch and want and watch some more. The company's turmoil during that time affected things, but it was tragic that (at least) three completely unfettered Webb movies were not produced. Webb had some amazing (no pun) shots as it was. The funeral scene in the first film? Peter on the roof like an outcast angel, while Gwen looks up and the rain falls like tears from the sky? Ooooof. Peter's look when he realizes that it was his 'coldness' towards others' concerns that cost him the life-giving warmth of his Uncle Ben. Peter and Gwen and the awkwardness of how to talk to someone you want to talk to but don't know the words. Lesson after lesson in personal growth is one of Marc Webb's talents in story telling, he just 'gets' how people interact with one another for good and bad.

So happy you posted, sorry for soap boxing, but I sensed a kindred spirit and ran with it.

Happy 11th anniversary "The Amazing Spider-Man"!

"Don't even get me started on how brilliant that movie could've been..."

Go ahead and start! I felt like I was shouting into the wind with respect to TASM 2. Maybe the studio was attempting to compete/race with what they knew was in the pipeline w/respect to the tsunami of superhero projects in cinema, but they crammed way too much into one (too short) run time and it muddied everything. The plot with Peter and Gwen and Harry Osborn was plenty and even if one left Electro in (not going to lie, Jamie Foxx is and always will be a talent), there was plenty going on with the struggle between the choices (we) make in our relationships and the flaws with which we struggle. That is what draws us into Peter's psyche, Harry's rage, and Gwen's turmoil over her own path. (I love that she was an independent, smart character in her own right). Everything about the two movies we got was not a quip or short toss-off comment. There was still plenty of smart plot driven humor, but it is the pathos of Peter's story arc, and likewise the same for his friends, family, and the 'villains' that kept us enthralled. Your comment about the cut scenes with Dr. Connors from TASM 1 speaks to that. So much to work with in TASM 2 with respect to father figures (not even going to dwell on how father figures and protagonist struggles with those issues dominate the movie industry over female representation but I have thoughts for sure.)

The studio treated cinema goers as if they were not very bright and instead of burying the easter eggs so that fans could spend the next two years discussing and discovering hints and clues about a third movie and what that might entail, they just Pollocked it all over the latter third of the script and it showed. I don't fault the cast for that. I mean-- Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Martin Csokas, et al bring the best of their talents to everything they do. As to Marc Webb, I wish I knew how much pragmatism he had to bring to the set every day knowing that it would be a fight to get his vision realized against a juggernaut of a global release with a lot riding on it.

Gosh, I think that was an essay and I could go on. Sorry for that, but I'm not really; it is cathartic in a way. The trilogy (a fourth was likely never going to happen with the way things were headed) will never be recaptured in the way it could have been with that ensemble and it's a shame.

Happy 11th anniversary "The Amazing Spider-Man"!

Photo credit: @cypherdecypher via public domain

That Defining Characteristic

S.O. and I were watching Yorgos Lanthimos' film The Lobster and we happened upon the scene where Ben Whishaw's character stands up and talks about his defining characteristic.

Completely ignoring the meaning of the scene and yet embracing it in a different way, I mentioned that my defining characteristic appeared to be a net. A mesh if you will. Or perhaps a cage. I see the many chapters long Peter Parker/Spider-man epics, the long-standing projects waving futilely from the island across the sea where they are stranded. I would need to be a long-lived lobster with incredible focus to complete them all. Or perhaps a fisher scooping them up to carefully and devotedly tend to them one by one and then set them free. Meanwhile the short drabbles, the insignificant tasks, and the side tangents frolic on the beach next to me, unaware of the tragedy beyond the mesh.

Aaaaand I just realized I somehow joined in crossover The Lobster and Free Guy and if that doesn't define me, then I don't know what does. My S.O. didn't even bat an eye.

What is your defining characteristic? Then perhaps tag a few people and learn more about their own perspectives...

@sincericida, @periprose @blooming-violets @withahappyrefrain @ficthots @p3mybeloved

The London premiere (I think that is the one) was really special. Cast was dressed to the NINES and everyone was stunning. Like you mentioned, the press tour was on fire, don't know how everyone managed to keep energy with all those dates and travel, but the fans certainly appreciated it worldwide.

"AG IS IN THE HOUSE!" 😎

Yeahhhhh!

(x)

No idea how old this original post is, ran across it by chance. I like your take on Peter Parker/Spider-man. My own opinion is that i like a blend of Raimi/Maguire and Webb/Garfield. Reasons being that Raimi nailed the background with the quintessential Queens neighborhood and the not afraid to get the hands dirty type of work that kept food on the table attitude. Whatever it took, it was going to be a roll up the sleeves and get to work mindset. Webb addressed this somewhat as well: Uncle Ben and Peter were going to repair the freezer themselves and not call a serviceperson, both Aunt May and Uncle Ben are employed and don't have the luxury of taking the day off when Peter gets in trouble--Ben has to trade shifts, eventually leading to his demise when Peter forgets his responsibility (TASM).

My inclusion of Webb/Garfield is also due to the wit that you mentioned which is so much more like the comics (and as befitted his intellectual nature) but also because they returned to the manufactured web shooters. Sure, I get that the entire cost of that spandex suit, overlay, the Asics track spikes aint cheap either, etc that Peter pulled together was costly, but the point was that Peter made it. Not some wealthy benefactor. That sleek creation just reeked of the old Horatio Algier novels wherein the orphan is rescued due to his upstanding work ethic and morals and given everything by the smart tycoon because he recognizes something of himself in the wee lad. Hah, too far fetched to believe that the other two Peters would lap that up (something that Garfield alluded to in an interview) Maguire's and Garfield's Peter Parkers saw firsthand that wealth was not without costs that were not all material through their mutual friend, Harry Osborn. The Raimi/Webb films portrayed the boy/man Peter Parker as flawed. Which, of course, all of us are. But they were also unafraid to say that while Peter Parker (due to the danger of being Spider-man) seemed destined to 'go it alone,' he was more than capable of doing just that if necessary. Scrappy indeed. Thanks for posting your thoughts.

I should add, I don't hate the MCU, it has entertained millions and earned more than that for the industry. I just don't like it as much because a lot of potential seemed wasted. Maybe viewers don't want that, and I'm an outlier, but I'm not going to invest in a film character(s) that is only half-formed because the studio wants more flashy flash and two cent takes every two minutes and has to keep within a *budget conscious run time.

*which destroyed TASM 2 because that script was a hot mess

No, I actually think that this is a major part of what distinguishes Raimi’s Peter Parker from the MCU version of the boy. The entire thesis of Spiderman’s character is that he’s scrappy. He’s never had the reources of other heroes like the Fantastic Four or Iron Man, Raimi’s Spidey doesn’t have shit at the beginning of the second movie. He’s a month late on rent, got fired from his job, Mary Jane hates him, Aunt May’s house is on the verge of foreclosure, he’s failing his college courses.

Contrast that with the MCU’s Spiderman. Gifted a suit on the cutting edge of technology by Tony Stark himself, set up when he needs it by Iron Man’s money,  given Iron Man’s highly invasive worldwide surveillance drones. 

Raimi’s Peter Parker has my respect because I know that man has worked in retail and I know that he understands the struggle of the common man, and I cannot say the same for MCU Peter. 

If I may, I would like to add some comments to this aside from the final paragraph AU talk.

I loved Gwen Stacy in this film. Although not on Tumblr at the time, I was an Emma Stone fan, and when she got cast I was thinking this might be the vehicle that really highlighted some of her talent to an even wider audience. I think she more than succeeded in that.

But as the years passed and she has been in some really great movies (and one or two of which I wasn't so fond), I also got curious about the behind-the-scenes with her character (no, not the personal stuff) and there was an interview where she talked about the role etc but tbh the studio keeps some of the promo talks pretty sterile so I was frustrated. But Steve Kloves (one of the three writers for the film, the other two were James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent and apparently even for a scene or two Paul Feig) but anyway, Steve Kloves did an interview with Collider and he talked about it as much as he was able at the time (it was July of 2011 so you can imagine again how tight-lipped he had to be). In case you're unaware, Kloves wrote for all of the Harry Potter films save one and he was asked to write for TASM and initially turned it down BUT *changed his mind because he really wanted to write for Emma Stone. Most of his work was for character (especially hers) and dialogue and he emphasized that he and director Webb wanted to keep it grounded in reality.

I think the collaboration between the three: Stone, Webb, and Kloves was absolutely awesome in that. Emma knocked that role out of the park. She was heroic without being a superhero and you want to talk about how amazing (yeah sorry) that was to see on the screen in a genre that frequently has had females as solely love interest, male support staff, and/or simply fainting/screaming with no agency. Just amazing. Every second Gwen was on the screen I was riveted. A large part of that was Emma's brilliance, but I am so glad Kloves worked to add depth to that role that Emma brought to life. (I'm not knocking the rest of the cast, but this is about Gwen).

I don't believe Kloves would ever write for the series any longer, but if they ever do a live action AU Gwen, regardless of whether Emma Stone is available or even wants to be cast, I hope they pick a writer who understands that perspective. Also, I'm not trying to cast bad vibes on Zendaya's Michelle (MJ). She's a wonderful actress but it's a different character and the MCU went in a different direction. But I'd love to see a well-acted and well-written Spider-woman.

*the late Laura Zisken asked Kloves to reconsider; her husband was (also the late) Alvin Sargent who wrote for the Raimi trilogy IIRC as well as TASM.

Additionally, Kloves was not on the script for TASM 2 and although Vanderbilt was hired to write it, his draft was later rewritten by the three writers hired to rework it. Not a fan of their effort really.

Tag: @therese-lokidottir

Can we all just take a moment and appreciate how cool Gwen Stacy is in The Amazing Spider-Man films, Not only risking her life making the antidote, but also making sure everyone else at OsCorp is out of the building safe. That is something thinks of before even considering her own safety is making sure everyone else far way before the lizard arrives.

Also as soon as she the device that the Lizard is planning to take Gwen tries everything to try to keep of away from him.

Look, Gwen is absolutely terrified, but it doesn't stop her from trying her hardest to and going up against a giant lizard man to try to save the city.

Listen, what I'm saying is this Gwen Stacy, this version specifically had all the chops to be a super-hero herself. There's definitely and alternate universe where she got bit by the Spider and became Spider-Woman.

Do you ever do this, you think back on all the times you’ve had with someone and you just replay it in your head over and over again and you look for those first signs of trouble?

(500) Days of Summer (2009) dir. Marc Webb

“Stay with me…Gwen. Please.”