In pressing the reboot button on their Spider-Man franchise Sony pulled the rug out from under the feet of those Spidey-fans drooling over rumours of John Malkovich as Vulture, and raised their ire with the decision to relocate the series to high school.
Grabbing Mark Webb to direct the film, and potentially all three of the planned trilogy, was a bold move and though fans of his (500) Days of Summer may wonder at what might have been if Webb was able to follow his own path, as long as he can resist the inevitable and considerable pressure from Sony to do the films their way, the new Spider-Man films that have everyone talking needs just one more thing – the perfect Peter Parker.
Zac Efron rumours aside the latest teen star to be thrown into the pot is none other than Percy Jackson himself, Logan Lerman. We spoke to Logan recently as part of our Percy Jackson coverage and he was an intelligent and likable guy (and a fan of The Goonies – so bonus points there), but Access Hollywood got the word that Logan is in talks with Sony to play Peter Parker.
There have been a few discussions, it’s definitely something I’m looking into…It’s one of my favorite characters ever and I’m a huge fan of the series…I’d love to have more conversations about it. I’m definitely very interested in it
Now this quote could be taken as Sony playing the field and there’s no telling exactly how many people they are ‘talking’ to, or, if you’re a cynic, you could read it as a mutually beneficial publicity stunt for both Percy Jackson and the Spider-Man series. Either way it raises the profile of both franchises, as Percy Jackson is looking to be huge when it is released, and, thanks to the relatively positive reaction to Lerman as Spidey, Sony’s controversial reboot may be winning back fans. Whether Lerman will have time, or the inclination to lead in two, potentially conflicting, kid-friendly franchises is a problem.
But hold on… Heat Vision have thrown a lasso around this story with this.
So, in talking to Columbia and Logan’s team there are denials all round, and the sensible option that Lerman is just one among a long list of potentials is posited.
One thing is for certain – every time Spider-Man is written and read it attracts a lot of attention, and this rumour and rebuttal back and forth will continue until the official press release is inked.
