diaz_green_hornet_spider_man_4

Some small superhero news today. First up is a weird bit of casting. According to EW, Cameron Diaz has been offered the female lead role in WB’s Green Hornet, where she’d be opposite Seth Rogen, working for director Michel Gondry. That’s a weird offer…maybe a couple years after The Mask it would have made sense, or even around the Charlie’s Angels era. But Diaz has fallen into the romcom zone, and it’s more difficult to see it working now. Nothing against Diaz; it just seems like a weird fit. But then, we know very very little about this film. Maybe Rogen, co-writer Evan Goldberg and Gondry have come up with something no one expects, where she makes more sense.

And then there’s some Spider-Man 4 news. Hit the jump for more.

Gary Ross, the director behind Seabiscuit and Pleasantville, both of which starred Tobey Maguire, has been hired to rewrite Spidey 4, says Variety. The script, which we can also expect to have heavy input from Sam and Ivan Raimi, was originally written by James Vanderbuilt, who previously wrote The Rundown and Zodiac. (Which, when stacked next to one another, form a weird, smart Voltron of an action movie in my mind.) Then David Lindsay-Abaire did a rewrite, and it’s now being handed to Ross, who has a good relationship with Sony. (He’s hopefully writing and directing a Lance Armstrong biopic for the studio.)

This is another one where we really don’t know very much. There’s the supposition that Morbius the Vampire will factor in, and hopefully The Lizard as well. Then producer Todd Black said that the film would feature a villain who is ‘a big part of New York’, which means…what, exactly? The most appropriate would be Kingpin, but he’s out thanks to Fox. Meanwhile, we probably won’t have to suffer through a marriage subplot for Peter Parker and and Mary-Jane. Or, at least I hope not.

  • i don't think i would mind cameron diaz for the role. i liked her in being john malkovich. i still don't know what to think about green hornet as a whole though. such a strange mix.

    as for spiderman, i'm through with that.
  • abergamo
    Raimi really surprised me with Drag Me to Hell so I'm really hoping he does the same with Spidey 4.
  • Ryz
    Horror is his specialiality. He really should bring it to Spiderman, Morphious would be insane to see.
  • Morpheus is in The Matrix. Morbius is the horrible creation of desperate idea starved 1970's comic book writers, who should never appear in a Spider-Man film, as he has never presented a real threat to Spider-Man. Ever. Morphious on the other hand exists in neither universe.
  • Drag Me to Hell is why Morbius should be the villian in Spider-Man 4. Rami style vampire? Totally awesome.
  • /ambient
    Raimi should work on "Drag Me To Hell II: Dragged By Dawn" first. I'd rather see that!
  • box elder
    there really does need to be a sequel to drag me to hell. but i do want to see another spiderman movie that is as good as spiderman 2.
  • cameron diaz is probably playing ms chase
  • Cam-D is a fine actress despite her latest films (meaning all her films after "In her shoes")
  • Why do they keep changing the writers for Spider-man 4? They've had quite a few writers on the script now and I guess everything that gets handed to them is garbage? I don't know but they need to get this thing figured out or we're not getting a Spider-man movie until 2012.
  • AllusiontoCool
    I think they want to make sure they have the best story as possible to make up for 3, which i still kinda liked. I think the whole marriage thing wouldn't happen in the movie but the whole point of Spiderman is that it's a love story that just happens to have action in it. I mean... Peter Parker has had a lot of loves. Gwen, Felicia, Liz Allen, Mary Jane... heck, even Betty Brant! I'm not sure about Morbius... I guess because i've only seen him in the animated show and didn't like him at all. but mixing superheroes and the supernatural could be a cool mix.
  • If they were to add Morbius, he could be added in as a side-villain with The Lizard. I think they both get made the same way or the same process. Like you, the only thing I know is the animated series a decade ago. They have said they are limiting this to only two villains this time, well that was back when the first writer started the script. If anything, the villains would most likely be Lizard and Kraven.
  • John
    Why don't they just have the guy that wrote Spidey 2 write #4? He did a great job with 2.
  • AllusiontoCool
    the dude's name was Alvin Sargent... i think that's how it's spelled... anywho, he also wrote spiderman 3. But Sam Raimi's older brother also wrote the script for #3... so maybe Ivan could stay away from this one... which he is.
  • Octoberist
    I think you're thinking of Michael Chabon, whose also an author and a comic book fan!

    I think he was the main reason why Spidey 2 was so good, despite Alvin Sargent doing the final polish. But Chabon is too busy rewriting "John Carter of Mars" for Disney and Pixar.

    But who knows.
  • Jeesh, how many rewrites is Spidey 4 going to get. By the time it is realeased every screenwriter in the world would have contributed something.

    Let's just hope all that creativity boils down to something good.
  • Brendon
    i'm shocked nobody's figured out the "big part of new york" thing. it means the lizard. cuz of that "giant alligators in the sewers" urban legend. i'm sure that's the lizard came to be created in the first place.
  • AllusiontoCool
    The Dylan Baker, who plays Dr. Conner/The Lizard, has said he's been wanting to play the Lizard for such a long time. let's hope his wishes are fullfilled.
  • Brandon
    Can anyone consider a "Big part of New York" to be Dare Devil? In the comics they were enemy's to each other. Maybe this is a possibility? Maybe not...
  • PTyn89
    No. Daredevil is currently a Fox property. On top of that, Spider-Man and Daredevil are not exclusively enemies. In fact, they more often team up than fight one another. They work towards the same things just in different ways (similar to Batman and Superman, they are an uneasy alliance). Furthermore, out of everyone you could think of as being "a big part of New York" the only character in the Marvel Universe that has any relation to Spider-Man was Daredevil? Seriously? What about Lizard? Kingpin? Green Goblin? Hammerhead? Silvermane? Hobgoblin? Kraven? Rhino? Scorpion? The Spider Slayers? Vulture?
    There are way more that fit the criteria of a "big part of New York." Not to mention the concept of the city actually turning against him. The fact that you, someone who seems as if they may know something about Spider-Man, would make such an unjustified conclusion makes me die a little inside.
    That said, I would like to see them team up.
  • Solid
    I don't know... spidey 3 was really bad. Yet it made a lot of money. What reason then do they have to put any kind of effort into this one if they could have idiocracy's ass on screen and still make millions? Stuff like that makes me ever the more sorry for dismissing superman returns and more glad Nolan's sticking to mature storytelling no matter how overly realistic it is. All of you online know I'm right.
  • box elder
    the reason sam raimi is going to put effort into this movie is becuz he's a kickass director who takes pride in his work. and even tho spiderman 3 isn't nearly as bad as people think it is (imho) raimi is to going to hit this next one out of the park to show y'all what a talent he is. you wait and see.
  • clever name
    to be honest. i was kind of uneasy when gwenyth paltrow was cast in iron man, but now i dont want anybody else except for her to be pepper. it does seem strange, but she could work out perfectly.

    as for spidey. im excited. im on of the few who liked S3 even though it was heavily flawed.

    oh and F*CK FOX. they ruin everything i love. 20th Century FAUX.
  • mchops
    The Lizard it shall be.
  • mchops
    does this mean the script was already done? im confused. if so, what was wrong with it and who decided it needed a re-write?
  • RussFischer
    Come on, guys. Almost every big movie like this gets rewritten a bunch of times. It's the process. Most of the time we don't hear about all the rewrites; in this case we do. There's nothing out of the ordinary here.
  • Octoberist
    Spider-Man 2 was rewritten several times, while I remember Spider-Man 3 never officialy had numerous rewrites, besides the ones made by the studio (Venom).

    I see this as a good thing so I'm not worried about it. Just make Mary Jane more like..Mary Jane: Sassy.
  • Isn't Green Hornet a Sony production?
  • Tbone78
    I'll admit I lost faith in Raimi after the trainwreck known as Spider-Man 3. Drag Me to Hell, however, restored my faith in the man. The Sam we all know, who makes kick ass movies is still alive and kicking. I blame the failure of Spider-Man 3 purely on the studio horning in where they weren't needed.

    I believe if the studio lets Raimi do what he does best Spider-Man 4 could possibly surpass Spider-Man 2 as the best of the franchise.
  • BrendonConnelly
    I don't know why a marriage subplot would be something we'd have to sufffer. Surely a marriage subplot can work just as well material about Spider-Man having to hit somebody?
  • Tim
    If they want Cameron diaz, they must think she suits the role. I don't see how you can say she's in a 'rom com zone' with movies like The Box and My Sisters Keeper being released. If anything I'd say her film choices throughout her career have shown she can be convincing in a variety of different roles.
  • Sma
    She doesn't take risks as an actress and although her work is slightly varied, her performances are often below par.
  • Joster
    Maybe Morbius isn`t such a terrible villain, but with the way the first 3 movies
    went, he`s really not the proper villain. But it`s still taking them longer to write the script? are they not gonna do a 4th?
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