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Marc Preston Webb Is an American director, producer, screenwriter. He is best known for having directed The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Webb was to direct the third movie, and had declared he would not be directing the fourth movie, but claimed he was interested in remaining producer and creative consultant to the franchise prior to it's shelving.

Outside of the ASM series, Webb is known for directing music videos, as well romantic-comedy film 500 Days of Summer (2009), and the drama films Gifted and The Only Living Boy in New York (both 2017). He will also direct the live-action adaptation of Disney's Snow White & The Seven Dwarves in 2025.

Trivia[]

  • Webb has stated, much like Sam Raimi before him, he was always a fan of Spider-Man as a kid, namely the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, the 1994 cartoons Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Spider-Man Unlimited, and obviously Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy. Webb had explained in interviews "When I got that phone call from Avi Arad and Amy Pascal asking "Hey, we're rebooting the Spider-Man movie franchise, would you like to direct?", honestly, I was skeptical at first. Spider-Man 3 had been out for three years, and of course, following in the presence of movies like these, movies still fresh in everyone's mind. It's not easy to start from scratch after that. But of course the I thought 'How can I walk away from this? This is a truly once in a lifetime opportunity!'. He also announced at a press release that "Sam Raimi's virtuoso rendering of Spider-Man is a humbling precedent to follow and build upon. The first three films are beloved for good reason. But I think the Spider-Man mythology transcends not only generations but directors as well. I am signing on not to 'take over' from Sam. That would be impossible. Not to mention arrogant. I'm here because there's an opportunity for ideas, stories, and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas, and creative voice to Spider-Man." He would explain that unlike the Harry Potter and James Bond films, which are based on a relatively miniscule amount of novels, Spider-Man's history was far richer and lengthy, explaining "there's so much material in Spider-Man that there are so many stories to tell and so many characters." He described "This is not supposed to be a remake. We're not making Sam's movies over again. This is going to be a fresh and different universe, with different depictions of the characters and a different story."
  • In an effort to differentiate from the prior trilogy, he mainly drew inspiration from the Ultimate Marvel comics and the more obscure works, namely the ones involving Peter Parker's parents Richard Parker and Mary Parker, as well as author Adam Troy-Castro's Sinister Six book trilogy, which introduced a previously unseen enemy of the Parker family, Gustav Fiers aka The Gentleman, an old criminal mastermind who had run afoul of Peter's parents in the past and ultimately was the one to orchestrate their deaths through his brother, The Finisher. Having been long aware of Peter's secret identity as Spider-Man, he eventually targeted him by recruiting the Sinister Six and orchestrating a plan to disrupt America's economy by destroying the federal reserves covertly, while he secured a massive fortune for himself, while planting a bomb in the Parker household to kill Mary Jane Watson and May Parker and have the Six kill Spider-Man. He would ultimately be betrayed by Doctor Octopus and The Chameleon, the latter of which would shoot him dead. Webb and screenwriter James Vanderbilt strove to emulsify those aspects, believing "these books are essentially a untapped gold mine. I don't think people understand that they're the secret history of the Parker family and how important that really is in a really eerie and tragic way. The Gentleman is this mysterious phantom who's been deviously looming over Peter and his remaining friends and family over all these years in secret. He's the reason Peter doesn't have parents and lives with his aunt and uncle. He's really the one who's had the most profound effect on Peter's life. I loved the aspect of this character not being some nameless figure that's ultimately a vague footnote, but an actual villain, and an oily and smug snake-like asshole that has an actual beef with Spider-Man and has returned to see to unfinished business. He's arguably his ultimate villain, surpassing even the Green Goblin or Venom because he killed his immediate family. He didn't kill Uncle Ben or Gwen Stacy, but what he did is ultimately a catalyst in a way not even that mugger who shot Uncle Ben was. He's Spider-Man's true boogeyman. He's that phantom that's been haunting him unseen his whole life, that itch Peter can't ever scratch, even more than Norman Osborn. And James and I knew there was a rich story in that alone".
  • However, both the third and fourth movies were cancelled, as the rights to the character were shared with Marvel Studios, who will collaborate with Sony to have the character appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Webb no longer attached to the projects. In other related media, Webb is relieved to finally see the character back with Marvel. He would later state being proud of the two movies he made, admitting they were difficult challenges, and believes he did the best with what he had to work with. Earlier, he also hoped to collaborate Sony with 20th Century Fox and crossover the franchise with Fox's Fantastic Four reboot by Josh Trank.
  • Webb has voiced overwhelming praise at Andrew Garfield's portrayal of Peter Parker, saying "Andrew was a exceedingly rare combination. He's got that everyman quality that Tobey Maguire had. He's got emotional gravitas, he's funny, he's charming, and he plays off the other actors very well, especially with Emma and Rhys. What's more, he actually did most of the physical stuff, we wanted to really ramp up the stunts in a harder grounded way and he was totally game for it. In that suit, you see that it's Peter Parker, that it's a scared but determined teenager on a mission, and I didn't want it to just be some stuntman flexing, this was a kid. That's what made Spider-Man "Spider-Man" to me."
  • Webb revealed that the jamboree of spin-off films was not his original intent, saying his own personal plan for the series was a four-film slate, while Sony and Avi Arad pushed heavily for the expansion of the series and rushing development. Due to the interference and constant changes throughout production, Webb went so far as to say that "Since he basically breathed down my neck the whole way through, and had us all make so many changes, it was barely my movie by it's release. No disrespect to Avi, he's been working with Marvel longer than me, so maybe he sees something I don't. And ultimately, he and Matt Tolmach bring in the dough, so I guess when you get down to it, they ultimately call the shots. But to say I'm less than thrilled that he basically hijacked the movie from me when I wasn't doing exactly what he was gunning for would be a vast understatement.".
  • Webb personally handpicked Shailene Woodley to play Mary Jane Watson for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and had constantly tried to persuade her to return to for the third film despite her reluctance due to the sequel's troubled production and disappointment at the cutting of her role, to which he personally apologized to her over this. Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Jamie Foxx, and writers James Vanderbilt, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci also have spoken highly of Webb's management, stating that his encouragement during the tumultuous filming and reshoots is what helped them get by, as Garfield, Stone, Foxx, Woodley, and Sally Avril have all voiced immense disapproval and disappointment at how the management of the film series panned out thanks to what they all unanimously described as "constant corporate micromanaging and godawful schedule".
  • After the release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home to massive critical acclaim, an online petition movement clamoring for the making and release of the cancelled The Amazing Spider-Man 3 known as #MakeTASM3 trended throughout 2022, and when Webb was asked if he would potentially return to direct it, he responded "If you'd asked me back in 2015, when it was all belly up, I'dve said 'Hell to the no!"
  • Marc Webb was a story consultant on Spider-Man: No Way Home, giving Andrew Garfield advice and pointers on writing an established backstory of what transpired with their version of Spider-Man following The Amazing Spider-Man 2, without giving away any specific adventures or events away, as to not imply that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 had occurred off-screen, in the circumstance that they were ever able to officially make it. Webb would also voice approval of Jon Watts' vision and handling of the franchise throughout the MCU, to which Watts would do vice versa, having enjoyed the darker tone and more mature storytelling of the first Amazing Spider-Man film.

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