Black Cat to entangle herself into Peter Parker's life for SPIDER-MAN 4?
Romola Garai auditions and Rachel McAdams met with the producers for one of the major new roles in Spidey 4.
Two related stories hit the web yesterday at roughly the same time, both concerning the rapidly moving towards production Spider-Man 4. First the truth bits... 27 year old British actress Romola Garai who played the older Saoirse Ronan part in Atonement has auditioned for an unspecified female lead role in the next web-slinging adventure of Peter Parker. The audition was taped, presumably as Raimi wasn't in town. Immediately my mind turned to her as Black Cat but it could just as easy be a new possible love interest. Or if you look at her, could they possibly be contemplating re-casting Gwen Stacy?
Garai certainly has a bit of Gwen Stacy about her. /film carry a link to The Observer where Garai reveals her audition... "Love is at the root of everything good that has ever happened and will happen. This phrase swam into focus as I moved up the escalator at Oxford Circus tube on Tuesday morning on my way to put myself on tape for a part in Spider-Man 4. This is the acting equivalent of the London Marathon in that its important to try your best as long as you understand that you arent going to win.So onto the oddly coincided timing of a rumor at Mania, where they claim Rachel McAdams, a slightly older and much more well known actress has met with producers regarding a major role in Spidey 4. They come right out and say the part is that of Felicity Hardy, aka Black Cat, the feisty hot blonde who is basically Marvel's version of Catwoman (a petty thief who sometimes is good, sometimes bad) and who soon becomes a love interest for Spider-Man. McAdams was contemplated for both the Pepper Potts and Black Widow roles in the Iron Man franchise, but in the end was chosen for neither. So putting two and two together and hopefully not getting five... we are left with the likelihood they both met with producers for the Black Cat part, and as McAdams is a pretty big female name (she's got Sherlock Holmes out next month), the part will end up with her. For only the second time (the first being Venom, which he didn't want), all the signs point to Raimi using a character not created by the first Steve Ditko/Stan Lee run from the 60s as The Black Cat wasn't created until 1979 by Marv Wolfman and Keith Pollard.
Mania write... Fans recall that when Spidey first encounters the Black Cat, she's a cat burgler looking to free her ailing father from prison. She becomes smitten with the web-slinger, to the point of a stalker-level obsession. Later stories had Peter reciprocating her affection and her becoming a lover, a friend and ally (the perfect thing to allow Sony to create a Spidey spin-off). And it looks like it'll be a two-villain movie. Our source also says they are casting for a male villain, but had few details. However, this would seem to discount the idea that Lizard is the primary, since the role of Dr. Conners has been cast since movie #2.Black Cat makes sense as a character for the next movie the more you think about it as the character is one of those that can meddle with Peter Parker's personal life, and his private life as Spidey, something which the majority of villains so far have done. And sadly, there was undoubtedly going to be a love triangle in there somewhere as the Mary Jane saga was always going to get a continuation. Exciting times right now as the ball really starts moving for Spidey 4 and we can start to put some of the pieces together.