James Vanderbilt, the screenwriter of
Zodiac and the guy who penned the first draft of
Spider-Man 4 which begins production early Spring for a May 2011 release, has been "quietly" hired by Sony to pen the
fifth and sixth installment in the web-slinging superhero series, say
Variety. Which is an interesting move as
Sam Raimi wasn't 100% keen on his original script and two new scribes,
David Lindsay-Abaire and Tobey Maguire's writer/director friend
Gary Ross was brought on to make it more to the director's liking. Just another sign that Sony are planning for life after Raimi perhaps - who surely will be done after 4 when he has the massive
World of Warcraft series waiting in the wings for him. My personal opinion is Vanderbilt's hiring for the fifth and sixth movie (which is likely to be similar to
Kill Bill 1 and
2 in terms of really being one over-sized movie), is so it can get under way quickly whilst
Tobey Maguire (currently hired to 5) and
Kirsten Dunst (only attached currently to the fourth) will still be a reasonable age. In terms of who the villains could be... I'm desperate to see
Kraven's Last Hunt adapted for screen, and
The Lizard was always my favourite Spidey villain.
The Evil Dead geek in me wants to see
Bruce Campbell's character end up as
Mysterio.