Script Notes for Spider-Man 4 Reveal Big Mess!

Script Notes for Spider-Man 4 Reveal Big Mess!

It seems like an all out war between Raimi & Sony Exec Amy Pascal.

By California - Jan 08, 2010 12:01 AM EST
Filed Under: The Amazing Spider-Man
Source: Movieline.com

Notes exclusively obtained by Movieline.com reveal that the Spider-Man 4 production was in a whole big mess. The email reads:

From: Amy Pascal [address redacted]
To: Sam Raimi [address redacted]
Date: 04 Jan 2010 11:49:04 am
RE: Final notes — we need to talk

Sam—

As per our last convo, sending a copy of our latest round of script notes. I know you aren’t happy. And gotta say, I’m far from happy. Utter mess. Looks like we might have to junk the whole thing, but curious to get yr thoughts before we send them on…

—AP

STUDIO NOTES SM4 01/02/10 DRAFT



Lowlights mentioned in the email include:

- More of the same campy, tired scenes by Raimi including starting off with a musical number (while Spidey fights terrorists). Ugh! Raimi wanted "Walkin' on Sunshine" whereas the studio wanted Taylor Swift. Double Ugh!

- Vulture WAS the villain only, get this, Malkovich was set to control the a Vulture 'robot' ala Avatar by laying in a pod and fusing his mind with the Vulture Avatar. The 'Vulture' was set to be 10-ft tall and blue.

- The Pascal and Raimi are battling over where or not JJJ should yell at Peter over his being discontented at his pay to "Go start a blog" vs. "Go tweet a tweet."

- A scene where Peter is in his room watching a youtube clip of a Vulture attack, imagining how he'd fight him when he accidentally shoots out webs. Aunt May comes in and Peter has to hide the mess. Sigh

Additionally, it appears that the personal battle between Raimi and the Studio execs been allowed to affect the script with Raimi deliberately planting ludicrous things in the script just to piss the studio off such as:

- A scene involving full frontal nudity of Peter/Toby.

- A villain named the "Meddler" who gives bad advice to Peter and always butts into his life who is modeled after Pascal.

Man, oh man. This article by Mark Lisanti at Movieline has GOT to be a joke! The more I read it, I'd have to go with it definitely being a humor piece. But still, it was more entertaining than SM-3!

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StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 1/8/2010, 6:45 AM
This is insane.. Raimi just HAS to go and that's that!

If they can't find some way of helping that clown get his mind right then he just need to GET GONE.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 1/8/2010, 7:19 AM
This is bullshit..there is no way in Hell Raimi would have seriously wrote in a ten foot tall, blue, AVATAR Vulture robot. I'm telling you, this is either someone taking the piss, or more of Raimi deliberately messing with the studio. I don't know where all the Raimi hate comes from, yes he messed up Spidey 3, but name me one other bad film the man has made in his entire career? (and if you mention either of the other Spider Men, well, I guess there's no accounting for taste!)
sagekilz
sagekilz - 1/8/2010, 7:22 AM
If this is 100% factual, the spiderman franchise is officially retarded.
Hawksblueyes
Hawksblueyes - 1/8/2010, 7:26 AM
I haven't heard one piece of news on SM4 that I would lay any of my trust behind.
It almost feels as if the studios have decided to put out nothing but misinformation.
I'm not by any means saying that none of it is true, but WOW, its all so absurd it seems like a bunch of middle school kids argueing!!!
ukboy28
ukboy28 - 1/8/2010, 7:39 AM
this is bollocks, plain and simple and if it isint then its insanity.
Hawksblueyes
Hawksblueyes - 1/8/2010, 7:39 AM
Multi: And Will Smith is going to be playing him.

I know, I know, he's too damn tall for Spidey.
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 1/8/2010, 7:40 AM
Hawks@ you HAVE to be right. theres no other explanation. tho i've been thinking this whole time Rami would be doing things just to piss off the studio. but i thought it was just about him sticking to his guns with the vulture. i hope all of this is not true, if it is it shows we have niether the right director or studio backing this movie.
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 1/8/2010, 7:43 AM
Ror@ i know you weren't addressing me specifically but i just want to throw it out there. No rami hate coming from me, the guy is a great film maker. i've just had enough of his vison of spider-man. it worked, it was great, but if it's this hard for you to get a spider-man story going then it's time for you to step away. see what someone else can do. much in like comics, when you get different writers:)
Hawksblueyes
Hawksblueyes - 1/8/2010, 7:53 AM
Multi: Theres no way in Hell that costume fits her.


Super: I don't know what to make of it. Nothing that has come out has made any sense to me.
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 1/8/2010, 7:55 AM
rofl @ Multi

I just can't understand what Raimi is thinking...

All this seems bizarre and inexplicable to me. Makes no bloody sense
DogsOfWar
DogsOfWar - 1/8/2010, 8:12 AM
Hey, if they keep screwing the pooch on getting a movie made, time will run out on Sony's rights to the characters! With everything else coming out, I can wait 7 to 10 years to see a Marvel Spider-Man movie
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 1/8/2010, 8:16 AM
I believed this right up until the avatar and nudity BS - Raimi may have not liked Venom but he's said in the past what a big fan of the classic characters he is...theres no way he'd do anything like the crap mentioned above!!

I actually dont think that the "Walkin' on Sunshine" montage would be too bad - apart from the whole Emo dancing down the street in Spider-Man 3 scene, Raimi has used music really well in the movies!
ukboy28
ukboy28 - 1/8/2010, 8:19 AM
josh@ just when i was getting over the emo parker, you just had to bring him up lol :)
Makiveli21
Makiveli21 - 1/8/2010, 8:20 AM
NO MORE MUSICALS! "the story he wants to do"- who gives a shit what he wants to do. giant blue vulture robots?!? he shouldnt get to do whatever he wants just because hes stubborn. dont just make up some bullshit story raimi you asshole! why dont you, TA DA, take a story from, oh I dunno, one of the 2000 comics that have been written from the last 70 years! "the story he wants to do" what a buncha crap! the story has already been written in COMIC BOOKS all he has to do is INTERPERET the story! JESUS!!!!!
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 1/8/2010, 8:31 AM
ukboy28: Lol, if he haunts my nightmares then he can haunt yours as well! ;)

OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 1/8/2010, 8:31 AM
Joshw24@ yeah i could see the 'walking on sunshine' being played over him fighting off some thugs in the beginning. to sort of show how pete's alwasys has been and alwasy will be down on his luck.

If rami is doing this shit to piss off the studio, thats fine to an extent. but there comes a point when you should have never even signed the contract to begin with if this is how you're going to swing it.

did they not talk about the story before everyone came back? stop wasting our time and yours and shelf this thing. because niether of you know how to make a spider-man film anymore.

the only reason i don't want the rights going back to marvel is im afraid they'll hand the writing duties over to Bendis. which i would be all for 100% except i think he'd want to do more 'ultimate' stories. i want a mix, like they seem to be doing with the avengers.
SuperSpiderMan5778
SuperSpiderMan5778 - 1/8/2010, 8:36 AM
is this for real? because i thought it was just a joke at first but these can't be real i believe its fake.
mgalusick
mgalusick - 1/8/2010, 8:39 AM
I don't believe this at all.
jimthefan
jimthefan - 1/8/2010, 8:41 AM
how did this make front page
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 1/8/2010, 8:47 AM
@ Josh24:"...theres no way he'd do anything like the crap mentioned above!! "

I don't know about that man. I just don't know. There were times in SM3 when I was sitting in the theater, just feeling embarrassed. Embarrassed at what Raimi had done, at the studio for allowing this mess to happen, at myself for even staying all the way through.

I think it was the JJ Jameson buzzer shit that finally gave me the idea. He took so many things that were great about the first two movies and made them cruddy! Almost as if he was TRYING to sabotage the film... I honestly have thought about this before
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 1/8/2010, 8:48 AM
how ridiculous, this movie is finished.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 1/8/2010, 8:49 AM
Its all publicity BS
DogsOfWar
DogsOfWar - 1/8/2010, 8:49 AM
Guys, check out the link. This article is part of a comedy section called The Alan Smithee Column. It is totally fake but nonetheless hilarious. They have a great top 10 nagging questions for Avatar as well:

1. Why hasn’t future wheelchair technology advanced at all from our present-day wheelchair capabilities?
Our hero, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully, spends all his non-Na’vi-romping time rolling around in a wheelchair no more sophisticated than one you could pick up at your local Sav-On pharmacy today. No heavy-duty tank treads, mag-lev hovering, not even a simple electric motor. Is Sully just too macho to avail himself of a less self-powered conveyance? Is the future military too cheap (see below) to provide him with something motorized? The most advanced thing about Sully’s chair is its fashion-forward yellow paint job.

Similarly unadvanced aspects of the Avatar future: Persistence of meathead tribal tattoos, cliched Wizard of Oz references, clunky wheels used to scroll hologram maps that otherwise seem to be manipulated through in-the-air gestures.
Shaman
Shaman - 1/8/2010, 9:00 AM
Definitely sabotage, Darth. As for this SM4 shit, i think it's just someone laughin' his ass off at RAIMI. There's no way in hell that SONY would still let RAIMI pull off similar sabotaging as he did in SM3. They want money after all.
DogsOfWar
DogsOfWar - 1/8/2010, 9:01 AM
There was another script note about his Uncle Ben.

pg. 73. Moment between Peter and ghost of Uncle Ben feels on the nose. And he’s been dead for like years now, can’t he bring back from heaven a new/better insight than “great power/great responsibility” bit by now? Put some effort in. Crack a couple fortune cookies and pick the best one.
GarageNinja
GarageNinja - 1/8/2010, 9:06 AM
Spider Man needs a complete reboot. Younger cast, hotter MJ, and introduce Gwen in the first movie. But somehow keep Dafoe as Gobby (he's perfect), don't kill him off and minus the power ranger suit.

They did it with Hulk, why not do it with Spider Man. Also, get him involved in the new Marvel movie universe somehow.
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 1/8/2010, 9:07 AM
@ teabag: I 'm not forgetting about SM 1 & 2.

On the contrary I remember very very well that they were a TRIUMPH. Wonderful.. Not perfect, but still to me just wonderful.


Which is why SM3 was such an awful shock, and now this.. I don't WANT to believe anything, but I am not going to deny the gravity of this situation.
This may be THE last Spider-Man film in our lifetimes!.. Mull that over. :(
supermarioworldE
supermarioworldE - 1/8/2010, 9:10 AM
Full frontal?! lol. Get the hell outta here
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 1/8/2010, 9:31 AM
This stinks worse than sex panther, and that stuff really flares the nostrils! As ridiculous as some of Sam's musical scenes are there is no way a 10ft blue vulture robot avatar would fly! (pun intended).

We need Disney to swoop in and collect all the Marvel properties that got away. hulk-style reboot them (we dont need more origins) and fit them into the Marvel Universe.
GarageNinja
GarageNinja - 1/8/2010, 9:34 AM
HAHA perfect.
Shadowelfz
Shadowelfz - 1/8/2010, 9:35 AM
This is bullshit. That or yes, he is completely sabotaging his movies. Full frontal nudity, the web thing in his room... no way they will get put in a spidey film so he would obviously be using them to create drama. I can see the Vulture thing as his way to stick it to Pascal, since she would be hassling him about making money he would want a big 'avatar' like suit seeing as that film did well, and the meddler... proof that SM4 is a big f@#$ you to the Sony suits. Still, like I said, I think this is BS. I cant see a respectable director like Raimi acting like a petulant child like that. Maybe in the board room, but not to hi own work.
Shaman
Shaman - 1/8/2010, 9:42 AM
Yeah... this is quite pungent, Ron.

Shadowelfz- He consistently acts like a petulant child when he incorporates his old car in his films only because of the girl that rejected him in his past. He acted like a petulant child with his rendition of Venom. And i don't know if it was because of his petulance that he made Peter Parker into Peter Pan or Sandman being Uncle Ben's really real killer, but i wouldn't let it get passed him. Granted what we have here is a bit pushing it, i'm sure he IS purposely trying to get fired. I think he's in the process of telling Sony that it's his way or the highway and Sony is telling Raimi that it's the fans' way or the highway. Either way, he should get off the project while were still young.
Betty
Betty - 1/8/2010, 9:45 AM
If this is for real, he must be trying to get fired. You know, copping an attitude at work, coming in late, putting your balls in the soup, having sex with the hostess at the host stand, stuff like that. Oh wait that's me!
Shaman
Shaman - 1/8/2010, 9:50 AM
Betty- I actually thought that was his plan with what he did on SM3. This is just getting retarded.
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