Sequels Chabon's original Spider-Man script

[terry78]

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/chabon.spider.pdf


Guess it had to be floating around somewhere.

 

[Smit84]

McSweeeney's said it is the first time it's been online. But anyway, this script was a little bit of a let down. In another thread I speculated Chabon's draft was probably great while the Smallville writers did the entire draft featuring a young Doc Ock in love with MJ. Nope, that's in Chabon's draft, as is the subplot about Harry putting a $10 million bounty on Spider-man's head. Avi Arad mentions both storylines in the DVD documentary. Still, I think the script is worth reading for fans of Spider-man 2. It has it's moments (a few of which they kept) but I'm so glad they did another rewrite. The script is formatted and reads like it was done by someone who never wrote a screenplay before. I just kind of hope people that now credit Chabon with the success of Spider-man 2 get to read this. Like this guy:

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If anything the draft made me appreciate the movie we got even more.

 

[DACrowe]

I give him credit for removing Lizard, Black Cat AND Harry Goblin from the formula and writing MJ and Peter a little more maturely (which does appear in SM2 somewhat and makes it feel more mature than the other two installments certainly). And I like the banter and comedy Peter had in this screenplay.

but....

Alvin Sargent's drafts that led to the shooting script of SM3 were much better.

 

[DoctorJones]

I agree with Avi Arad or whoever vetoed Chabon: the love triangle between Peter, MJ and Ock isn't subtle, and his science of Ock's tentacles is too complex. Still, everything else made it into the film, and was obviously good.

 

[Blader5489]

LOL

Between this and Smallville, Chabon is absolutely the last person who should be talking **** about a superhero movie, especially a Spider-Man movie.

 

[Symbiotic]

I give him credit for removing Lizard, Black Cat AND Harry Goblin from the formula and writing MJ and Peter a little more maturely (which does appear in SM2 somewhat and makes it feel more mature than the other two installments certainly). And I like the banter and comedy Peter had in this screenplay.

but....

Alvin Sargent's drafts that led to the shooting script of SM3 were much better.

Whoa. Full-on Harry Goblin was in the 2 script at one point?

 

[Smit84]

Yeah, Symbiotic, check out the video on my last post. It was someone asking Chabon why he didn't "save" Spider-man 3 the way he did with Spider-man 2 and Chabon compares 3 with earlier drafts of Spider-man 2.

 

[Smit84]

LOL

Between this and Smallville, Chabon is absolutely the last person who should be talking **** about a superhero movie, especially a Spider-Man movie.

LoL it was Gough and Millar who created Smallville. They worked on the Spider-man 2 script before Chabon did. I know their draft had Black Cat in it, and I saw an article where they claimed the triangle with John Jameson and Doc Ock's character arc came from them. But I agree, after reading this script, Chabon has no room to talk. Oh, and G&M's draft probably wasn't very good either.

 

[Symbiotic]

Yeah, Symbiotic, check out the video on my last post. It was someone asking Chabon why he didn't "save" Spider-man 3 the way he did with Spider-man 2 and Chabon compares 3 with earlier drafts of Spider-man 2.

Huh. Would've liked to have seen those scripts. When it comes to movies (sequels especially), I love reading about earlier ideas and what could've been.

 

[Blader5489]

LoL it was Gough and Millar who created Smallville.

I know, but I thought Chabon frequently wrote for the show. Guess not.

 

[bapi]

Well. For me, Chabon's draft is better than Sargent's.

 

[Kent]

Script no longer seems to be up. Anyone have an alternate link?

 

[spiderfan970]

After reading their scripts, although there was a lot of crap, a lot of little moments and dialogue made it into the movie so I still think they deserve some praise in that area. Luckily with 2 it seems that they took out the crap and left everything that worked. Still, I wish we had someone like Chabon to come back in and remind them that either Sandman, or Venom were enough on their own...

 

[Dr. Bromwell]

Chabon gained some credit for SM2 because SM3 was poorly written. There was a drastic change in tempo between the second and third movies and the biggest difference (credit-wise) was Chabon's absence from SM3's writing credits. Even though not all of his idea's were used in SM2, I've gotta believe alot of the cohesiveness/flow/story-telling of part two came from Chabon.

 

[bapi]

They used many good things from Chabon's draft and this is why is S-M 2 so good. Like... Sargent is not a good writer. For the second movie he wrote only some stupid crying, boring... scenes with Aunt May, some poor dialogues, illogical/cliché scenes... Like I still love Spidey 2. For me it's the 3rd best comic book movie but it's not y'know 'totally perfect' movie.

 

[Smit84]

Script no longer seems to be up. Anyone have an alternate link?

I could PM you the script if you'd like.

 

[Smit84]

Chabon gained some credit for SM2 because SM3 was poorly written. There was a drastic change in tempo between the second and third movies and the biggest difference (credit-wise) was Chabon's absence from SM3's writing credits. Even though not all of his idea's were used in SM2, I've gotta believe alot of the cohesiveness/flow/story-telling of part two came from Chabon.

I think Raimi and possibly Sargent are responsible for the cohesiveness of the story of Spider-man 2. In my opinion, Chabon's story was very different, and Chabon himself admits that the story they used was a mix of his ideas and ideas of the writers who came before him.

Raimi was given the freedom to make the movie he wanted to make with Spider-man 2 and developed the story using the best ideas from all the writers.

With Spider-man 3 Raimi had to make a product with a lot of studio politics behind it. Having said that, I will admit that he could be given some blame as he and his brother developed the main storyline themselves. They probably could've used more input. Marvel forced them to rework it in order to fit the Venom storyline in.

 

[Blader5489]

They used many good things from Chabon's draft and this is why is S-M 2 so good. Like... Sargent is not a good writer. For the second movie he wrote only some stupid crying, boring... scenes with Aunt May, some poor dialogues, illogical/cliché scenes... Like I still love Spidey 2. For me it's the 3rd best comic book movie but it's not y'know 'totally perfect' movie.

Like...Sargent isn't a writer. He's a script doctor.

 

[Smit84]

Like...Sargent isn't a writer. He's a script doctor.

You do know that Sargent has won two oscars for best screenplay and nominated for a third, right?

 

[Visionary]

After taking a gander at this script, it just reinstates what I've been saying all along, everyone who writes for a Spider-Man movie, writes it like it's for pre-schoolers. I'm surprised this script didn't have words like "fart" and "dodo" in it. Do you now see now how the mentality of the writers are when it comes to Spider-Man? This character seems to be forever a victim of his own success. Must tone everything down as to not offend soccer moms and so children will understand it clearly--so we can sell lots of merchandise. Always playing it safe, and it's sickening for me, but most importantly, for the character Spider-Man.

 

[Blader5489]

You do know that Sargent has won two oscars for best screenplay and nominated for a third, right?

Honestly? No, but I was referring to just the Spider-Man movies anyway. For this past trilogy, Sargent simply takes the various bits and pieces from the scripts of other writers (Koepp, Chabon, the Raimis, etc.) and builds a cohesive script out of it.

 

[DACrowe]

Chabon's draft I think writes the romance more maturely than in the movies (though some of it shines through in SM2, making it the least cheesy of the three), but his main storyline is pretty bad. I credit him mostly with forcing Sony to trim it down to one villain. After that Sargent made a better story and movie. The Miller and Gough draft featured Black Cat, Lizard and Harry Goblin as well as Doc Ock.

Something tells me the producers wanted more characters from the beginning, because it meant more action figures and merchandise capabilities and marketing. SM3 was the movie SM2 could have been. The main things that RAimi really cared about in that story, Peter, MJ and Harry got through but was surrounded by a lot of extra stuff that made the movie top heavy and uneven. I still like the third, though.

Still, Chabon's ego about how bad the BC character is and SM3 was, after seeing his idea of a young Doc Ock creating a love triangle wit hMJ...well thank goodness he didn't write the shooting script.

 

[Visionary]

Something tells me the producers wanted more characters from the beginning, because it meant more action figures and merchandise capabilities and marketing.

The hell you say...of course they did?

I hope Sony allows James Vanderbilt to go ZODIAC on this script. And write the film for Teens/Adults...because you know kids are going to show up and buy the toys anyway.