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nick_horror
Guest
Dude, if you're for real (which you can never really tell) congrats on a cool job and your screenplay getting picked up.
Yeah, I'm for real. But don't get too excited. The pay is crap (only $25,000 a year), no benifits, and absolutely NO CREDIT if I discover the next Best Picture winner. But I'm getting a ton of "what-not-to-do" lessons.
Here's the thing. This is SPIDER-MAN 4. Not ORIGINAL SUPERHERO MOVIE IDEA. I think a lot of people (myself included) feel like there are so many great Spidey stories already out there, that there's enough to pick and choose from without having to do something really original. All of my ideas for 4 are all taking from great comics of the past. Comic idea: Spider-Man knows that Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin and doesn't tell his best friend Harry. Original movie idea: the Sandman shot uncle Ben and has a sick daughter. Maybe some of us don't wanna make more stuff up. Just move stuff around.
What I meant by "originality" is that there can be some creative lisence when coming up with character origins. It doesn't have to be pulled directly from the comics. Updated, if you will. And during the updating process, something may pop out and lead the character down a different road...it may work, it may not. Look at the issue of ASM where Spidey is trapped under the rubble and needs to get to Aunt May. They spent a whole issue on just that, but it was addressed at the end of SM2 with Peter saving MJ from the wall. It wasn't exactly the same thing, but it was the updated version. What I was talking about was how several of the scripts read the same way, meaning that it was hard to tell that they were written by different people. And that is why there needs to be originality. I'm not saying they were bad, just not that different from one another.
I think Electro would be great, although I don't think he can hold his own movie, he's not as smart as the first two villains, and has no dramatic element like the New Goblin. Also, I think most people really want to see the Lizard pay off, because Dylan Baker has been in two movies now, people feel like he's the next logical step. But Electro would be awesome (if done differently than LAME Storm) in like Spider-Man 5 or 6.
This is where that originality comes in. Max Dillion's background can be altered creatively enough so as to make his character strong enough to support his own movie. I'm not saying he needs to be a Kingpin-like crimeboss (like in Cameron's verson), but a cocky, needs-noone's-help kind of villian. I never thought Doc Ock was relyable enough for his own movie (the whole Master Planner thing showed me he was weak). But Alvin Sargent really did a great job with the script and made his character stronger than Peter's...the twisted sense of right and wrong was brilliant; but the same trick failed regarding Peter's black suit in SM3.
Now, on this I disagree. First of all, Pete never had a rambunctious love-life in the movies, lol. He only moped over MJ, or screwed up what he and MJ had. Second, am I the only one that thought Peter and MJ were NOT together at the end of the last one? They ended the movie very vaguely. There's no kiss or running into open arms, or even a conversation like "hey, Peter, your dead friend MADE me break up with you, I still love you" or "I didn't mean to punch you in the face, MJ, I had an evil alien suit on me, I still love you", but nothing. I don't feel like they're getting married anytime soon. Plus, they introduce Gwen Stacy in the last one, who was not only more beautiful and charming, but was more interesting than MJ. And although there IS plenty of opportunity for romantic breakdown IF they were married, I think most people would find it easier to believe that Pete and MJ broke up for a while and Pete slowly went out with Gwen. It seems more likely to happen in one movie than something like them getting married right at the end after the big villain fight.
The whole thing about Pete's lovelife being rambunctious was supposed to be an oxymoron. But when it comes to relationships, I think the best thing to do is give him a break and let him have MJ. That doesn't mean that when Gwen is killed Peter has to just shrug his shoulders and be like "Pitty. She was kind of cute." It can hurt him bad, especially since he's responsible...and it could give another stress point to his and MJ's relationship. But too many girls and it becomes a knot, and it becomes cliche. We know he ends up with MJ so there is no real drive for him to persue other girls in these stories. Sure he can flirt, like with BlackCat, while in his costume. But Peter needs to settle down. That doesn't mean he can't have feelings--after all that's what Peter is, a big ball of feelings wrapped in skin.