Speaking with IGN, Jon Watts, the director for the Sony/Marvel reboot of Spider-Man, began to share his thoughts and opinions on the massive undertaking before him. The first question he was asked regarded his feelings about the whole thing. His response? “You know, still, I’m not exactly sure! [laughs] It’s still hard to believe it’s happening, even though I’m working on it every day. And at weekends. I went in and first it was just a general meeting. Then I just kept going back and talking more and more about why I liked the character so much…”
What kind of Spider-Man fan is Jon Watts? Is he a particularly rabid fan or just a casual one? Watts then attempted to calm our fears. “Yeah, I wasn’t, like, a crazy comic-book fan, but absolutely. I mean, I think every kid is a Spider-Man fan at some point. It’s a phase you go through because he’s just the most relatable of all the [superhero] characters.” As to Spidey’s difference from characters like Iron Man and Thor, Watts said, “Yeah, and I think that’s what will set him apart. I mean, I can’t go into any plot details, but he’s the ground-level superhero. It’s really exciting, because we’re doing it as a High School movie. And I think it being a coming-of-age movie, to see that growth, will also be really fun.” I guess we are lucky we didn’t see Tony Stark go through puberty, eh? Actually, that seems like a movie worth watching. Get on it, Marvel!
When asked on how little known directors such as himself have been scoring major gigs, Watts said, “Well, working with Marvel and Sony, I feel like there’s a lot of support in place. It doesn’t feel like I’m alone in a room with the burden of making this movie all on my shoulders. It’s a really sort of nurturing and collaborative environment that they’ve created. So right now, it feels good and very positive and very creative. It’s fun! I’m having a blast.” When asked if he thinks about how Spider-Man will interact with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Watts replied, “Well yeah, he’s in a world where the Avengers exist. So that already puts lots of possibilities at play. It’s all the same universe, so definitely. It has to make sense logically.”
