An official announcement about which actor will be playing the next big-screen incarnation of everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has been expected for weeks now. Today, however, brings a new report stating that a decision may be a while off, due to the fact that Marvel and Sony are at loggerheads over which young actor is best suited to take on the pivotal role.
TheWrap’s Jeff Sneider recently revealed on podcast Meet the Movie Press that there are three actors still in contention for the part: Tom Holland, Charlie Plummer and Matthew Lintz. You read that right – no Asa Butterfield, despite the fact that the Hugo breakout had long been considered a frontrunner for the role.
There’s tension between Marvel and Sony over the casting, which will determine the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s official wall-crawler (i.e., whoever gets the role will be playing it for years, possibly decades, to come). Apparently, Marvel is hot on Plummer, who earned raves for his turn on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, while Sony is enamored with Holland, whose work in disaster drama The Impossible was roundly acclaimed.
Given how valuable Spider-Man is to both Sony and Marvel, perhaps it was to be expected that casting the character would be no easy feat. It’s even amazing that the studios have worked out a deal in which they can share the beloved superhero, and with so much money riding on Spidey’s solo pic as well as his MCU appearances (he’s tipped to appear in Captain America: Civil War), this is a decision that neither is taking lightly.
So what now? Marvel and Sony will have to come to some kind of consensus in time for the character to shoot scenes for Civil War in July, so we’ll surely hear more about this casting soon. The studios are pushing forward with a high school-aged version of the character, with a solo Spider-Man film set for 2017.