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Martin Sheen is joining the Marc Webb-directed 3D Spider-Man movie, playing the role of Uncle Ben. He joins Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans, who were set earlier in the Sony Pictures Entertainment film that begins production in December. Meanwhile, Sally Field is in early talks to join the film as Aunt May. Uncle Ben, who raised Peter Parker along with May, doesn’t last long. That’s no surprise to fans of the comic or the original film series, who watched Uncle Ben get killed by a thief whom Parker could have stopped with his new-found superpowers, but let escape. Sheen has a longer run in The Way, the crowd-pleasing film directed by his son Emilio Estevez that made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival and is still in the process of being set up for distribution.
Martin Sheen Lands ‘Spider-Man’ Role And Sally Field May Be Next
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They should cast Charlie Sheen.
Someone younger in their late 50s, early 60s would’ve been better if they’re adapting the Ultimate Spider-Man universe.
Martin Sheen dying in The Departed was one of the saddest things ever. Don’t know if I can go through it again, especially since I just started re-watching The West Wing. LOVE Martin Sheen
I still can’t believe they’re rebooting this ancient, 8-year-old franchise already. It’s an insult to our intelligence. Yet it will do huge business, so maybe we have no intelligence to insult.
Predictable.
stupid! everything about this is stupid! remaking a franchise sounds stupid!
all stupid!
You’re about to pop something. Relax. Let’s all repeat after me: it’s just a movie. It’s just a movie. It’s just a movie.
Personally, I’m glad they’re rebooting. Tobey Maguire totally deballed Spider-Man, turned him into a whiney, introspective loser. It’s a damn superhero who clings to walls – really no need to cry every 23 minutes.
And Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane goes down as one of the worst miscastings in superhero film history. She had the sex appeal of a wet towel.
Have you ever read the comics? Spider-Man IS a whiny, introspective loser. That’s his thing.
Jesus, man – you sound like a cartoon yourself
can we start a national campaign to NEVER SEE THIS MOVIE?
just out of pure animosity towards the studio? I hope it makes 0 dollars.
I really wish Marvel had the rights to this franchise, so we could just throw Spidey in “The Avengers” and take it from there. A straight up remake 10 years after the release of the original is just mind boggling.
Awesome choice. Sheen can do wise and fatherly with the best of them.
Except in real-life, alas.
Touche
When they remade Hulk five years after remaking Hulk, I thought that was pretty bad. I had no idea that this was a redo of Spiderman One until I read this casting notice. Would it hurt to try to come up with some new stories to tell us? I think everybody is talented enough to do it.
Will Peter Parker get bit by a radioactive spider?
Will the theme of this remake also be “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility?”
Will Peter Parker’s crisis of conscience be sparked by his Uncle Ben’s murder by a man that he could of caught, but he was too wrapped up in his own needs to stop him when he had the chance?
Will Peter struggle with telling the truth of his identity to his secret love Mary Jane?
If the answer to all of these questions is yes, ask yourself another: Why not pop in the DVD of the Sam Raimi version? It’s pretty good.
Development is about developing content not rehashing it. You are all so much smarter than this.
The Hulk reboot was more of a loose sequel. The origins were touched on but nothing more. Marvel did a great job with it. This is a remake, not a reboot. Switch a couple of characters here and there, but it’s still a remake and not a reboot.
X,
So it is a remake and not a reboot – which is what I said anyway. Is that supposed to be better in some way? Remakes are on a higher artistic level than reboots? Making the same movie over and over again because it costs less to market it is a pathetic way to run a studio. Hopefully, this remake/reboot/whatever the hell you want to call it will be the giant shark tank that the superhero movies jump their motorcycles over. Every studio has some tired cliche in lycra or leather or steel jumping over buildings and stopping bullets, but Wall-Mart and Target have only so much shelf space for toys, screenwriters have only so many variations of tortured identity stories, and the public only has so much patience for sitting through jejune spectacle.
My god they’re doing an ORIGIN MOVIE again?? WHY?!?!?!
This is even dumber than I thought. Going back and making the characters younger is one thing, but UNCLE BEN?? Come on people, that’s just so ridiculous.
Apparently, if it’s being aimed at young people who were…what…1 when the other movies came out, there’s no need for an old fogey like me to bother then. lol.
There is always a chance that he may just be seen in flashbacks, but I think that would be a long shot. It is dumb to start all over again. I think we all know the Spider-man origin story now and they could have just alluded to what happened, but not have to re-tell everything.
Just because Martin Sheen has been cast as Uncle Ben doesn’t actually mean the origin story will be done again. For all we know, it could just be for flashbacks.
forget Sally Field — they should cast Sissy Spacek in order to pay homage to Badlands.
It’s like re-reading the first chapter of the same book over and over again.
Because the first three movies SUCKED.
Sure, they made money, but so did KANGAROO JACK. Story and character-wise, it felt like Sam Raimi was taking all the times he was made fun of as a kid and channeling them into Tobey Maguire’s performance as a mopey, scared, whiney Peter Parker. Multiply that by three, with a couple new villains here and there, and there’s your Raimi trilogy. A completely lame, yes, DEBALLED, story.
You want to see a good Spider-Man? Check out the SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN cartoon that ran for like three seasons a few years back. Funny, ballsy, awesome action – exactly what the reboot will probably strive for. And that’s a good thing.
But seriously, if one more person proclaims the excellence of the three-part Raimi crapfest, I’m going to vomit.
couldn’t agree more. who cares if they’re rebooting after only a few years?? raimi’s spider-man left so much to be desired (and i like raimi). after watching the social network i think andrew garfield will do a great job, and marc webb did very well with directing 500 days. nevertheless, people will keep complaining and that will actually help the film since expectations will be low.
I worked with Marty on a spot recently and he was on the top of his game! At the end of the clip the other talent was surprised that Sheen pulled him off stage with force… He’s doing great and will do great in his new role! The spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiGFftaRXj4
for the life of me i’ll never understand the decision to do a reboot after just EIGHT YEARS. this project has stinker written all over it.
This will be the most pointless movie in the history of pointless movies. Other than fixing a couple things like Gwen Stacy as Peter Parker’s first girlfriend instead of Mary Jane Watson, what is the point of this movie?
What is the point of this movie? Well tge biggest point is tgat Sony has to make it within five years of SM3 or risk losing the rights to the franchise.
Some questions:
Is Kevin Feige performing ANY producing duties on this one? (He was super-involved in part 3)
Are they still planning to make this movie for $80 million, as was stated shortly after they hired Marc Webb? Very hard to understand how that can be done on a movie that shoots in the US.
To the guy who keeps screaming “deballed..” You do realize that in the first 30 issues of Amazing Spider-Man (plus his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy 15), Peter Parker was a high school nerd with glasses who NEVER got the girl… He was picked on by Flash Thompson, a high school jock, the entire time.
Spider-Man was a lovable loser who when he saved the day, was villified by the press. He was the Charlie Brown of Super-heroes. It’s what separated him from Superman and Batman.
In short, he was never the badass Batman or Wolverine-like superhero you have constructed in your imagination that bears no resemblance to the comics.
Step away from the little-seen crappy Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, and pick up some Stan Lee and Steve Ditko collected editions before you post.
Yeah, because what’s going to sell tickets in 2011 is a superhero movie with 1960s sensibilities. Awesome business sense. I don’t know why you’re not running a studio this very second.
You want fidelity to the comics? Keep reading the comics. Problem solved.
Otherwise, and I say this as a lifelong comic book reader and collector, be ready for these precious properties to be evolved and shaped into something that’s more easily and readily consumed by the audience of the day. That’s the only way these movies get made. It happened with Batman, with Nolan getting at the core of the character and presenting something that made sense for the 21st century. He didn’t go back to the first issues of Detective Comics and make a movie about a guy who talks to himself while swinging from roof to roof. He knew what he was doing, and Batman was reborn for a new generation.
Likewise with Spider-Man. Leave the nerdy, get-kicked-around-by-Flash-Thompson crap behind. Get to the core of the character, find out how to bring it out without the schmaltz, which 21st century audiences roundly reject.
And if you hate it, your 1960s hero still lives in your comics. You can go back to him any time you like. Everybody wins.
I hate to break it to you deballed, but a franchise like IRON MAN is faithful to the comic from the 60s – 80s and an utter success. I’m sure those movies suck too in your eyes, and a hipped up version you have in your imagination would be better.
In terms of Iron Man– Wealthy Industrialist? Check. Drinks too much? Check. Armor keeps him alive? Check. Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan? Check. Professir Yinsen helps him build the armor? Check. Tony Stark reveals his secret identity to the world? Check.
As for Batman, I could walk you through how Nolan’s version is pretty darn faithful to the Denny O’Neill – Neil Adams era (1970s) with some Frank Miller (1980s) thrown in, with its Ras Al Ghul and League of Assassins, Murderous Joker, no Robin as sidekick (that dates back to 1938), and Batman and the cops are at odds (1980s), but I’m afraid it might make your head explode.
These well-known characters and the core ideas behind them are pretty much time-tested. The Spider-Man you describe might as well be Gambit or Booster Gold.
But I’m glad that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are passe and the high school loser as superhero is a concept that is lame to you. You know so much better with all your awesome hipness and finger on the pulse of youth culture.
Confirms that this is really just an alternate-universe parody of Spider-Man. Sally Field…as Aunt May. It’s like they’re trying to Eternal Sunshine all memories of the previous version. Turrible.
I’ll wait for the DVD. I wish they had just continued on. It would have been great to have the next open with Spider-man swinging MJ to a hospital only to have the close up of her being in labor and Peter freaking out. Close with May watching the baby while Peter and MJ are in nthe kitchen and the baby starts climbing the walls. “PETER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Sheen, IMHO, might have made a better JJJ.
@Pickupacomic – THANK YOU!
It’s like Sony’s justifications for doing a reboot (hmmm, Rami, McGuire, Simmons, et all wanted too much?), “At it’s heart Spider-man is about a kid in High School.” That was true, but since the mid 70′s when I started collecting, ut was more about an adult guy growing up and finding a balance between the mask and the man. (Although I admit to the constant reveals every film)
Man, what’s with the all the negativity? Yes, the series is being rebooted after only eight years, but “Spider-Man 3″ was such a mess that something had to be done.
Martin Sheen is an amazing actor. Sally Field is an amazing actress. Instead of griping about this reboot, let’s perhaps look at how awesome it could be. So far, these casting choices are terrific. Dunham’s suggestion of Sissy Spacek as a possible Aunt May was also right on the money.
I know that BROTHERS & SISTERS is supposed to be going off the air after this season but doesn’t Sally Field have enough money in the bank so she doesn’t have to reduce herself to appearing in this garbage? This sounds so D2DVD and not in a cheesy fun way either.
I will wait to see what the plot line in total is because if it is a remake i wont bother….maybe video and ONLY for the script-er as no one else on this project interests me.
Raimi’s vision in one and two were excellent but the problem with three was the involvement of the studios which ultimately brought us to this cluster-fluke for this rehash. Yes it may make money but I have a feeling it wont make as much as number three did and three sucked!
Right on pace with your comments “pick up a comic”. I agree with what you say.