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Movie Morsels: Director Confirms Peter Parker’s Age in SPIDER-MAN Reboot

Walloping websnappers! We’ve got the latest on Marvel’s Spider-Man reboot, straight from the mouth of director Jon Watts. Also in today’s Movie Morsels, Ryan Reynolds discusses why his upcoming Deadpool will kick every kind of ass known to man. Plus, in advance of SPECTRE, Daniel Craig’s James Bond returns in a new high-speed Heineken beer commercial, we’ve got the IMAX trailer for The Walk, and news on Tracy Morgan’s return to the big screen!

Spider-Man

Is he strong? Listen, bud. He's got radioactive blood.

Worrying that Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man reboot will make you sit through the death of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben for a third time? The studio has gone on record saying that the story will pick up after Peter has already become Spidey. Now director Jon Watts elaborates on the new set-up, and confirms the official age of our hero…

“There are only so many times you can kill Uncle Ben,” says the filmmaker, explaining that “I love the idea of makiking a coming-of-age high-school movie. We’re really going to see Peter Parker in high school and get deeper into that side of it. He’s just 15 now.” As for star Tom Holland’s audition, Watts remarks, “Tom was pretty perfect. He’s very athletic. He can actually do a backflip! If he didn’t already capture the spirit of the character, with that on top the kid is Spider-Man.”

Holland will make his debut as the webhead in Captain America: Civil War, out on May 6, 2016. His first Spider-Man solo film, directed by Watts, lands on July 28, 2017.

[Yahoo]

Deadpool

Deadpool 2

Meanwhile, in Fox’s corner of the Marvel movie adaptation business, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds talks in the latest issue of GQ about where he’d be right now if Green Lantern hadn’t bombed at the box office…

“I think I would be probably in prep for Green Lantern 3 right now. That sounds about right.”

Nevertheless, Reynolds has few regrets about embodying the first big-screen incarnation of the DC stalwart…

“I mean, I don’t give a rusty fuck, because—I know that this is gonna sound like some sort of guy who’s spent a little bit of time in a monastery or something, but it all led to here. If I had to do it all again, I’d do the exact same thing. You know, also, Green Lantern—you gotta remember, at the time, everyone was gunning for that role. The guys I was screen-testing against are amazing talents. [Reynolds reportedly beat out Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake, and Jared Leto for the role.] But would I change it? No! And if it was as big a success, then it might have offered a whole different avenue of opportunities, or maybe I would just be kind of always that guy. I really don’t know.”

Explaining why Deadpool is unlikely to suffer the same fate as Green Lantern or Fox’s recent Fantastic Four and why movie audiences have not yet experienced superhero fatigue, Reynolds observes, “It’s a genre. There are good horror movies and bad horror movies. There are good comedies and bad comedies. Think of it like that. Think of it less about just superheroes. I do believe that they explore similar archetypes a lot, so I think that notion can be somewhat fatiguing, maybe. I think one of the reasons that Deadpool has gained a lot of momentum isn’t just that it’s funny or isn’t just that it’s rated R. The meta aspect is very important. So I think Deadpool’s coming along at the right time, because it’s also speaking to that generation and that group of people that have seen them all, seen all these comic-book films and enjoyed them all to varying degrees of success. But I think it’s speaking to them as though the guy in that red suit is one of them, to some degree.”

“It’s like there’s an element of, like, watching a DVD commentary by someone who’s got some pop-culture savvy and is kind of funny and a little obnoxious and is saying the things that you maybe wouldn’t say. It’s fun. That’s also why the film is budgeted the way it’s budgeted, is released the way it’s released, is allowed to be rated R, kind of all these things. Because for the studio, it’s actually relatively low-risk.”

Directed by Tim Miller, Deadpool opens on February 12, 2016.

[GQ]

SPECTRE

Finding it a little hard to wait for Daniel Craig’s return as James Bond on November 6 in director Sam Mendes’ SPECTRE? Here’s a little something to tide you over: Craig starring as 007 in a new short film/Heineken beer commercial. Enjoy!

[Heineken]

The Walk

Here’s the official IMAX trailer for Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk, featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the real-life French daredevil who walked between the World Trade Center towers. If the film is half as dizzying as this preview, we’re in for a treat when it’s released, in 3D no less, on October 9.

[Sony]

Fist Fight

Tracy Morgan

Finally for today, after appearing on this week’s Emmy Awards telecast, Tracy Morgan will return to the big screen for the first time since his tragic road accident last year. The former 30 Rock funnyman will co-star with Ice Cube in director Richie Keen’s comedy Fist Fight, which is about a teacher (played by Charlie Day) challenged to the film’s title bout by his colleague (played by Cube). Expect hilarity to ensue.

[The Wrap]

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