Right on the heels of a story about actors staying on as their characters for the full run of a franchise, I put up a post about an actor NOT planning to stick around.
Tobey Maguire has opened up about the future of the Spiderman series, and seems to be confirming the buzz that althrough Sony will clearly insist on a never-ending run for the franchise, it’s not likely to be with him playing the Peter Parker character. The Sunday Mail reports that the actor feels he has ‘reached the end of the road’ with the character, and quotes him directly on the subject: “To me it seems like this is a natural point for the team to break up,” Maguire says. “We have a lot of story conclusions that were going along for the main characters for the first two movies and we kind of tie almost everything up for the third movie.” Maguire also adds the following assertion: “It feels like a trilogy to me and it feels like the end.”
Unlike the Harry Potter series, Spiderman is a franchise that doesn’t have a foreseeable end. The comics are still being published, and there is still tons of history that they can pick from to make a movie (Please no Spider Clone Saga!… ever!)
Don’t get me wrong, I am still an advocate for keeping the roles the same. With the exception of James Bond, I have yet to see a movie change its primary actor and remain successful. I still said Michael Keaton is the only Batman until Christian Bale came along, but I keep those franchises separate on my shelf.
If done right, it can be done. I will be VERY excited to see a new Spiderman Movie with a whole new cast and a new director just to see what a new gang can do with it. I would still prefer the consistency, but I am conflicted about the excitement to see something totally new and fresh.
Can that backfire? Of course it can. Joel Schumacher gave us a new take on Batman and single handedly robbed us of superhero movies for half a decade.
Seems the rest of the Spider-Team are also expressing thoughts of moving on, and rumours fly as to who might take over Toby’s tights. Who knows.
