Emma Stone talks preparing for Spider-Man

Emma Stone will be playing Gwen Stacy, a potential love interest for Peter Parker in the upcoming reboot of Spider-Man, and MTV Splash had an interview with her recently and she talked about preparing for the character.

“Today I went and did hair tests, because I have blonde hair now since Gwen has blond hair,” she said. “My natural hair is blonde, so it’s kind of nice.”

Stone also mentioned some rehearsal preparations since they will be shooting in a couple of weeks.

“Andrew [Garfield] and I went and learned about science yesterday. Gwen really likes science, so we learned about science,” she said. “I was home-schooled, so I never went to chemistry class in a traditional setting like Gwen is into. That was really beneficial.”

I like that they are keeping more true to the comics in that Mary Jane didn’t come along until MUCH later for Parker. It was a running joke through many of the earlier issues of the comic that Aunt May’s neighbour wanted to set Peter up on a date with her neice, but it never seems to happen.

In the previous film installments they went with the more memorable love interest MJ. It always bothered me because a big defining moment for Parker as Spider-Man in the comics was the death of Gwen Stacy.

This moment is paralelled in the cablecar scene with Goblin, where Peter has to choose between saving his girlfriend and saving a cablecar full of people. In the comics it’s Gwen, and while failing to save them both, Gwen dies forever affecting the character. But in the movie he heroically accomplishes both rescues and averts this character forming moment.

I really like the idea of Stone as Gwen (people assumed she would be MJ because of her classic red hair – but she’s a natural blond), but if they stick to the comics she might not make it into too many films. I just hope they make her character have value and impact on Peter instead of just a damsel in distress like MJ was in the previous films.