Vacation Reboot Duo Speak Out On Writing Marvel’s Spider-Man

In the wake of Micheal Pena’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it (or, I dunno, scratch-your-ear-and-you’ll-miss-it) reference to an unnamed wall-crawling superhero in ‘Ant-Man,’ it’s finally hitting home that Marvel’s best-known character Spider-Man is at long last going to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While it’s been just over a month now since the largely unknown actor-director combo of Tom Holland and Jon Watts were revealed as the key figures of this Marvel/Sony co-production, it is the film’s screenwriters, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who have been the first to speak publicly about their involvement in the high profile reboot.

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Expressing relief at being able to discuss the matter at last (Goldstein noting “we’ve been saying ‘no comment’ for the past week,”) the duo tell NPR they are “thrilled.”

Daley (also an actor, best known for his role on TV’s ‘Bones’) elaborates on their attraction to the character:

“He’s a sharp kid and witty and kind of deals with the fact that he’s an outcast and a geek through humor. It is sort of the safety net for geeks like us, so I think we can totally relate to where he’s coming from. As well as the superpowers, which we also have.”

Not unlike Adam McKay before them, who had been pegged as a potential ‘Ant-Man’ director but wound up contributing to the script instead, Daley and Goldstein - directors of another upcoming reboot, ‘Vacation’ - were on the initial shortlist of potential directors for the new ‘Spider-Man,’ before landing script duties instead.

The duo’s previous script credits have included the ‘Horrible Bosses’ movies, ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2′ and ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.’

If this seems an unlikely pedigree for ‘Spider-Man,’ don’t forget that Joe and Anthony Russo - directors of ‘Captain America: the Winter Soldier’ and the in-production ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ also set to helm the epic two-parter ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ - were best known for small-scale comedies ‘Welcome to Colinwood,’ ‘You, Me and Dupree’ and TV’s ‘Arrested Development’ and ‘Community’ prior to working with Marvel.

Plus, given that Marvel’s Kevin Feige and Sony’s Amy Pascal have spoken of wanting this take on ‘Spider-Man’ to have a John Hughes high school comedy vibe, it’s entirely logical that comedy writers be hired.

Tom Holland’s Spidey will make his first screen appearance in next year’s ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ scheduled for 29 April 2016, whilst the as-yet untitled ‘Spider-Man’ solo film is set to land in July 2017.

Meanwhile, Daley and Goldstein’s ‘Vacation’ hits UK cinemas on 21 August.

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Picture Credit: Sony, WENN