On Spider-Man 4

I didn't mean to sit on this information for as long as I have, it just worked-out that way. Plus, Spider-Man 4 is still a little ways off; Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Sam Raimi were contractually "locked-in" just over a month ago and none of them had much to say about the project until recently. Filming is set to begin in January (2010) and Spider-Man 4 is scheduled for release on May 6^th, 2011.

Evil Dead star and self-titled "career B-movie actor," Bruce Campbell, is signed to a major villainous role, though he does not know the details yet. Geek speculation has him cast as Mysterio, but that is just rumor!

Raimi told Superherohype.com Spider-Man 4 would focus on the character, Peter Parker; he said he wants to really get into whom Peter Parker is with Tobey Maguire as the vessel, though he noted they "must be careful." 

Raimi said, "You're dealing with a character that has been around for 40-some years, is much loved by people throughout the world, and people not just have a sense of ownership of Spider-Man -- rightfully so- - they look up to him as a hero."

Raimi said he agreed with the criticism that Spider-Man 3 had "too many villains." He also said Drag Me to Hell taught him the importance of "getting to the point," and that he intended to apply what he learned from making that movie to Spider-Man 4 by taking a a "back to basics" approach. 

The lack of a big budget and the time constraints of Drag Me to Hell reminded him of his early days in independent film-making and how to boil scenes down to their core and capture that. He discussed the use of blocking, staging, and lighting effects to capture a scene, as opposed to working through numerous shots.

Raimi's effectiveness as a low-budget director is best evidenced by his debut film, Evil Dead, in which many of these "tricks" are employed. Evil Dead remains, to this day, one of the most well-crafted, and truly frightening, gorefests of all time.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009