Indie filmmakers making a fast jump to big studio movies has become a regular thing, but Marc Webb really started the most recent wave. In 2009 he directed (500) Days of Summer and earned a ton of acclaim, then was immediately hired by Sony to direct The Amazing Spider-Man, the first in a brand new trilogy and cinematic universe. The first movie went well, but the sequel died an ugly death and killed everything. Webb's since gone back to his roots in a way with his current movie, Gifted (which is very good and in theaters now), but still has fond memories of his time on those 'Spider-Man' films despite how things he ended. He told Collider...
“It’s hard for me to think about it, in terms of regrets. There are so many things that I’m proud of. There was an ambition with the second movie, in particular. The idea that it’s a superhero that can’t save everybody is something that I’m really proud of. I’m really proud of the ambition of that because it’s an important message, and I believe in that. I believe in what we were after. They’re really, really difficult movies to make. They’re complex in ways that people don’t fully understand. They weren’t disasters. But in terms of regrets, I don’t think of it in those terms. I felt really, really fortunate to have that opportunity. That’s a whole other long, in-depth conversation that I probably shouldn’t have publicly. I loved everybody involved. I really did. I didn’t have an adversarial relationship with the studio, at all. There were a lot of very smart people. These are just incredibly complicated movies to make. I am proud of them, in many ways, and I stand by them. I’m certainly not a victim, in that situation.”
Hey look, he has every right to be proud of his work. He did his best on them, and I believe it was Sony's rapid fire approach to launching sequels and spinoffs that caused the biggest problem. Speaking of which, he says that production on a third Spidey movie never went anywhere because Sony was busy thinking about that Sinister Six film that never happened.
“We finished the second one and they were working on ‘Sinister Six,’ so we all took a break. And then, the Sony hack happened and everything went away. But, that’s the way Hollywood works sometimes."
Webb's Gifted is in limited release now and should expand after a decent debut. He's also got The Only Living Boy in New York hitting theaters on August 11th so he's plenty busy.
