Jilted Spider-Man Getting Over It as Raimi Picks up Spy Franchise
Your Dad will likely be thrilled to hear this morning that Paramount plans a Jack Ryan revival starting in 2010, while the rest of us are intrigued to see Sam Raimi recruited as the studio's go-to helmer for the reborn franchise. A glorified genre director if ever there was one, Raimi's stewardship of Sony's $2.5 billion Spider-Man empire reportedly impressed the 'Mount enough to lock him in for the fifth installment of the spy series for a 2010 release.
Of course, with Raimi's horror project Drag Me to Hell also in the pipeline between now and then, the Paramount deal doesn't bode well for Raimi's involvement in the next three Spider-Man films rumored to be on Sony's production slate through 2015. That's not to say his deft touch with big-budget emo heroism is disappearing in the transition, according to Variety:
The intention is to generate several films Raimi would develop and direct, featuring Ryan at a younger, more formative point in his career than previously depicted. One invention the studio is considering is to set the film in the present, with the action triggered by a global threat.
We recall Ben Affleck being only 30 in 2002 when he starred as Ryan in The Sum of All Fears, but that's beside the point. Basically, Paramount wants the Bourne franchise — only slicker, maybe even with tripods, longer takes and, in a grave scenario ripped from the headlines, a tormented Shia LeBeouf using his raw super-agent talent to outrun authorities in 20 countries after bumming cigarettes in front of the wrong Moroccan tsotchke shop. Tom Clancy, eat your heart out.