The questions of who will be directing and starring in it remain unanswered, but Spider-Man 4 just got itself a screenwriter.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia has hired James Vanderbilt, recently responsible for the David Fincher-directed Zodiac, to write the script for the next Spidey sequel. The Reporter says Vanderbilt was apparently chosen because he wanted to take a “character-driven approach to the story rather than a focus on special effects.” From the article:
Plot points are being closely guarded by the studio, though the intent is to scale back the story to include only two villains instead of repeating the “Spider-Man 3” model. The third installment, which grossed $336.5 million domestically this year, saw Spidey battle a busy triumvirate of evildoers in the forms of Venom, Sandman and Goblin and was widely reckoned as overly cumbersome with one too many plot lines.
Spider-Man 4 is the second Marvel-derived project Vanderbilt has taken on; he’s also working on the Gavin Hood-directed X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
