Amazing Spider-Man 2 Director Reveals Why Mary Jane Scenes Got Cut Out

[Alex Co]

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Director Reveals Why Mary Jane Scenes Got Cut Out

Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb, explains why Shailene Woodley's scenes as Mary Jane was cut from the movie's final version.

While Gwen Stacey (played by Emma Stone) was Peter Parker's love interest in Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel, comic book fans (and even non-comic book fans) already know it's a romance that won't last since in the comics, Parker eventually marries Mary Jane Watson. In the Amazing Spider-Man 2, director Marc Webb actually shot a few scenes with actress Shailene Woodley (Divergent) portraying Mary Jane. So, why was it left out of the theatrical release, then? Webb explains below, but before reading on, be warned that there are spoilers inbound, so proceed at your own risk.

Speaking to The L.A. Times [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-amazing-spiderman-2-mary-jane-shailene-woodley-cut-20140506-story.html], Webb states, "Shailene is a brilliant actress, and she did a great couple days of work...But it was very difficult to introduce someone as a competing love interest when so much is on the table with Peter and Gwen." Producer Matt Tolmach adds, "We bit off more than we can chew. We had a superhero opera, and as great as Shailene is, she didn't really co-exist with the bigger story we were telling...It felt like a distraction. You can't have Peter thinking about Gwen every moment and then there's this girl next door who's suddenly there...We weren't ready for it."

Given how comic book films often tease upcoming characters in future entries, this is certainly quite a surprise. But based on the statements above, they do make sense. So, should we assume to see Woodley's Mary Jane in Amazing Spider-Man 3, then? While the actress is open to reprising her role, nothing official has been announced so far, with The Hollywood Reporter claiming that we will indeed see MJ in the third flick, [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/amazing-spider-man-2-shailene-571744] but the role will be recast.

Which actress would you want to be cast as MJ in Amazing Spider-Man 3? And did Webb did the right thing in cutting Mary Jane's part out of the sequel?

Source: IGN [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-amazing-spiderman-2-mary-jane-shailene-woodley-cut-20140506-story.html]

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[Elijin]

Im glad they cut her. Nothing against her of course. But having her in the film would really draw away from the tragedy of the conclusion. It just wouldnt be as compelling if we were already being served MJ and being hinted to move on.

 

[JenSeven]

Don't you mean Marc Webb?
I wouldn't associate Australian ex-Formula 1 Driver Mark Webber with making such a shambles of a movie.

Although admittedly, he probably would have done a better job at it.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Webber states, "...We had a superhero opera..."

lol. Wait, what? I guess you can be paid to say anything after all.

 

[Alex Co]

Don't you mean Marc Webb?
I wouldn't associate Australian ex-Formula 1 Driver Mark Webber with making such a shambles of a movie.

Although admittedly, he probably would have done a better job at it.

Haha! Sorry about that! Fixed and thanks! Webb, Webber, Webbing. Webby. Web Web.

 

[JenSeven]

Webber states, "...We had a superhero opera..."

lol. Wait, what? I guess you can be paid to say anything after all.

They probably had enough effeminate men wearing leather and tight costumes to mistake it for the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Sometimes a scene gets as far as being shot on film before the director realizes it will subtract from the movie or ruin the pacing. Regrettably, sometimes reading the script over again and finding erroneous scenes like this before casting begins can save some trouble.

"We bit off more than we could chew" Oh are we starting to learn how to not screw up Spiderman movies? Keep it up and maybe I'll keep tabs on the next one in case it reaches the previous trilogy's quality.

 

[seditary]

I was so amused reading this.

'Superhero opera'. 'A great couple days work'. 'We weren't ready for it'.

Seriously, not ready for something you took a couple days to film in your superhero opera.

Choking.

 

[Trishbot]

Im glad they cut her. Nothing against her of course. But having her in the film would really draw away from the tragedy of the conclusion. It just wouldnt be as compelling if we were already being served MJ and being hinted to move on.

Or, if they had a better script and story, they could have done what the comics did and had Mary Jane as Gwen's best friend, someone who was in love with Peter but graciously stepped aside to let him date Gwen instead while she dated Harry and others, who was absolutely heart-broken as much as Peter was when her closest friend died, and how the death of Gwen also served to bring Peter and Mary Jane closer together.

Though that would give Mary Jane an important role in both their lives and serve as a logical bridge between the two to set up their future romance... and we couldn't have something as reasonable as that in the movie. No sir, not when we needed more time dedicated to missing parents with secret subway lairs and cramming in more villains and cameos where they aren't needed.

 

[synobal]

Honestly I'd be okay if they dropped her entirely. I'm tired of MJ honestly, there was a point in the ultimate comics where Peter Parker was dating Kitty Pride (Shadowcat) and I was like thank god! Less drama and we get couple fights against super villains.

 

[hermes]

Is she the actress in the picture? If so, I guess she really regrets getting that tattoo...

OT: I don't mind that they cut MJ after Raimi destroyed every ounce of respect I had for the character in the previous movies. I just hope they don't introduce her later in the series, because that would have make cutting her part a pretty shortsighted thing to do.

 

[The_Darkness]

See, a point of MJ's character was that (despite the two of them being introduced on a blind date) she was a friend of Pete's before they properly hooked up. An important aspect of MJ's character development was her consciously choosing to stay behind, with Peter, to help him through grieving over Gwen (who was her friend too). Especially poignant since, up until that point, most of what we'd seen of MJ was a happy-go-lucky gal who didn't seem to have a serious side.

I would have liked to have seen that on screen. It would have been a good character interaction beyond "She's the love interest, now she's dead, now meet the new love interest". And it might have been enough to draw me into the new films. But, alas, I think they missed a trick there.

 

[RA92]

Why did they also drop the footage of Norman Osborn's face in Oscorp?

http://cf.badassdigest.com/_uploads/images/osborn-head-in-a-jar-2-610x343.jpg

Because TASM2 is a directionless mess where the marketing team and the editing room had no king of coordination.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Keeping my personal feelings about the Amazing Spider-Man out of the argument for now. Before the reboot had finalized the casting I was kinda hoping for Emma Stone as MJ.

Obviously that's not possible. Knowing what I know about the way these movies have played out it's obvious they can't rely on the established friendship to carry out into a romance so I don't have a good base line for who would play off the setting and tone well enough to make a fitting MJ for these films.



Ah screw it, my diplomacy dyke has failed.

Just cast Megan Fox and a heretofore unseen Oscorp employee who worked as an intern with Peter's dad and has some mysterious connection to Peter as his genetically destined perfect mate and be done with it.

 

[RJ Dalton]

I just hope they don't introduce her later in the series, because that would have make cutting her part a pretty shortsighted thing to do.

Very short sighted, yes. Not at all like everything else they've done in the series. *sarcasm*

 

[Seracen]

Honestly I'd be okay if they dropped her entirely. I'm tired of MJ honestly, there was a point in the ultimate comics where Peter Parker was dating Kitty Pride (Shadowcat) and I was like thank god! Less drama and we get couple fights against super villains.

I agree with this post, except I always preferred Black Cat. Moreover, they apparently already introduced Felicia Hardy in AS2 (no desire to see it). Kitty and Peter made a cute enough couple, but I will always be amused by the moment Joss Whedon crafted between Shadowcat and Collosus (she falls through the floor after sex, and Wolverine continues drinking his coffee).

But yeah, I always preferred Felicia. MJ was an interesting enough character, after a while, but they didn't do the right thigns with her character. She suffered from "Lois Lane Syndrome," where she was this assertive and strong personality, but often in need of rescue. Then Marvel constantly threw their marriage problems in readers' faces (this more a component of not being able to present long-term relationships well).

 

[JMan]

This is just now getting talked about? Marc Webb stated this back at the beginning of December. Is The Escapist this far behind?

 

[synobal]

Honestly I'd be okay if they dropped her entirely. I'm tired of MJ honestly, there was a point in the ultimate comics where Peter Parker was dating Kitty Pride (Shadowcat) and I was like thank god! Less drama and we get couple fights against super villains.

I agree with this post, except I always preferred Black Cat. Moreover, they apparently already introduced Felicia Hardy in AS2 (no desire to see it). Kitty and Peter made a cute enough couple, but I will always be amused by the moment Joss Whedon crafted between Shadowcat and Collosus (she falls through the floor after sex, and Wolverine continues drinking his coffee).

But yeah, I always preferred Felicia. MJ was an interesting enough character, after a while, but they didn't do the right thigns with her character. She suffered from "Lois Lane Syndrome," where she was this assertive and strong personality, but often in need of rescue. Then Marvel constantly threw their marriage problems in readers' faces (this more a component of not being able to present long-term relationships well).

Black Cat in the ultimate universe is well a lot older than peter, she was interested up until she figured out she was hitting on like a 16 year old kid then she had this reaction. It was pretty funny if I do say so myself.

Spoiler

Black Cat unmasks spider-man (ultimate) [http://imgur.com/gallery/xfHsV]

I really enjoy the ultimate universe it has so much less baggage compared the marvels traditional setting. Still hoping they give Ultimate Spider-woman her own comic, Jessica drew is awesome.

 

[Callate]

I understand (haven't seen it) that ASM2 has way too much on its plate already without adding MJ to the mix.

But on the other hand, wow, way to screw over an actress, guys...