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October 31, 2008


Columbia is set to hire a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer to pen Spider-Man 4, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

David Lindsay-Abaire, who won the prestigious award for his play Rabbit Hole, has secured to gig to write the third franchise sequel that is set to unite stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and director Sam Raimi.

The choice of a high-brow screenwriter shows a determination by the studio to focus on character this time around, something many thought got lost in the messy Spider-Man 3.

Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt previously wrote a draft of the script. As yet plot details are still being kept tightly under-wraps.


Although she recently expressed interest in reprising her role as Mary Jane Watson, it sounds like Kirsten Dunst isn't such a sure thing for the next two Spider-Man sequels, at least given the language of director Sam Raimi's most recent statements on the matter.

Raimi told MTV that he'd "love to work with (Dunst) again" but added "I hope she'll be written into it. I couldn't imagine making one without her, and I think she's an important part of the movies."

"I don't have a script yet, but production would start probably by March of 2010, I'm guessing," the director explained. "It sounds like a long time away, but we need a script first, and a lot of pre-production has to take place." He added that no decision has been made yet about shooting Spider-Man 4 and 5 back-to-back, and stressed that studio boss Amy Pascal would make the final decision regarding the shooting schedule.

Raimi was coy about whether Dylan Baker, who has appeared in the last three installments as Dr. Curt Connors, would finally appear as the villainous Lizard. Raimi said that they "just don't know who the villain is yet," but suggested that the storylines for the fourth and fifth films would most likely be intertwined.