Kevin Feige's Notes For Sony On THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Will Remind You Why We Love Him

Kevin Feige's Notes For Sony On THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Will Remind You Why We Love Him

WikiLeaks have published all of the "Sony Hack" emails, and one particularly interesting exchange contains Marvel Studios notes on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 from late 2013. "Andrew’s performance is all over the place…a lot of crying and then a lot of mania." Read on for details...

By JoshWilding - Apr 18, 2015 05:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Spider-Man

The following notes come from an email dated November 19th, 2013 (you can see it here) and reveal some of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige's insights into what was wrong with The Amazing Spider-Man 2. They're fairly tame recommendation/observations as Marvel obviously had no creative control over the movie at this time, and Sony clearly didn't pay a great deal of attention - their loss - based on the final product anyway. There are some interesting reveals about some of the directions the sequel would have gone in too, including Aunt May finding out that Peter is Spidey in the same way as JMS' comic book run. It's a shame they cut that for whatever reason.

What's abundantly clear here is that Feige just gets Spider-Man. Like every other Marvel character he's brought to the big screen, the man just understands what makes them tick and the right way to bring them to life. Something else which was interesting is just how well Feige seems to get on with Amy Pascal. She clearly respects his opinions and was keen to hear more from him, so there really isn't any need to be worried about her involement in Marvel's Spider-Man. The new Spidey is going to be Feige's baby 100%...if you're not excited about the 2017 movie after this, you're nuts!


  • There are too many story lines and we need to choose which ones we are focusing on and lift out the other ones, ie; could reduce father arc to just Roosevelt?
 
  • Could cut out plane crash and Richard destroying spiders and start on armored car – don’t start with Spider-Man….let the danger/stakes to NYC build first and then have Spider-Man enter the scene heroically.
 
  • Tone down Paul Giamatti performance, so he seems a bit more menacing and less cartoonish.
 
  • If you cut Richard from the opening and the plane crash maybe you could instead do Harry coming home and seeing Norman at the top of the movie as a cold open.
 
  • Really love Electro – feels like you may not need the scene in his apartment, which makes him seems completely crazy and hard to relate too.
 
  • Like the idea that eel goes in his mouth and instead of burrowing, you see it glow within him…
 
  • Need to set up the Power Plant earlier, visually.
 
  • Seems like the movie switches pov’s a lot…why are we in Max’s pov during the car chase, worth looking at this playing out from Spidey’s pov.
 
  • There could be a better way to reveal that Peter is missing graduation – maybe when you cut Gwen you cut to the wide shot? 
 
  • Tiny note – don’t think Peter would lie to Gwen about sirens --- maybe he just downplays it…
 
  • Stan Lee Cameo – maybe need a little more emphasis on Peter here trying to get out of his costume and not be in seen…set up a little more the pressure of the principal getting closer and closer to calling his name.
 
  • Instead of seeing the ghost of Captain Stacy, can just here the voice in Peter’s head and maybe flash back to the last movie?  Don’t think we should add Cap Stacy back into car chase.
 
  • There is too much back and forth with Peter and Gwen – can we recut the Dim Sum scene so that it doesn’t feel so repetitive of their break-up in the last movie – Can Peter be more honorable and definitive and less wishy-washy?
 
  • Why do we need a year to pass…
 
  • Harry story feels like the main plot of the movie – Peter should look into the past b/c of Harry – maybe find some photos of them together as kids…use obsession wall more to set up this part of his past not just what happened to parents.
 
  • Not sure what Peter learns at Roosevelt is entirely correct. We’re distracted by the idea that Peter became Spider-Man b/c of his father’s blood --- all this special back story with his super-scientist dad fights with the idea that Peter is normal kid from Queens who becomes the greatest super-hero in the world…
 
  • Andrew’s performance is all over the place…a lot of crying and then a lot of mania. Hard to track him emotionally sometimes. It undermines his reaction to Gwen’s death b/c he gets upset and emotional a lot.
 
  • Don’t like the idea that May tells Peter his parents were spies b/c two seconds later he finds out they are not and it again fights with the idea that he’s an ordinary kid.
 
  • Like the idea that May finds out he’s Spider-Man – finds his costume instead of just the rosemary harris wink-wink all the time.
 
  • Kind of like the morgue, but hate the dancing mortician – cliché.
 
  • Are you using VFX to show how Electro is travelling from one point to another (bursts of electricity).
 
  • Need to underscore capture of goblin…more sirens as you linger on the clock 1;21, 1:22 am (nice touch).
 
  • Surveillance scene should be about following Harry not Peter…no one should be following Peter.
 
  • Can Electro hum Itsy-Bitsy Spider before he plays it electronically…maybe we can use this again.
 
  • Maybe intercut the ending montage and hearing Gwen’s speech with someone going into special projects and revealing more easter eggs and see that the rhino case has been broke into and the suit is missing…great way to transition to rhino ending.
 
  • Don’t need Aunt May in the kitchen.
 
  • Spider-man needs to feel more directly responsible for preventing the planes from crashing.
 
  • Don’t show New Yorkers looting.
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BatHeis
BatHeis - 4/18/2015, 5:17 PM
Lol.
JoshuaGraham
JoshuaGraham - 4/18/2015, 5:19 PM
Don’t show New Yorkers looting.
That made me laugh.
XelCorp
XelCorp - 4/18/2015, 5:19 PM
It's just really sad how The Amazing Spider-Man franchise ended on a cliffhanger like that
Khanlark
Khanlark - 4/18/2015, 5:19 PM
Agree with most of his comments, except the Garfield one. Andrew was incredible in this film.
XelCorp
XelCorp - 4/18/2015, 5:20 PM
To never be completed
MisterBatfleck
MisterBatfleck - 4/18/2015, 5:21 PM
Feige has to have been a comics nerd back when he was younger. The dude GETS it all.
BatHeis
BatHeis - 4/18/2015, 5:21 PM
What's interesting and funny is how Sony made fun of WB for the incompetentence with their properties. Lol. Look at them now.
DrKinsolving
DrKinsolving - 4/18/2015, 5:22 PM
Haha, Feige is the [frick]ing man.

He literally listed the majority of the problems fans had with the movie....

Can't wait to see Spider-Man in the MCU
Kr08
Kr08 - 4/18/2015, 5:22 PM
Sorry, but Kevin Feige sounds like a hack in this email. All he is doing is criticizing someone's work. Anyone can find ways to make a film better after you've seen it.
PsychoticSpaceRaccoon
PsychoticSpaceRaccoon - 4/18/2015, 5:23 PM
I agree with most of those. But honestly, TASM2 needed a complete re-write. WTF was Sony thinking?
DrKinsolving
DrKinsolving - 4/18/2015, 5:24 PM
@Kr08

Are you serious?

That's his job. And, if anybody could, then, why didn't Sony? The movie was still released with these problems
Schmoopy
Schmoopy - 4/18/2015, 5:24 PM
I love this.
crimsoncrusader
crimsoncrusader - 4/18/2015, 5:25 PM
Dude is awesome.
Schmoopy
Schmoopy - 4/18/2015, 5:26 PM
@Kr08

That is LITERALLY what they pay him for. Movies have people on board to give notes all the time.
SnapperCarr
SnapperCarr - 4/18/2015, 5:27 PM

GirlRage
GirlRage - 4/18/2015, 5:27 PM
Felt like he said everything that needed to be said. Except for this....

"Really love Electro – feels like you may not need the scene in his apartment, which makes him seems completely crazy and hard to relate too."

Electro was garbage, the whole way through. From design to execution. You needed to show messed up family to explain his frail mindset to really drive his desire to be acknowledged and why he flies off the deep end when Spider-Man doesn't remember him even though he is blue and glowing.
Schmoopy
Schmoopy - 4/18/2015, 5:27 PM
Can we all just pretend TASM2 never existed? I do it everyday with The Incredible Hulk. :)
FordEl
FordEl - 4/18/2015, 5:27 PM
@Kr08

Agree 100% You can nitpick any movie afterwards. Not denying TASM 2 had its problems but a few of his points were ridiculous. Andrew and Emma were the highlight of that movie
Kr08
Kr08 - 4/18/2015, 5:28 PM
It's not his job. His job is to handle the MCU not criticize other studios movies. Sony probably didn't want to delay the film and spend time and money editing it. It's common sense. Plus, I don't work for Sony so don't go asking me stupid questions.
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 4/18/2015, 5:28 PM
He also said that he would NEVER consider rebooting Iron Man. Marvel will handle their characters like the James Bond franchise does. Think he may have said that in interviews before now though...
FightAs0ne
FightAs0ne - 4/18/2015, 5:29 PM
Everything that he critiques the movie about are the exact problems I had with it. Incredible lol. Sony's movies made me tired of Peter Parker. Let's hope Marvel can revive him in a good way.
cronnyberg
cronnyberg - 4/18/2015, 5:29 PM
so, yeah, the title of this article is spot on! this is why we love Feige! Although I don't agree with every little thing he said (eg garfield's performance), it seems ridiculous to me that all these things were pointed out prior to the films release and the studio/arad or whomever still pushed through with it! Absolutely criminal. I liked TASM 2 more than a lot of people did, but I still recognise how utterly flawed it was on many levels
MisterBatfleck
MisterBatfleck - 4/18/2015, 5:29 PM
Marvel Studios: We got another smash hit coming out with AOU and Ant-Man along with the next 5 years mapped out!



WB/DC: We got two of the most iconic superheroes in the world meeting for the first time in the same movie as well as a plethora of others as well as more movies down the road!



Fox: Well we're FINALLY giving one of the most popular comic characters the movie he deserves as well as another gripping X-Men movie!



Sony: We were gonna make an AUNT MAY movie, yeah!





spidey1994
spidey1994 - 4/18/2015, 5:30 PM
To be honest, as someone in the minority of people who liked The Amazing Spider-Man 2, I agree with a lot this stuff, not Andrew's performance though, he was brilliant in the movie.
TheGambitFreak
TheGambitFreak - 4/18/2015, 5:31 PM
@Kr08 No he's not. He's trying to tell them what's wrong with some parts of the film that will have the movie criticized. He's trying to solve parts of the film that will take audiences out of the experience. He failed though. Sony done [frick]ed up on everything but the suit.
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