Sam Raimi On SPIDER-MAN 4; Says Anne Hathaway Would Have Played Black Cat!

I still remember the backlash when details leaked on Sam Raimi's planned fourth Spider-Man movie. We knew John Malkovich was on board to play The Vulture, and most fans were fine with that - but when the rumors hit that the character's daughter would also suit up as The Vulturess, well that was different. At the time Anne Hathaway was said to have read for this role although that was never confirmed, but now while talking to Vulture (no not THE Vulture, the website!) Raimi reveals that it was in fact Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat, that she would have played. Obviously Hathaway went on to play DC's take on the feline anti-heroine, Catwoman, in The Dark Knight Rises but did Raimi get to see her performance? "I didn't get to see Batman yet, because I've been working nonstop on Oz, but I hear she's great in it," says the director. "I'm not surprised, because I loved what she was doing with the auditions for Spider-Man 4." Raimi also discusses the "amicable" end of the project with Sony.

"It really was the most amicable and undramatic of breakups: It was simply that we had a deadline and I couldn't get the story to work on a level that I wanted it to work. I was very unhappy with Spider-Man 3, and I wanted to make Spider-Man 4 to end on a very high note, the best Spider-Man of them all. But I couldn't get the script together in time, due to my own failings, and I said to Sony, "I don't want to make a movie that is less than great, so I think we shouldn't make this picture. Go ahead with your reboot, which you've been planning anyway." And [Sony co-chairman] Amy Pascal said, "Thank you. Thank you for not wasting the studio's money, and I appreciate your candor." So we left on the best of terms, both of us trying to do the best thing for fans, the good name of Spider-Man, and Sony Studios."