We've been looking through more of the "Sony Hack" emails, and they reveal some potentially very interesting details about the production of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In emails dated June 6th, 2014, Sony boss Amy Pascal addresses the possibility of putting Shailene Woodley's Mary Jane Watson back in the sequel after it had been revealed that the Divergent star had been cut. "I think it makes us look idiotic," she says. "And she may reapp ear someday," Pascal adds before dismissing the idea of putting the character's scenes back in the movie. She does however say yes to the alternate ending featuring the return of Peter Parker's father, but that obviously changed.
Lexine Wong, Senior Executive VP, Worldwide Marketing of Sony, replies with, "people would DIE for the shalene scene..." before producer Matt Tolmach half jokingly weighs in with, "i bet shalene would move the needle..." and quickly states in a follow-up email just two minutes later that, "im kind of kidding...kind of." This is all in relation to the fact that the movie was "struggling" to hit the right numbers at test screenings which is hardly a surprise now we look back at the shoddy sequel.
In a lengthy email exchange between Amy Pascal and Doug Belgrad on November 13th, Pascal mentions the following: "We hired drew Goddard to write and direct a sinister six movie...Now it's a Spiderman movie...I love drew...I would not have hired him to direct the next spuserman movie after the Marc Webb experience." Rather vague and out of context, but it appears as if Drew Goddard has transformed The Sinister Six into a Spider-Man movie, as some rumours have recently alluded to. "The Marc Webb Experience"? This definitely appears to be a dig at the filmmaker, but for what reason is unknown. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's because he possibly put up some resistance to much of their interference, something we know led to a lot of reshoots and more than likely the lack of the much talked about POV shots which vanished when The Amazing Spider-Man was released, despite the impressive teaser trailer. Either way, I don't think we'll see him back for another instalment in the franchise based on these emails...