Sony’s going full-on with Spider-man content, regardless if it actually features Peter Parker or not. Sydney Sweeney recently talked about her excitement over her Madame Web film, saying, “I think it’s different from what people expect a superhero movie to be. Quote that! That’s a quote, because the tabloids will pick up everything else we talk about.” Also, Kraven the Hunter, the origin film of one of the famous villains in Spider-man’s rogue gallery, was set to hit theaters this October, but the recent events of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have motivated the studio to postpone the release to this time next year.
Esquire has recently released a cover story on Kraven the Hunter‘s star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, where he talks the film along with his director, J.C. Chandor. Chandor follows Sweeney in saying that his superhero film differentiates itself from the others as Kraven‘s story plays more like a tragedy. “Sony probably doesn’t want me to lead with this. but the story is a tragedy. When the final credits roll on this film, if you’ve been paying attention, you won’t have the feeling that this is all going to end great.”
Chandor told Sony he wanted to tell an origin story with someone younger than previously considered — the role was reportedly offered to the likes of Keanu Reeves over the years and more recently, Adam Driver. However, it was Taylor-Johnson’s performance in Bullet Train that had the studio persuading the director to cast him. Tom Rothman, the chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group, mentions, “When a guy can hold up his end of the tennis match with Brad Pitt, you should pay attention.”
Taylor-Johnson mentions that it was important to him to flesh out Kraven as a person, especially since he’s a hunter. “When you say stuff like ‘I’m the greatest hunter of all time,’ you’ve got to know deep within your being that it’s coming from a place of reality and depth, and feels like it’s possible and plausible.” The actor studied people who have that complicated relationship with animals, “You just grab little things. and they rub off, in ways, and they come in handy.” It was reported that he got into the mindset by stalking deer to feel “the emotional turmoil and the sense of guilt” that came with the hunt.