Ahhh, Spider-Man 4. Of all the projects I’ve worked on, I get asked about this more often than anything else.
I hope that one day I can, (or somebody can), finally tell the whole story of Sam Raimi’s ‘abandoned’ fourth Spidey movie.
Until then, out of respect for Sam, (and fear that he’d send Bruce Campbell to come after me with a chainsaw…), and everyone that worked on, or contributed to, this project, let me just say this:
It would’ve been one absolutely kick ass movie. Seriously. We were working on some crazy- cool stuff, because everyone, from top to bottom, felt that Spidey 3 was a bit of a ‘missed opportunity’, and we all really wanted to help Sam take SM4 to another level so he could end the series on a high note.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be, but I did get to spend a few years working on “OZ, The Great and Powerful”, which was just amazing…
but that’s a whole ‘nother post.
Anyway, Sam is almost superstitious about releasing any storyboards for anything, (go back and look at every “The Art Of” book for every movie he’s ever done… you know what’s not gonna be there? Anywhere? That’s right: storyboards), I don’t really know why- but that’s just how he feels about it.
So, having said that, here are some ‘boards I can share, (without pissing Sam off), from the mysterious Spider-Man 4.
(*As a bonus, I put an ‘audition’ piece at the bottom that I did for the late, great J. Michael Riva, (RIP), who asked me to join him on the reboot, not long after SM4 shut down. Two days before I was to start on the reboot, (which, to be honest, I was a bit conflicted about…), Sam called me in for what- would- eventually become OZ… so that was it for me, Sam and Spidey.