While he saw his time as the director handling the Spider-Man franchise come to an unexpectedly sudden end following the Sony/Marvel deal that is changing the character’s focus, Marc Webb is throwing himself into other work. He now has two films inching closer to production, with the first, Gifted, scoring Chris Evans to star.
Evans, of course, is no stranger to superheroic tales and has recently been back working as Steve Rogers for Captain America: Civil War. But Gifted, written by Tom Flynn, isn’t actually about people with extraordinary strength or the ability to fly. It’s a much more down to earth drama about Frank Adler, a deliberate underachiever, who is raising his niece Mary, in rural Florida. When he enrols her in school for the first time, she is labelled as gifted. All Frank wants is for Mary to have a normal life, but standing in his way is her mother Evelyn, and the dilemma that he doesn’t have custody of Mary. So being proactive for once, he sues to win that custody.
Webb is looking to have that one shooting in the coming months, before turning his attention to the long-gestating The Only Living Boy In New York. That one has Miles Teller (who probably wants to forget his own recent superheroic experience) attached to star. Taking its title from the Simon and Garfunkel song, the coming-of-age plot finds a young man learning that his oppressive father is having an affair. But when he tries to shut down the romance, he falls for the woman involved. Cue further familial dysfunction but also a chance for a learning experience thanks to some wise words from an odd neighbour.
With Allan Loeb providing the script for that one, Webb is now talking to Jeff Bridges and Rosamund Pike to fill out the other two sides of the unusual love triangle. Assuming he locks down his cast, the director aims to shoot that one next year. He last worked on the pilot for the TV series based on 2011 brain-boost thriller Limitless, with the movie’s star Bradley Cooper on board as producer and occasional guest actor.