There’s no denying that Emma Stone is a rising star these days. She impressed us in Zombieland, and followed that with a snark-tastic performance in Easy A. It would seem Sony shares our enthusiasm, since she’s currently considering the female lead in the studio’s new take on **21 Jump Street and – in a move that could launch her career to the next level – she’s being considered a candidate for one of the main roles in the next Spider-Man film.
Let’s look at the wall-crawler first, shall we? There are apparently two juicy female roles in the new film, which would see the chosen actresses appear alongside Andrew Garfield's Spidey. While Sony is naturally staying quiet about exact details, there are conflict reports as to whether flame-haired girl-next-door turned object of Peter Parker’s obsession Mary Jane Watson is even in the movie, or if both roles are completely new. Stone would be pretty much perfect for MJ (she doesn’t need to dip into the hair dye or buy a wig like Kirsten Dunst needed) and she’s got the right blend of attitude with added vulnerability when called upon.
But she’s not the only person in contention – Sony has also been meeting with Lily Collins and Alice in Wonderland’s Mia Wasikowska for the roles, which makes us think the producers and director Mark Webb are close to finding the right person, but haven’t finally made up their minds yet. They’ll need to lock people in soon, though, as the film starts shooting at the end of the year for a 2012 release date.
And getting back to Stone’s flourishing career, she’s also talking to the 21 Jump Street team about starring in the cop comedy drama opposite Jonah Hill, who has co-written and is producing the project. Since they worked together well on Superbad, we can see why he might be trying to get her to sign on. Phil Lord and Chris Miller are sharing the director’s chair for that one, and it’ll kick off shooting early next year. Could she do both, given what looks like conflicting schedules? We’ll never know unless she wins the jobs…