OK, we're kinda playing with you a little. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst haven't been dumped from the (probable) Spider-Man 4. This is about the Spider-Man musical that's set to bow in America soon. If you didn't already know that, yes, there's a Spider-Man musical in the works and the songs are being co-written by U2. Is that nuts or awesome? We don't know, but it is interesting.
The stage version of the adventures of Stan Lee's webbed wonder is set to be director by Julie Taymor, who has said she'd like to reunite with her Across The Universe Stars for the show. So that would be Jim Sturgess as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane.
"There, I’ve said it," Taymor told the Daily Mail. "Now I have to go through a web to get them. Jim’s certainly interested, but his film career has taken off, so I have to nab him between movies. Same with Evan. They’d be my ideal pairing, though, if they’re free.”
Both Sturgess and Wood have the pipes and the talent. But would Sturgess, who we think is one to watch next year (he'll turn up in The Other Boleyn Girl and 21) want to put his burgeoning film career on hold for several months for a stint on Broadway? And in a potentially risky project (Do comic book geeks also love show tunes?)?
We really like the casting though. If Maguire and Dunst decide they're out of Spider-Man 4, which they may well do since neither is contracted beyond the third, these could be fine choices to fill the leads. Sturgess has that part-heroic, part-geeky look and Wood looks a lot better as a redhead than Dunst did. What do you think?