(Sam Raimi hates having to raise his hand in order to speak at board meetings.)

A while back, IESB reported that Spider-Man 4 was being put on hold indefinitely because Sony and Sam Raimi couldn’t agree on a story.  Sony denied it, but long story short, it’s true.  Sam Raimi wants to use Vulture as the bad guy like he originally wanted in Spider-Man 3. Sony wants to f it up like they did Spider-Man 3.

Raimi wants to have a criminal known as the Vulture act as the primary antagonist in the film while the studio is pushing for a romantic sub-plot involving a burglar named the Black Cat in addition to another villain.

A succession of writers has tried to marry the two parties’ differing visions to no effect. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (“Rabbit Hole”) was hired in October 2008 to pen a key version of the screenplay, on top of the earlier version penned by James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac”). Last year, Sony brought in Gary Ross — Oscar-nominated for his adapted script on 2003’s “Seabiscuit” — which he also helmed.  Alvin Sargent is penning the latest iteration.

[For Spider-man 3] Raimi wanted to use classic villain Vulture in addition to Sandman, another classic creation. The studio pushed him to use Venom, a character that was introduced in the late 1980s, because it thought that character, with its slick alien-symbiote origin, would lend itself to more effective marketing material and a way to attract “the kids.” [THR]

If you hire someone to do a job, let him do the damn job.  You don’t see me telling the hookers how to poop on my glass coffee table do you?  …Okay, bad example.  What do you think, Emo Spider-Man?

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John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway have been named as the villains Vulture and Vulturess in Spider-Man 4.  Movieline, reporting an exclusive, describes them as ‘circling’ the project, though it’s unclear if that means they’re close to a deal or if it’s just a forced vulture pun.

If negotiations proceed according to plan, Malkovich will be playing Spider-Man’s nemesis the Vulture, who packs a punch despite his advanced age. The Vulture is able to fly through the air and brandish his sharp wings to attack Spider-Man.
Hathaway is currently the top choice for Felicia Hardy, who’d been long-rumored as one of the new characters in this installment.  However, unlike in the comic books, this Felicia Hardy doesn’t transform into the Black Cat. Instead, Raimi’s Felicia will become a brand-new superpowered figure called the Vulturess.
What does this mean for poor Dylan Baker [the "what does cum mean" guy in Happiness], who’s patiently played Curt Connors in the last two installments? As much as it would seem that the series is setting up his eventual transformation into supervillain the Lizard, we hear that the suits simply can’t bring themselves to sign off on such an odd-looking enemy — instead, they’d rather hew closer to villains with a human face.

It’s fun to imagine a room full of grown men in suits debating the relative merits of various Spider-Man villains.  But I can’t argue with choosing Anne Hathaway ‘s face over a big CGI lizard.  I’d pick Anne Hathaway’s face over just about anything.  I’ve been shooting my webbing at it for years.

FACT: Black Spider-Man shouts “SKEET SKEET!” when he shoots his webbing.

Question marks in the headline can mean only one thing: no one knows the answer, so we’re free to speculate wildly!  Yee haw!  Now who wants to get shot in the dark?

Oh joy.  This is my favorite part of the job, reporting on the breathless rumor mongering of the nerdlingtons who actually care about this stuff.  It turns out, Black Cat is going to be in Spider-Man 4!  And she’ll maybe be played by Rachel McAdams!

We can exclusively reveal that actress Rachel McAdams has met with the producers of the film for a major role. McAdams is said to be a top contender for the role of Felicia Hardy, known to comic fans as The Black Cat.  Fans recall that when Spidey first encounters the Black Cat, she’s a cat burglar looking to free her ailing father from prison. She becomes smitten with the web-slinger, to the point of a stalker-level obsession. Later stories had Peter reciprocating her affection and her becoming a lover, a friend and ally [hey, that's what it says on my business cards!]. [Mania]

Yeah, so she’s basically Catwoman.  But wait!  It turns out Romola Garai, who’s also a 20-something blonde actress, recently auditioned for the same movie! Could it be for the same part???

“Love is at the root of everything good that has ever happened and will happen.” This phrase swam into focus as I moved up the escalator at Oxford Circus tube on Tuesday morning on my way to put myself “on tape” for a part in Spider-Man 4. This is the acting equivalent of the London Marathon in that it’s important to try your best as long as you understand that you aren’t going to win. [TheObserver]

WHICH ONE OF THESE BROADS WILL PLAY THE CHARACTER THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE IN THE MOVIE, OH GOD THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME.  I hope it’s Romola Garai.  She’d make a good villain because she has fantastic boobs but it sounds like she writes spoken word poetry about her ovaries.