Meet The New Mary Jane: Shailene Woodley Offered ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ Role
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is underway, and director Marc Webb is looking to round out his cast with a few new characters. Actress Shailene Woodley is reportedly in talks to fill the shoes of the rebooted Mary Jane Watson.
With Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone already confirmed for the follow-up, Webb has begun the casting process for new leads, among them, long-time Spider-man love interest Mary Jane Watson. Mary Jane was originally portrayed by Kirsten Dunst in Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy, though the interpretation combined various elements of Peter Parker love interests from the comics. In the end, the Mary Jane we got was more like Gwen Stacy, and the Gwen Stacy we got in Spider-Man 3 (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) was awkwardly more along the lines of what we should have expected from Mary Jane.
As Marc Webb’s rebooted series tries to “get things right” with the character canon, Stone’s Gwen Stacy is more-or-less chronologically the right girlfriend for The Amazing Spider-Man, while Mary Jane would pop up later, ultimately winning Peter’s heart (after Stacy dies, of course).
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter say that Shailene Woodley is either in talks or has already been offered the role of Mary Jane Watson for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The 20-year-old actress hasn’t been in much aside from The Descendants and ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, but she’s cute, so we’ll give her a chance.
Now, will Marc Webb be going for a sexy and playful Mary Jane Watson like in the original comics or a toned-down girl-next-door and slightly geeky version like in the Ultimate Comics?
Also on the casting mill, Webb is looking to fill the role of Harry Osborn, Peter Parker’s best friend and son of arch-nemesis Norman Osborn. The role was previously played by James Franco in Raimi’s trilogy. Webb set up the Osborns in the last movie, but we don’t know how they’ll ultimately factor in yet (or if Michael Massee’s cameo was meant to indicate that he has been cast as Norman Osborn for future films).
Additionally, the villain in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is said to be “Electro,” which would be nice. We like that Webb is trying new villains instead of just doing his take on the ones who have already been done.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is due out in theaters on May 2, 2014. Do you think that Shailene Woodley would make a good Mary Jane?
