Check out the full interview below.
How exactly did Sony and Marvel come together to make this movie?
AMY PASCAL: We made fiveSpider-Manmovies, and we needed to do something different.
And we tried doing a lot of different things as you all know and documented.
Because he was always the only superhero.
He was very good at getting coffee, though.
Image via Sony
He’s an even better producer, but he’s also good at coffee.
So it felt like we needed to do something else and this felt like the right thing to do.
No studio likes to share anything with anyone, let alone three studios.
Image via Sony Pictures
And truthfullythere is nothing cynical I can find in this statementeverybody did it because they wantedSpider-Manto be great.
Truly, it was because Spider-Man is great, the character is great and people love him.
That’s good for Disney.
Image via Sony Pictures
That’s good for Marvel.
And that is certainly good for Sony.
I think that’s pretty miraculous.
Image via Sony Pictures
What was it about Jon Watts that made him the right choice for you?
PASCAL: Well I lovedCop Car, and so did Kevin.
What we saw in Jon was somebody who actually knew the whole thing.
Image via Sony Pictures
Plus, the performances that he got from those little boys I thought was really something.
How important was it to get Tom intoCivil Warto introduce the character?
PASCAL: That was always the idea, from the very start.
Image via Sony Pictures
From the very start, it was always about putting him inCivil War.
And it was always about the suit.
That’s what the movie was always about.
PASCAL: Well there’s more people (laughs).
We just did it together.
It’s been a miraculously smooth partnership between the studios.
PASCAL: Well that was one of the points of putting him in the Marvel universe.
He sort of lives off the scraps of what they’re doing in Manhattan.
Our director came in and said, “I want the world to look like high school.
I don’t want it to look like a Hollywood high school movie.
Because, we’ve all seen those.
Because it’s a school for smart kids.
He wanted it to reflect the world that we live in.
He brought a whole other modern sensibility to it that I think is really fresh.
She was sort of like, picking on him.
In high school, when you like someone, you sort of give them a hard time.
Can you tell me about Michelle’s relationship with him?
But Michelle and Ned are like his two friends who are similar and come from similar backgrounds.
But obviously Zendaya is something great.
Actually, can I tell you something really embarrassing?
When Kevin and I looked at her screen test, we didn’t know who she was!
And they were like, “She’s really famous.”
But she’s been blowing us away every day.
Did Michael Keaton take any convincing to come back to comic book kind of stuff?
I know talks broke down at one point.
PASCAL: Are you kidding?
You have such a deep rogues gallery of villains
PASCAL: Sometimes too many!
What’s your opinion about recycling those villains, bringing somebody back?
PASCAL: Well, here’s the thing: we’ve recycled a lot.
Very different, because it’s animated.
But I think we have to attempt to be really fresh with it.
I’ve certainly tried to do it fifty.
Is that something you also all decided from the beginning?
PASCAL: From the very beginning.
And that’s what we wanted.
We wanted to get that feeling this time.
And we did from the very beginning want it to take place in high school.
How important was it for you to break up that white mass of faces in the previous five films?
And we don’t live in that other world anymore.
But, we did [it].
The thing that they all are is that they’re all fucking awesome actors.
Whether it was Toby, or Andrew or Tom, they can act like crazy.
And I think that’s been a really important thing.
I think youth was really important.
We tried to find somebody who wasn’t English, but, there you are.
One of the things that nerds really care about is what happens with Spider-Man over time.
What is the larger plan?
How many appearances can Spider-Man make over Marvel movies?
Because when the movies work, there’s enough for more than everybody.
It’s when you start making the other stuff first that you start to get in trouble.
PASCAL: Oh my God, they have a whole process that’s so fantastic.
I mean, I’m a total Marvel groupie now.
I’ve never heard that before!
So, this is like, “Okay.
It’s really good.
How do we make it better than this?
How do we go tot he next place?
How do we plus it?”
That’s their favorite word at Marvel.
“Are we plussing a scene?”
There was abelieve me, what we put the poor boy through [was] hell.
And a lot of other boys, too, who were also good.
But once you saw that thing on film, just everybody knew it.
And you know, that’s the magic.
You mentioned the animated Spider-Man films.
Does anything in those films preclude inclusion in
PASCAL: Nothing precludes anything.
The sky is open right now.
Is is true there’s a Venom movie in development?
PASCAL: There’s a Venom movie in development.
PASCAL: They just weren’t part of it.
It’s another realm.
For more onSpider-Man: Homecoming, peruse the links to the rest of my set visit coverage below.
The film opens in theaters on July 7th.
