Warning: Major spoilers from Spider-Man: Far From Home are discussed during this interview.
So if youre curious about how they gotJ.K.
Check out what he had to say below.
The film also starsCobie Smulders,Jon Favreau,JB Smoove,Martin Starr, andMarisa Tomei.
Collider: So the first one comes out, and its a huge hit.
JON WATTS: Yeah.
Image via Sony Pictures
Well there’s a few filmmakers that have handled doing a few.
Also, if I’m not misunderstanding this, it was always planned as a trilogy.
Sophomore, Junior, Senior Year.
Image via Sony Pictures
Have you guys already talked about doing a third?
I mean, the MO is just do one film at a time.
And then start talking about what to do next.
Image via Sony Pictures
At the genesis of this project, was it always this story?
We started with two ideas, which were Mysterio, somehow, and a European vacation.
Just locked ourselves in the writers room until we figured it out.
Image via Sony Pictures
How early on did you know it would be Jake Gyllenhaal?
WATTS: Pretty early.
Because Jake has never done a movie like this before.
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
And you get to have all the versions of Jake Gyllenhaal in one role.
You’re making this before Endgame’s come out, before the world knows what happens to Tony Stark.
So, what is it like on set?
No one knew unless they absolutely had to, to understand a scene.
We kept it very, very secret.
There’s only Peter and Happy.
There’s not many.
WATTS: No, no.
That wasn’t a spoiler reason, that was just part of the story.
But, no matter where he goes, it’s there.
I’m always curious about the first cut versus the finished film.
Editing is the ultimate final rewrite.
WATTS: You know, it’s not that different.
The finished film is pretty close to the Director’s cut, which is a really nice feeling.
And then you just try other things out.
You try a little bit of rearranging.
You try out different jokes.
You see if things play better.
WATTS: Yeah, there’s some good deleted scenes in this one.
There’s just this very simple thing where we had Peter doing errands, getting ready for his trip.
And he has this very Spider-Man list of things to do.
Will the Blu-ray have a bunch of deleted scenes?
WATTS: Yeah, yeah.
We put that together as its own little short film of Peter’s list of things to do.
And there’s a couple of choice deleted scenes with Jake as well that’ll be on the Blu-ray.
What’s funny is, the MacGuffin of this movie is essentially a pair of Tony Stark’s glasses.
Or was it “Listen, this is a MacGuffin.”
He’s got these glasses, these glasses are powerful, he almost kills Brad on the bus.
I hope people didn’t see that was coming.
I think that if you’re a comic book fan you know Mysterio.
There’s going to be good in this, and then something’s going to wrong."
WATTS: Yeah, it’s an unusual structure because basically 60 minutes in, that movie is over.
Peter has had his own little arc and has finished and is ready to go back on the trip.
You could roll credits right in the middle of the movie.
Speaking of credits, the mid-credit sequence.
How did you get J.K. Simmons to return as J. Jonah Jameson?
You want me to do what?"
Does this mean this is like the other Spider Man movies are like an old MCU universe?
What are you thinking about that?
Because people are going say he’s done this before, what does this mean?
Definitely it raises some very interesting questions.
I don’t know that I have answers for them just yet.
But, yeah, it does open up some strange possibilities by having him be the same person.
Obviously, do you talk about that with Feige?
And is there some sort of plan?
Or you’re not just allowed to say yet?
WATTS: Not really allowed to say, but I would say that all options are on the table.
That’s how I like to think of it.
So when did you film that sequence?
WATTS: Very, very late in the process.
It was as late as possibly basically.
We just set up a green screen in the conference room at Disney and he just came by.
It was so amazing.
What’s interesting about this, is the ending of this film is very reminiscent of the firstIron Man.
The end of the first Iron Man has Tony Stark saying “I am the Iron Man.”
Saying “I’m revealing myself.”
This movie has Peter Parker being revealed, but it’s not by choice.
Can you talk a little bit about that aspect?
WATTS: Well, yeah, it’s a flip of that.
He’s trying to step up and be his own hero.
He’s trying to become Spider Man.
But, because it’s Peter Parker, nothing ever goes right.
So he doesn’t even get the opportunity to reveal himself to the world.
Mysterio wins, essentially.
My only thing is I think it’s very timely that you guys are dealing with deep fake videos.
For me, I thought it was like that dude who downloaded the Mysterio video could be doing anything.
And if that means ending on a crazy cliffhanger and painting yourself into a corner, so be it.
The second post-credits scene is awesome.
Talk a little bit about when you decided that was going to be a post-credits scene.
Just one last little reversal.
Was that one of those things that you came up with early on?
We came up with it early on, but there was always a debate “Shall we do that?
Is it too crazy?”
But it just ended up being so fun that we had to keep it in.
Because everyone in the theater stays.
Were there other tags that you thought about doing, that almost came close?
Did you film other things?
I’m trying to think if there was anything else that was discussed.
No, that was it.
But, other than that, it was pretty much the plan.
You obviously have Ned, you have MJ and you have to find things for them to do.
I loved the Ned storyline and it felt totally organic.
So talk a little bit about that challenge of making sure you have things for the other characters.
But it also helped to isolate Peter.
He lost his confidant.
He lost his guy in the chair.
So now it was just him alone.
You’re getting ready to film.
WATTS: It was actually, everything was fun.
I was worried about Venice, because when you’re actually shooting in Venice the logistics are so complicated.
Because they had everything completely figured out.
The crews in Venice were just incredible.
So when do you start writing the third one?
WATTS: Pretty much we would start as soon as this one’s done.
It’s got a quick turn around on these things.
