New Spider-Man Director Jon Watts “Not Really Sure” How He Got The Job

Surely the biggest surprise yet on the ‘Spider-Man’ reboot being co-produced by Marvel and Sony has been its choice of director.

Not only was Jon Watts not named on the initial shortlist of candidates for the job, he was a filmmaker few had even heard of at all - but this is all set to change, as he takes the helm on the ultra-high profile superhero movie set to hit screens in 2017.

- New Spider-Man Writers Speak
- Spider-Man’s New Aunt May “Too Hot?”
- Why Tom Holland was cast as Spider-Man

Having worked in the indie field for some time, Watts first broke through to a wider audience with his 2014 horror ‘Clown,’ produced by Eli Roth - but it was the success of his latest film ‘Cop Car’ at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival that really got him on Marvel’s radar.

And it seems the director himself is just as bemused about it all as anyone else.

Watts tells Entertainment Weekly, “I’m not really sure what happened. I had never been to Sundance before. I was nervous because that was the first time we were showing the movie to an actual crowd… But [Marvel] got to see ‘Cop Car’ and they really liked it.”

EW liken Watts’ progression to that of Colin Trevorrow, who went from low-budget breakthrough ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’ to this year’s monster hit ‘Jurassic World;’ Watts concedes, “yeah, this trend is interesting. Now, I’ve got to make a slightly more expensive version. It’s an opportunity to just have a much bigger canvas instead of just scrapping together any story you can.”

How much input Watts had into the casting of new Spider-Man actor Tom Holland is not known, but the director had nothing but good things to say about his future star.

“He can be a real high school student. That’s why people love Spider-Man. He’s the most grounded, relatable of superheroes. And Tom can really do that. He captures that. And he can do a standing back-flip. He’s perfect.”

And it would seem Watts is already fitting in well with Marvel’s hush-hush approach, as when asked to what extent he had been working with other MCU filmmakers - in particularly the team on ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ in which Holland will make his first appearance as Spidey - the director’s response was just that bit vague enough:

“I mean, it’s a big universe, so everyone sort of works with each other to make sure that there’s continuity and that it all fits together. It’s really exciting actually. We’re just getting started, working on the script and all that, but it’s going to be a great process.”

‘Cop Car’ is set to be released theatrically in the US in August - no UK release details have been announced yet.

The as-yet untitled ‘Spider-Man’ reboot is due July 2017.

- Jackman Seeks Fan Advice On Final Wolverine
- Bryan Singer Talks X-Men/Fantastic Four Crossover
- How Ian McKellen Almost Missed Out On Magneto

Picture Credit: Sony, WENN