The Five Candidates for the Spider-Man Reboot

Published by Jeff Leins on May 27, 2010

The Hollywood Reporter has learned the five candidates on the short list to play Peter Parker in Sony’s reboot of the Spider-Man franchise.  Since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 collapsed over plot disputes in January, the studio and director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) have been searching for a fresh face for the webslinger.

The reboot will return Parker to his high school years and retell his teenage origins.  Written by James Vanderbilt and receiving a polish from regular Spidey writer Alvin Sargent, the 3D movie is already scheduled for July 3, 2012.

Rather than simply list the names, I’ve provided pictures and profiles.  You can determine if I intentionally ranked them from my most favorite to least…  Leave your thoughts below!

Andrew Garfield – The breakout star of Boy A and the British “Red Riding” trilogy, this 26-year-old actor has shown tremendous ability in dramatic indies which helped land him parts in Gilliam’s Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Fincher’s The Social Network. However, his age could be an issue, especially since Sony is definitely thinking long-term.

Jamie Bell – This British born, 24-year-old actor started his career as Billy Elliot before taking several big-budget roles in Jackson’s King Kong, Jumper, Defiance, and recently the title character in Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

Alden Ehrenreich – Reportedly “discovered” by Steven Spielberg in a funny Bar Mitzvah video, the 20-year-old did a few small television roles before making friends with the Coppola family.  He starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro and is appearing in Sofia Coppola’s upcoming film Somewhere.

Josh Hutcherson – The youngest of the five at 17, he’s played kids in everything from Zathura to Bridge to Teribithia to Journey to the Center of the Earth (he’s expected to headline the sequel). Recently he was bland in Cirque du Freak and he’s in the big-budget remake of Red Dawn. The kid’s going to be a movie star with or without Spidey, and hopefully he’ll learn to act soon enough. (At least it’s not Logan Lerman.)

Frank Dillane – A 19-year-old whose biggest role was a young, angst-y Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  Maybe it’s my limited familiarity with his work, but he seems to be a poor choice, especially if Sony has any intention of distancing itself from Spider-Man 3’s “emo” problems.  Though, as THR points out, Robert Pattinson was able to parlay a small part in the Potter series into his Twilight saga stardom. Dillane could be the next brooding Brit.