Although there’s been no word from Sony, there’s a big rumour that the studio and director Marc Webb have chosen the new Spider-man, and that it’s British actor Jamie Bell. Last week a short-list for the role was revealed, which had Bell, Alden Ehrenich, Josh Hutcherson, Andrew Garfield and Frank Dillane on it, but Bleeding Cool is reporting that they now have numerous sources confirming that Bell has the part.
However the news does need confirmation, as when the shortlist was revealed, there had been no screentests or anything like that, so unless Sony organised them very quickly, it’s possible the Jamie Bell news is a little premature. If it is the Billy Elliot actor, he’ll be taking the Webbed Wonder back to high school in a reboot of the franchise, with the film dealing with plenty of youthful angst, rather than the operatics of Sam Raimi’s movies. Indeed, with a rumoured budget of only $80 million, they’re certainly not going to be able to afford too much swinging through the city and enormous action set-pieces.
The Spider-man reboot is set for release July 3rd, 2012.