Although this should definitely be treated as a completely unconfirmed rumour at the moment (especially considering the number of actresses who were said to be in the running for Mary-Jane Watson, a character who won’t even appear in the film), Showbizspy is reporting that director Marc Webb wants Zooey Deschanel for the Spider-man reboot.
The duo worked together on (500) Days Of Summer, and if the report is to be believed, Webb wants her to play Betty Brant, the sexy PA of Daily Bugle boss J Jonah Jameson. The site even has a ‘source’ who says Betty was a minor character in the previous Spidey movies but Marc has big plans for her. He wants a strong performer to carry the role and Zooey fits the bill perfectly. The role is hers if she wants it. However while it’s more than possible, don’t be surprised if all this is based on no substantial facts at all.
There’s also another Spider-man 2.0 (as it’s currently known) rumour doing the rounds, which seems more likely and says that we’ll be introduced to Peter Parker biological parents in the movie. While popularly, and in Sam Raimi’s film, Parker is raised by Aunt May and Uncle Ben, with the death of the latter spurring him to become a super-hero, Marvel did also create a whole storyline for his normally never even mentioned real parents, Richard and Mary, who worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Although it’s not known whether they’ll be government agents in the new movie, WhatsPlaying reports that Sony trying to find a 6-9 year-old to play a young Peter Parker, for scenes that will explain how the future Spider-man came into the care of May and Ben. It could certainly put an interesting spin on things, and given extra angst to the teen Parker as he gets his superpowers once more. The movie starts shooting in December for release in 2012.