John Malkovich Possbly Playing Spider-Man 4 Villain

[GrnMarvl14]

Source.

With all the rumors and speculation about Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4, whether or not it will make its scheduled May 5, 2011 release date and why it has run into production problems, it's come out in the wash that John Malkovich was indeed up for the role of the Vulture, Raimi's choice of villain for the fourth movie, which was first broken by Movieline a month ago.

Malkovich was interviewed by an Italian sports show called "Quelli Che il Calcio" and he was asked not only about whether he had been approached to play the Vulture but also about the production delays. The fine folks at the Italian web site Bad Taste have graciously provided an English summation of what was said on the show:

"When conductor Simona Ventura asked him about his role of Vulture in the movie, he not only didn't deny his involvement, but confirmed that he's waiting for the final script to be sent to him, and that the movie has been delayed. He also hopes that shooting will begin as soon as possible."

Some may remember that Malkovich was the alternate choice to play the Green Goblin in the first "Spider-Man" movie, a role that went to his Shadow of the Vampire co-star Willem Dafoe, so it has always made perfect sense that Raimi would be interested in him to play a Spidey villain. The question is whether Sony will agree to the lesser Spider-Man villain for such an important tentpole franchise.

We're hoping a clip of Malkovich's appearance will appear online soon, but if you're fluent in Italian, you can read the full transcript of Malkovich's appearance in Italian on BadTaste.it.

Emphasis added, as the film's release date has been given up to Thor due to production delays related to the studio and the director not being able to come to agreement on who the villain should be. See below:

Source.

The Vulture, as a character, is also at the heart of the delay. Director Sam Raimi has wanted to include the character since "Spider-Man 3." He was prevailed upon by Sony executives to use Venom instead. Raimi appears intent on using the Vulture in this film, but Sony reportedly dislikes the character and would prefer any other character to face off against Spider-Man. Unfortunately, reports also state Sony has no viable option to offer Raimi in lieu of the Vulture.

Won't even mention one truly ridiculous rumor that was floating around. But...here's our first "confirmation" as to who the villain is. It's not official, and it's not final. But this is the first truly notable news we've gotten in a while.

 

[Zeta]

My choice for the movie would be the Lizard vs Spider-Man vs Kraven.

Because the Lizard and Kraven are some of the few Spider-Man villains that make sense interacting with each other and I'm sick of Dr. Connors doing nothing in these movies but hanging around in the background.

I do find the Vulture boring. You could tell the same story with Morbius and it'd be more interesting because Morbius isn't as quite as one-dimensional. Also, with Twilight, I'd pay $10 to see Spidey beat the crap out of a vampire.

 

[Falconwing]

the vulture?

Really?

See, this is why the games fail. Because they severely limit the choice of villains unless Sony want to retcon.

Lizard. Please.

 

[Magmaster12]

Yeah I think the having Curt Conners in the two films is now pointless.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Not really. It's not like Conners is ONLY connected to Spider-Man because he was the Lizard. Not like Flint Marko has been in every film, but not Sandman. Or Cletus Kasady, but not Carnage. Or even Felicia Hardy, but not Black Cat.