Spider-Man Writer Recalls Underwhelming Pitch Meeting With Tim Burton

Long before Sam Raimi crafted one of the first superhero trilogies ever brought to film, Sony was busy interviewing a wide variety of filmmakers. Years prior, even before Sony had landed the rights to the Spider-Man franchise, James Cameron wrote a treatment for the web-slinger. Once Sony landed the property, they eventually spoke with the likes of David Fincher, Chris Columbus and, believe it or not, Tim Burton.

As Spider-Man scribe David Koepp suggests, Burton's involvement in the process was largely underwhelming. "I remember Amy [Pascal] telling me that they'd met with Tim Burton, who in the meeting said, 'I guess I'm just a DC guy,' which seems like someone who's not really trying hard to get the job," the writer said in a recent retrospective from The Hollywood Reporter.

Pascal added, " A lot of people came in and talked about camera angles and creating cameras to shoot the swinging and stuff like that."

The piece even involved former Marvel Studios boss Avi Arad, saying most of the directors they spoke to were ecstatic about the prospects of a Spider-Man film. "Some of them were immensely excited, but they took it from the point of view that they know what to do. 'Just give me all the money, leave me alone and I'll make a great movie,'" the producer said.

Now, nearly 20 years to the date Spider-Man first hit theaters, Raimi is returning to the land of superheroes with Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

"Everything we do at Marvel Studios is from the point of view of the audience, and how do we make the audience feel one way, or how do we evoke an emotion out of an audience? I really feel like I learned that from watching Sam on the Spider-Man movies," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige previously told Rotten Tomatoes of working with Raimi on the first Spidey flick. "I was just very lucky to be there working for the former head of Marvel Studios, Avi Arad, and just watching. Watching Avi, watching Laura Ziskin, the producer of that, watching Amy Pascal, who ran the studio at the time, and particularly Sam Raimi put those movies together."

Spider-Man: No Way Home is now available for purchase wherever movies are sold.

Where would you like to see Spidey pop up next? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section, or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!