When Marvel and Sony announced that Tom Holland had been chosen as the new Peter Parker, they also revealed that Jon Watts will direct Spider-Man’s 2017 solo movie. He’s not exactly a big name of course, though his first movie – Sundance hit Cop Car – has received very positive reviews so far.

“I’m not really sure what happened,” Watts said of his surprising leap from the Indie world to a major Marvel blockbuster “I had never been to Sundance before. I was nervous because that was the first time we were showing the movie to an actual crowd. So I was dealing with that. I mean, Sundance is like a genre. At least it was to me growing up and in film school: it’s like a Sundance kind of a movie. But [Marvel] got to see Cop Car and they really liked it. But yeah, this trend is interesting. Now, I’ve got to make a slightly more expensive version. It’s an opportunity to just have a bigger canvas instead of just scrapping together any story you can.”

Asked about working with Tom Holland, the filmmaker had nothing but praise for the youngster, highlighting his impressive turn in The Impossible. “He’s so good in that. He can be a real high school student. That’s why people love Spider-Man. He’s the most grounded, relatable of superheroes. And Tom can really do that. He captures that. And he can do a standing back-flip. He’s perfect.”

One of Marvel’s worst kept secrets is the fact that Peter Parker is going to make a cameo appearance in Captain America: Civil War next year. When Watts was quizzed on how he’s collaborating with the directors of that movie – Joe and Anthony Russo – he said: “I mean, it’s a big universe, so everyone sort of works with each other to make sure that there’s continuity and that it all fits together. It’s really exciting actually. We’re just getting started, working on the script and all that, but it’s going to be a great process.”

He sounds extremely passionate about the project, and with Marvel’s track record of picking unexpected filmmakers with great results, it’s hard not to be excited about Watt’s Spider-Man movie!

SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly