Aside from the army of gaffs and problems with Spider-Man 3, most fans seem to agree that the weakest link in the entire Spider-Man franchise up to this point has been the brutal portrayal of Mary Jane by Kirsten Dunst. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Kirsten Dunst is a brutal actress… sometimes I think she can actually be quite good… but this was a classic case of miscasting. It just wasn’t the role for her.
Over the previous couple of years, the bright side of the potential of Raimi, Toby and crew leaving the Spider-Man franchise for another creative group to come in and take over the reigns was the fact that this would have meant that Dunst would be gone as Mary Jane.
Then word came out a couple of weeks ago that both Sam and Toby had resigned for Spider-Man 4. There was still some hope that Dunst wouldn’t be back… but it appears she is also returning to Spider-Man 4 sadly. The folks over at MTV give us this:
MTV News posed the big question to Dunst while she was promoting her upcoming film, “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” with Simon Pegg. Is she in or is she out? “I’m in,” said the actress matter of factly.
Now it should be mentioned that the article goes on to point out that she then backtracked a little bit and said “I’m not saying anything yet. I’ve heard the rumors”, but it seems clear to me that she let it slip. Too bad.
This isn’t going to surprise anyone. I mean, with Sam and Toby returning it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Dunst would return also. I was just really crossing my fingers and hoping it wouldn’t come to pass. What are your thoughts on this?
