TILAW- David Cronenberg's Spider-Man

Seriously? Put the crack pipe down
Well inner voice, I just watched a double bill of The Fly and Dead Ringers and I figured what the hey, let's see what David Cronenberg's version of Spider-Man would look like.
Yeah but... David Cronenberg doing a comic book movie aimed at kids? Isn't that a bit ASB?
I'm incredibly well versed in 80's film history, this will be a grounded affair.
I hope you know what you're doing...
Me too brain. Me too.
 
September 1st 1989
David Cronenberg sits in an office with producer Jeremy Thomas.
"Alright Jeremy, lay it on me. What do you have for me?"
"Well we have the rights to Naked Lunch, figured that would be up your street"
Cronenberg stays silent.
"Very odd, thought you'd be game for it, David"
"Can I tell you something Jeremy?"
Cronenberg stands up.
"I want a hit. An honest-to-goodness blockbuster. A movie that can buy me a house in The Bahamas. A castle in Scotland. I just saw Tim Burton's Batman and it blew my mind. I want to do something like that."
"But David, aren't you, you know.... an auteur?"
"And auteur's need to eat Jeremy."
"You mentioned Batman, David. I notice that the rights for Spider Man are going pretty cheap, Marvel want to get in on the comic book movie bandwagon"
Cronenberg comes to a standstill.
"Spider-man.." he says to himself in a hushed tone.
"Are your spidey senses tingling?"
"You know what, let's go for it. David Cronenberg's Spiderman. Let's rattle the cage".
 
The Cast, Crew, and other highjinks!

"And in other film news, 20th Century Fox have purchased the rights to Marvel's Spider-Man character, with plans to bring the wall-crawler to theaters before 1992"
- Entertainment Tonight, October 12th 1989

Casting began for Spider-Man in the fall of 89', with Michael J. Fox being the studio's first choice to portray Peter Parker. His schedule was free, with Back To The Future part 3 wrapping filming, and his hit sitcom Family Ties off the air. The studio were also looking into Matthew Broderick and John Cusack for the role as a contingency if Fox didn't accept the offer but much to the delight of the studio heads, Fox agreed, signing a 4 picture deal, along with a 3.5 million deal.

For the role of Aunt May and Uncle Ben, Anne Bancroft and Gene Wilder were cast, Nightmare On Elm Street star Robert Englund in a somewhat controversial move was cast as Doc Octopus, the controversy drew from his involvement in the so called "b" movies, however Cronenberg insisted "there was no better man for the role as he bought the right amount of kookiness, scares and laughs to the character".

Meanwhile Corey Haim was cast as Harry Osborne with Liam Neeson as his father Norman (who would later take up the mantle of Green Goblin in the sequel) while Molly Ringwald was cast as Mary-Jane Watson the love interest.

The question among comic book fans was what story-line they were going to adapt. The film-makers ultimately decided to create an entirely new universe for the big screen adaptation, with help from Stan Lee who was hired as a creative consultant and was given an executive producer credit.

For the score, David Byrne of Talking Heads fame was picked to create the soundtrack, and having taken home an Academy Award for his work on Last Emperor Of Japan, he jumped at the chance to further his fledgling film career, and was looking for a new project after himself and the rest of the Talking Heads went on "hiatus". The theme for the film was called "Web" and proved to be Byrne's biggest hit as a solo artist, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

John Hughes was initially tapped to write the script, however he was occupied with Home Alone, and in a move that came out of left-field to many, unknown Roseanne writer Joss Whedon was hired to pen the script. At the age of 25, there were doubts Whedon could produce a mature and gritty script, only time would tell if the gamble would pay off...
- From "Spandex, Shuriken's and Somersaults: The Rise and Fall of American Superhero Cinema"
 
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Basic Plot Outline

Peter Parker (Michael J Fox) is your classic late 80's child. He doesn't know where he's going in life, he doesn't belong to any social group, he's not terribly bright or awfully stupid, and to complicate matters, his scientist parents have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

He moves in with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben (played by Anne Bancroft and Gene Wilder respectfully) who notice Peter is more withdrawn and depressed than most people his age. They encourage him to expand his social circle and soon falls in with Harry Osborne and Mary Jane Watson.

Needing a few extra dollars to help pay his aunt and uncle's rent, Peter volunteers to become a test subject for a new drug called "Crepsa" which has been touted as a cure for cancer.

When Peter is taking his daily dosage of Crespa one day, Peter ingests a spiders egg and his body begins going through physical and psychological changes.

Firstly, he starts developing a taste for flies and other such insects, he curls up into a ball when cornered, and his fingers begin to elongate and curve outwards, much like a spider's legs.

Peter discovers he can climb walls and shoot web out of his hands, and decides to become a vigilante to rid his community of crime, and make a few dollars on the side.

In a sub-plot, Dr Otto Octavius is head of research of OsCorp's artificial limbs department, and while working late in the laboratory one night, he is exposed to a biological weapon OsCorp is developing for the United States government, a weapon that grants the user the ability to manipulate limbs by the power of the mind.

Octavius falls into a coma and awakens in a hospital and murders all the staff present when demonstrating his new found abilities, and breaks loose forcing him into a showdown with Spider-Man...

Parker decides to take up the mantle of the "Spider-Man" and is successful in stopping crime in his community, however the effect of being a half-human half-spider hybrid is destroying him both emotionally and physically.

In a now infamous scene, Peter Parker accidentally wraps his girlfriend in a spider-web while in the middle of intercourse, while the scene was played for laughs, this scene was the reason the film was initially given an R-rating by the MPAA, however it was later reduced to a PG-13 after all careful editing.

The final showdown between Spider-Man and Dr Octopus takes place in Central Park, after Dr Octopus kills his Uncle Ben off-screen and has his Aunt May held hostage. Spider-Man, now feeling the effects of the metamorphosis spits venom into Dr Octopus' eyes, blinding him and dropping his Aunt May.

By now, half of Peter's face is covered in spider's skin, he has grown two additional spider like legs, and his teeth have become fangs.

Upon seeing the coverage on the television and feeling guilty for what he's done, Norman Osborne develops a cure for Peter, while the physical effects are no longer visible on his body, he will still keep the abilities he's gained.

Peter, now satisfied the nightmare is over continues attending high school, helping his Aunt May around the house and re-ignites his relationship with Mary Jane as credits roll.

However in an end credits scene, we see Norman Osborne at his desk interviewing a somewhat skittish and crazy looking man. The crazy man gives a monologue about how lizards are nature's perfect hunters and that he could apply the lizards features to humans for military purposes.

"Welcome to Oscorp, Dr Connors" says Osborne as he shakes hands with Kurt Connors and the film smash cuts to black.
 
Thoughts? Criticisms? Suggestions? Hope you're all enjoying it so far, next update will be about the box office performance, the critical reaction and it's effect on pop culture in general!
 
I like it. It'll lead to a different path for superheroes in general.

As long as it doesn't do the Batman thing - get weird for the second one, then get given to a new director and made kid-friendly...

Don't get me wrong: the TL would be interesting - I was thinking more about if the films were real ;)

Also: Michael J is perfect.
 
Casting began for Spider-Man in the fall of 89',
[...]
John Hughes was initially tapped to write the script, however he was occupied with Home Alone, and in a move that came out of left-field to many, unknown Roseanne writer Joss Whedon was hired to pen the script. At the age of 25, there were doubts Whedon could produce a mature and gritty script, only time would tell if the gamble would pay off...
- From "Spandex, Shuriken's and Somersaults: The Rise and Fall of American Superhero Cinema"

Hah, great casting all around, some of those alternates would have been fun too.

Not being much of a comics reader I of course am fine with the plot and like the way you've messed around with it. I kinda doubt Hughes would have been considered for a movie like this though. I do like how you worked some Cronenberg body horror into it.

Wait wait wait, there's no super-powered tiny ladies in Spiderman :D; I'm not sure Whedon would in fact pitch for it. A major film like this the studio would probably want someone with more experience, especially in 1989, his hot but unmade (and was he shopping it around by 1989?) script for Buffy is a good but not great calling card. Plus his script doctor work and spec sales are in the 1990s, so he can't rely on that. Perhaps Steven E. de Souza who just impressed Fox with Die Hard? That said I dunno if Whedon loved Spiderman and would in fact make a great pitch for it, not outside the realm of impossibility :).
 
Since this TL is before CGI, would they be able to do the web slinging with the actors on wires, or with stop motion puppets?
 
Critical Reception, Behind The Scenes, Box Office and Cultural Effect

Spider-Man opened on August 2nd 1991 to mostly positive reviews. Critics praised it's dark tone, Michael J Fox's natural fit for the role, the new and original story line and the body horror elements found in Cronenberg's work.

The special effects were considered the star of the show, with a mix of practical and computer effects, Cronenberg hired his make-up wizards from The Fly Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis to craft the "transformed" Peter Parker, while ILM handled the more elaborate special effects such as Dr Octopus' arms and the web slinging done by Spider Man.

David Byrne's score was mostly dark synth with elements of moody jazz music which drew comparisons to Blue Velvet and the newly-aired Twin Peaks, leading to rumors of Byrne copying Angelo Badalamenti, however Badalamenti laughed these claims off.

However the dark tone and the pushing of the PG-13 limit was a point of contention in some reviews, with Gene Siskel claiming in his review that he "had to leave the theatre" during the initial transformation scene. In a retroactive review, rottentomatoes.com gave the film a 78% "Certified Fresh" rating when the website launched in 1998.

Parents were also outraged at the supposedly child friendly character put into emotionally distressing situations and general uneasy tone in the film, and while the trailers made the film out to be a dark and gritty take on the superhero, there were still tie-ins at McDonalds, a video game produced for the gameboy and other various merchandise aimed at children.

The controversy over the dark treatment lead to director David Cronenberg appearing on various talk shows such as Larry King and Oprah Winfrey to defend his film, with Billy Graham going so far as to call for a boycott of the film.

The combination of the kids merchandising deals, the media storm and general hype among the comic book faithful launched Spider Man to a $42 million dollar opening weekend, dethroning Terminator 2: Judgement Day from it's 3 week reign at number one, and occupying the number one spot at the box office until the weekend of September 22nd when The Fisher King dethroned it.
Spider-Man ended up with a domestic box office haul of 241 million dollars, and made an additional 171 million worldwide, taking it’s overall box office to 412 million dollars.

The success of a “grittier” superhero film persuaded Warner Bros to give Tim Burton carte blanche to do as he saw fit with his upcoming Batman Returns, and after seeing how Cronenberg could mix elements of horror with his superhero flick, Burton included Killer Croc (played by Jean Cluade Van Damme) placing more of an emphasis on his backstory and his interactions with Batman and ultimately decided to not give the Max Shreck subplot as much attention as he had previously intended.

Ultimately, Cronenberg’s version of Spider Man was a smash hit and set the tone for the upcoming decade of American cinema…
 
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I like this a lot. Especially Batman - Killer Croc has a lot of potential for an alt-Burton Batman movie. Really, he'd have made a lot more sense as a sewer-dwelling, bestial antagonist than the Penguin did. Though...does this butterfly away Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman? :(

Will you be focusing on cinema or will there be looks at TV and such, once the butterflies start flapping? If a grittier tone gets more popular in 'nerd culture', we could end up with many interesting permutations. Like in Star Trek...
 
Batman Returns: Plot outline, box office, and general consensus.

After the smash success of a dark, gritty take of a beloved children's property, 1992 proved to be a turning point in contemporary American blockbuster cinema.

The big blockbuster hit of summer 1992 was Batman Returns, and with a tone darker even than the 1989 original and more focus on action, the movie grossed a monster 270 million in domestic box office and taking in just shy of 500 million worldwide. Jean Claude Van Damme's potrayal of Killer Croc was met with unanimous acclaim, as was Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, while Michael Keaton turned in another understated performance and was more of a supporting character. One major criticism of the film was that Batman was missing for too long in the second act of the film but critics and the movie going public believed this would be to give screen time to the villain's and establishing their motivations.

The finale of the film takes place in Arkham Asylum, where Killer Croc threatens to release toxic waste into the water supply of Gotham and Batman is forced to team up with Catwoman to defeat him.

Catwoman ultimately sacrifices her life to defeat Killer Croc, and the film ends on a bitter sweet note.

Similar to the ending of Cronenberg's Spider-Man the year before, those who stayed until the end of the credits saw Bruce Wayne on his way to a business meeting with Lex Luthor (played by Robert Downey Jr).

The viewers can barely glimpse it, but a figure in a blue and red cape can be briefly seen for a split second flying past the window..

Reaction to the film was generally positive, and while it didn't reach the same level of critical acclaim the first film did, it still performed well enough with audiences and critics alike for Warner Brothers to greenlight a sequel and were looking into developing a potential Justice League film...
 
The state of affairs, Summer 1992

"Marvel begin hunt for director of upcoming Hulk film"
"Superhero movies will burn out as quick as they arrived"- Steven Spielberg warns
James Hetfield "in critical condition" following Montreal accident
Entertainment Tonight headlines, August 8th 1992

With two of comic books best known properties grossing 750 million dollars between them in the space of a year, Hollywood big wigs began to catch wind of the potential wind fall to be made.

On the D.C roster, Superman was being tipped to be the next comic book hero to have a feature film, while Marvel were pursuing Iron Man as their next project.

The producers of Iron Man were looking for someone young but with an impressive CV. Eric Stolz was initially the first choice for 20th Century Fox, and even underwent costume fittings, but it was decided that Judd Nelson was the man to play Tony Stark

For the role of Superman, DC and Warner Brothers had their pick of Hollywood stars, with everyone from Tom Cruise to Tom Hanks being touted as potential Supermen, but the role of Superman ended up in the hands of a B movie icon, on the insistence of his equally low key director...
 
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