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J.K. Simmons Back as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man 4
by Alex Billington
January 19, 2009
Source: MTV
Not that it was unexpected by any means, but J.K. Simmons has confirmed that he will be returning yet again to play Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man 4. His character is one of the few consistently awesome elements of the Spider-Man trilogy so far, as he's delivered some of the funniest lines of the films so far. His return makes it look like Sony really is trying to pick up with this franchise exactly where they left off in 2007. Simmons also confirmed to MTV that they'll be shooting the film in 2010, which means they're right on schedule for the rumored 2011 release. Are you ready to see Spider-Man return?
Simmons had this to say about potentially increasing his character's importance: "We've definitely brainstormed ideas for Triple-J, but I have no desire to make Triple-J more of the focus of those movies… The amount that I did in 1, 2 and 3, is just exactly right. Come in, blow in, do a week, blow out, be the comic relief, and hit the road. And let Tobey and everybody else do the heavy lifting." Sounds like a good plan to me. Let's just hope the screenwriter they hired puts together a good story. As long as Simmons is in, Sam Raimi is directing, and Tobey is back, I might actually be getting excited for this. How about you?
Reader Feedback - 35 Comments
1
2
yeah, they oughta make a spinf-off with JJJ. 😉
Fox on Jan 19, 2009
3
J.K simmons plays the character of JJ in spider man really well. It would had been kind of sad if Sony wouldnt had got him, and had to replace him. Im with alex so far that he is the only thing im also looking forward to right now in Spider Man 4. What makes me question even the whole idea of a spider man 4 is that hopefully Sam Raimi wants to clear the mistakes he made in 3 and hopefully deliver a great movie that fans expect.
LC on Jan 19, 2009
4
They have to come a long way to make up for that aweful last movie... Seriously, peter parker as emo? I got too many Batman & Robin-vibes off of that movie (and that isn't positive). Let's hope they try to deliver a serious story this time. Which includes a few triple-J-jokes of course 🙂
Drama on Jan 19, 2009
5
Spider-man 3 was soo bad, I don't know if I will watch the fourth. I may if it passes on to cable or something, but definitely not on the theater. J K Simmons's body of work has always been top notch, even since I first saw him in HBO's "OZ". His J. Jonah is incredible.
L on Jan 19, 2009
6
Toby and silly stories are killing spiderman. I've watched first movie 5 times, second movie 3 times and the last one deserved only one view.
O on Jan 19, 2009
7
And i was so happy seeing spiderman leave....I dunno, i watched all 3 and the 1st one was by far the worst, allthoe the third had that emo toby which was both creepy and confusing....i dunno...I hope they don't mae another 1 seeing tho i'll prolly watch it 😀
sng. Sheep on Jan 19, 2009
8
It's gonna suck. Well at least it's not gonna be great. Sam Raimi isn't a bad director, and the franchise isn't done yet, and Spiderman 2 is still the best pure Super Hero movie ever done, the Train Sequence has no rival as Super Hero Moments go. But the thing is, Spider Man 4 needs a new director. Sam Raimi has shown with Spiderman 3 how "tired" he was of the franchise, how lack of ideas he was. And i just don't feel that, paying 20 million for the director, 30 million for the main star, alone is worth it, and Sony should realize that it's the name, the character, the franchise that sells itself, and not some actor like Tobey, that's just ridiculous. So instead of blowing 30 million dollars on a meaningless face, and 50 million for a duo that isn't instrumental to the franchise success, just seems like bad decision making. Specially when Spiderman 3 was a trainwreck.
Darunia on Jan 19, 2009
10
Well said #8. If people want to go and see Spiderman they say "Let's go and see the latest Spiderman movie" not "Let's go and see the latest Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi movie". The character of Spiderman is what people want. I never particularly rated the franchise but 3 really was terrible. How they could screw it up when the cartoon series was so good is beyond me. It just descended into continual reluctant hero whining and Mary Jane constantly being in distress. Post The Dark Knight, I think comic book superhero films really have to up their game or settle for being more 'popcorn'.
Payne by name on Jan 19, 2009
11
WOW! Some nasty comments. I enjoyed all 3 but the 2nd was by far the best. I didn't have issues with the 3rd, which a lot of people did. Everyone is a critic, thinks they could have done a better job. Blah blah F'in blah! I certainly think and hope this franchise comes back with avengance and shuts the nay sayers up. Spidey is one of favorite characters, after the Hulk. This franchise isn't over by a long shot. Can't wait to see what Sam and company are going to do with this one/two. I hope they film 4 and 5 at the same time and wow us!
K on Jan 19, 2009
12
All three were awful, painfully miscast and truly stupid. SM2 was so bad I didn't see SP3 until I received a free BluRay disc. I watched it and threw it away afterwards.
RandyG on Jan 19, 2009
13
sony need to pull the thumb out of their a55 on this spiderman 4. spiderman 3 was utter dog sh1t and after having an opportunity to have an awesome film with venom, they bottled it big time!! I hope morbius does turn out to be the villian, good character with potential. dont screw this up sony!!
cregster on Jan 19, 2009
14
he's so perfect as JJJ. Glad to hear it is confirmed (though I didn't doubt it)
dave13 on Jan 19, 2009
15
"Goody!"
Tim "Cloverfield" on Jan 19, 2009
16
Spider Man 3 wasn't that bad...I mean it wasn't great, but it certainly wasn't awful. Spider-Man 4 should be good, now that they know they need to step it up a notch.
DinoChow on Jan 19, 2009
17
Agreed DinoChow. No reason to hate so much on Spidey 3. Hopefully SM4 will be a hell of a lot better though.
Itri on Jan 19, 2009
18
Raimi is gonna have to step it up and bring us a pure "Spider-Man" flick that supersedes the second. This will at least save the franchise. Kudos to Christopher Nolan for raising the bar with his kick ass "The Dark Knight"! The latest "Iron Man" casting news/rumors indicate that Favreau and Co are definitely stepping up their game. It pretty much seems as though "Iron Man" is poised to overthrow "SpiderMan" as the reigning Marvel comic book flick. C'mon Sam, hit a home run!!!
Spider on Jan 19, 2009
19
he was the only good part about juno.
"Red" - "Button" - "s" on Jan 19, 2009
20
I'm hoping spider man ditches the emo and goes goth this time. I'll keep my fingers crossed
Dan W on Jan 19, 2009
22
Dude the EMO part was the best part of the film, oh no wait no it wasnt when venoms mask came open half way to talk was the best part!!!!! That film sucked hairy big donkey balls, and if they do another and JJJ is in it or not i dont know if it will be enough to redeem itself. The only thing that i think could help is to bring in a villan with Doc Octipus' level of terror. Venom was too far fetched just yet. He barely got the suit.
THERBLIG on Jan 19, 2009
23
Turn David Goyer loose on Spider Man. Dude cannot direct to save his life, but he's a pretty damn good screenwriter and has a good handle on the comic book ethos.
William Mize on Jan 19, 2009
24
they need to throw a solid, serious actor into this to give the franchise more credibility. Someone like Christian Bale, maybe as a villain, but he's already in batman and terminater, just a thought
Scott McHenry on Jan 19, 2009
25
this movie will be in colision with avengers
darrin on Jan 19, 2009
26
Christian Bale sucks balls!!! Why does everyone suck up his ass?!?!?! Dark Knight was a good movie but it is not the best movie ever, if Ledger hadnt done such a good job of Joker TDK would of crumbled just like SM3! Bale is not the savior Spider man needs!
BaleHater on Jan 19, 2009
27
#11 I don't think i could've done a better job persay, but I know crap when I see it. The only thing that made me happy with Spiderman 3 that wasn't in any of the prior ones was Sandman. The black costume/symbiote arc was incredibly rushed (I realize its a 2 1/2 hr movie), but it could've been done much better. Topher Grace as Eddie? Not a chance. Eddie was a total meathead and there was no reason to have a guy who could've played Parker play Brock instead. I love comics and Spider-man as much as the next fan, but if you are going to do it, do it right or not at all.
L on Jan 19, 2009
28
Its gonna take a lot more the JJJ to sell me on Spiderman 4. . .and if any of you so-called-fans of Spiderman still have your balls still attached after the 3rd movie you should be vocally skeptical in hopes that the makers of this movie wont continue fucking up Spidey.
Voice Of Reason on Jan 19, 2009
29
Bale is a solid actor but to say he saved TDK is nieve, ledger did it all. Bale wouldnt fit as well into marvels place because hes a dark actor...he can only play someone who never laughs and constantly has a stick up there ass. Definetly not marvel suited. But yeah fuck Spiderman for now I just cant see it getting back on its feet unless I see an amazing trailer or some really fucking bomb casting.
Cody on Jan 19, 2009
30
Simmons would have been perfect as the editor of The New Frontiersman in the Watchmen movie. He's got the snark down pat.
Daniel on Jan 19, 2009
31
Well I am quite happy that the cast is back as a whole, I believe that is the reason many other franchise bombed because of character continuity. On reading the comments, I saw a lot of SM3 hater - yup not as good as SM2. #8 was right - the Train Sequence was one of the greatest Super Hero moments of all time. I just don't get the Christian Bale & Christopher Nolan worshipers here, they are just too much. Sorry but I have just to react. Every time there is a superhero news, for some reason someone will come up with the good reason to write in this 2 guys. I know TDK was brilliant (love it) - but unfortunately it was a Heath Ledger show, his performance that made it as it is, not a Bale's or Nolan's performance/directions. Going back on the SM4, its a wait & see thing, there will still be wild fans there to carry it through, who knows it could be good.
somwerbtwngrnnblu on Jan 19, 2009
32
"Free" paycheck for Vern Schillinger.... so why not? I gotta agree with #31, Bale's performance was about as exciting as a pulse-reading off a dying cancer patient on a hospital bed... half the time as Bruce Wayne, he was staring off into space, I'm not quite sure if he was totally there. He was much more emotional in Equilibrium and more "human" (if that's possible) in American Psycho. In TDK, he was just some angry guy in a suit, grunting and breathing but not much more. Nolan could have beefed up Bale's lines but instead chose to play it safe by not showing Bruce's emotions (the hero can't cry sorta BS) after Rachel's death. Now imagine a young Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne in TDK... it would have been PERFECT. That guy TRULY conveys a "disturbed" nutcase that Wayne is really, something Bale can never do, he's just too pretty and serious to play it, he's not "creepy" enough like Keaton.
OMG on Jan 20, 2009
33
Spider-man 4 is inevitable as there will be another 3 movies Spider-man 4 is the first of them, hope they don't suck. Agree with #25 it might collide with The Avengers indeed.
Fisherr on Jan 20, 2009
34
his the only one who should stay,the rest should be recast espeically that fucking shit actress who plays mj kirsten dunst,spidey dump her and get it on with gwen shes hot,also redo venom i heard they where planning morbius the living vampire,the lizard and the vulture.lizard and vulture yes morbius stick a fucking stake in him,start the chant now venom,venom,venom.
zetsu on Jan 20, 2009
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