The professionally adorable Emma Stone had it turned up to high this weekend, as usual, when we sat down to discuss her work in “Gangster Squad,” the period drama that was delayed from its original release date last fall.
She’s one of those people who you can tell decides that they’re going to have fun doing their press, no matter what. She can’t help but tease and joke and just plain laugh at the process. She started by comparing our diet sodas, which are obviously working out differently for the two of us. She look like she weighs about as much as one of my legs.
Towards the end of our interview, I decided to ask her about returning to play Gwen Stacy in “The Amazing Spider-Man” sequel. It feels like they just barely got finished with doing publicity for the first film, and now they’re already gearing up for work on the sequel.
One of the things that’s going to be interesting about this ongoing series is the way they’re taking elements from the first three films and from the comics and putting a new spin on them. After all, we’re getting a Harry Osborne in the sequel, played by Dane DeHaan, and we’re getting a new Mary Jane Watson, played by Shailene Woodley, and I suspect they’ll play very different roles in the life of Peter Parker than they did in the Sam Raimi movies.
While adult filmgoers won’t be confused by that, my kids are having trouble getting their heads around the way the films use similar characters in very different ways, and when I mentioned it to Stone, she couldn’t help but riff on that confusion.
While I had my problems with the first film, I think the pieces are there for them to get it right. They’ve got the right cast, and the one thing Marc Webb definitely has a knack for as a director is shooting the actual Spider-Man footage. There were moments in the film where he looked exactly right, where he moved exactly right.
I sincerely hope that the second film comes together well, and I look forward to finding out when “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” arrives in theaters May 2, 2014.