Marc Webb’s reboot of Spider-Man has drafted negations with Denis Leary. According to Heat Vision its for the role of George Stacy, police captain and father of Gwen Stacy. Leary possibly joins a cast that already includes Andrew Garfield as the titular web-slinger, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors [a.k.a The Lizard], Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, and Sally Field as Aunt May.
The as-yet-untitled flick is slated for release in 2012. At this point, we know very little about what Webb and writers James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent have in store, other than that it will skew younger and likely take its cue from the more recent Ultimate Spider-Man comics, which could be bad news for Peter Parker. In the classic comics, George Stacy is a big supporter of Spider-Man, particularly his efforts to get with his daughter. In the Ultimate universe [where he’s known as “John” and has family troubles], not quite as enthused, and given Leary’s trademark acerbic shtick, you have to think that young Peter Parker might just be in for an uphill climb to win dad’s approval. Last week Marvel released the cover design of their February edition of Preview which suggests they will be permanently retiring Peter Parker in 2011 as Spiderman.
