SPOILERS for Spider-Man: Far From Home
Amy Pascal represents Sony’s interest in the Spider-Man franchise and has been working with Marvel since the deal to bring Peter Parker into the MCU was made. Additionally, she’s also overseeing the other Sony owned Marvel films including Venom, Morbius, the recently announced Kraven, and Into the Spider-Verse 2. Screen Rant recently got to sit down with Pascal to discuss Spider-Man Far From Home, Peter Parker’s future, and what’s next for the Non-MCU Marvel films in their stable.
First of all, you’re a huge part of spearheading Spidey joining the MCU. What was the biggest success and what was the most unexpected challenge that you had?
From the first movie, Homecoming, what’s something that you guys learned along the way that you were able to tighten up during Far From Home?
Amy Pascal: The most unexpected challenge was making sure that the movies that we were making had their own integrity, that they were part of the MCU but that they were also Spider-Man movies. And I think that was also something that Kevin and I were pretty devoted to from the beginning, making sure that they took place in that world and yet that they were different and could stand on their own.
Last year Sony made the best movie of the year, which was Into The Spider-Verse. Where would you like to see the partnership go next? I’d love to see Miles in the MCU.
Amy Pascal: I think because Kevin and I have been working on these movies together for a very long time… He was delivering coffee on the first Spider-Man movie. Isn’t that crazy? He was the guy in the room who never spoke, got coffee, and then you realized that he was listening to everything everyone said and absorbing everything. That was pretty amazing. But we’ve been doing that together for such a long time, and we’re both so in love with Spider-Man and care so much about the character. I think that the thing about Spider-Man is that it’s a character that’s always about his own personal story. And I think that if you ever go astray from that, you’re not making a Spider-Man movie.
I don’t know that we learned that from first one to the second one, but I think that we wanted to make sure that was the story we were telling.
How has the success of Endgame and Spider-Verse opened up storytelling possibilities to introduce the multiverse and parallel universes?
Amy Pascal: I’m so glad you liked that. We worked really hard on that. We have big plans for Miles, and the multiverse Spider-verse allows us to do a lot of things. There’s a lot of possibilities and we’re thinking about all of them. I love Miles, too.
Which Spider-Man villain would you like to see on the big screen that hasn’t gotten their time yet?
Amy Pascal: I think that parallel universes that were introduced in that movie opened up limitless possibilities for us. I hope so too.
Silver and Black, is that still happening?
Amy Pascal: That’s a good question. I like Black Cat a lot, I think she is a really great character. We had her a little bit in the Amazing [Spider-Man] movie, but she’s kind of that character that we didn’t really turn into the Black Cat yet. I think that’s a really great character.
I know a long time ago, Sam Raimi wanted to use Mysterio for Spider-Man 3. Why was now the perfect time to introduce Mysterio into the MCU?
Amy Pascal: We’re still working on that. I think we have plans for that.
What did Jake Gyllenhaal bring to the role of Beck that may have not been on the page?
Amy Pascal: In this movie, Mysterio comes from another dimension. I want to be careful how I say this, but we live in a world where you don’t know what’s real and what’s not real. You don’t know what’s fake news or anything else that’s happening all over the world. And with Mysterio, whether in our movie he’s a good guy [or not], people read a lot of things into it. And I think we’re trying to make a movie that’s within the zeitgeist.
How does Far From Home open up storytelling possibilities with other Spider-Man projects?
Amy Pascal: Great acting. A kind of gravitas, a sense of play. Jake’s really funny as well as being a great actor, and he can be both things at the same time. He’s super complicated.
Will the other spinoffs like Morbius and Kraven exist in their own pocket universe like Venom, or will they connect to Peter Parker and the MCU?
Amy Pascal: Sony has a lot of Spider-Man stuff in the works. I think the best thing to say is Spider-Man is a saga that keeps continuing, and there are many stories to tell about Spidey.
Has Peter Parker’s journey been mapped out between you and Kevin, or is it still ongoing?
Amy Pascal: The most important thing is that each of these movies can stand on their own. So I think the first thing for us to think about is: Venom has to stand on its own, Far From Home has to stand on its own, Spider-Verse has to stand on its own. They all have to be great movies themselves. And then the possibilities are endless.
I love that this feels like a real passing of the torch movie from Tony Stark to Peter Parker. It seems like, ever since he got introduced in Civil War, that Peter’s always looking for a father figure.
Amy Pascal: Of course we talk about it all the time, of course we have a lot of ideas about where Peter’s going to go. And I think you see the first time he met Tony and he talked about wanting to stick up for the little guy, and then you saw him wanting to be an Avenger. And in this movie, he has to come into his own and realize that it’s just him now.
There’s a lot of speculation about the Sony-Disney deal coming to an end. Can you tell us if that deal has been extended?
Amy Pascal: Isn’t he always looking for a father figure? Peter is conceived in tragedy, as he always is. He always is born of people leaving him, they are the touchstones that make him Spider-Man. So this is another version of that.
And his friendship with Mysterio in this movie is the same. He’s like everybody. He’s like all of us, completely insecure and neurotic, and he’s always looking for someone to tell him he’s okay. That’s the key, isn’t it? Because he is you. That’s the whole point of the character, that’s what makes him contemporary forever. He’s just a regular kid, he has money problems, he has schoolwork and significant others, and those are the things that the stories are born from.
Venom was also a huge success. How’s the sequel coming along?
Amy Pascal: We would love to be making movies together forever. We’ll just see what happens.
What other MCU character would you like to see Spider-Man cross over with?
Amy Pascal: Great! We’re in the early stages of the screenplay, working with Tom who is brilliant, and I think that’s going to be a great movie too.
I’m really excited for Morbius, as well.
Amy Pascal: Oh, I have so many ideas about that. I’m not going to tell you, I can’t tell you that.
Kraven is another one that people have wanted to see for a long time.
Amy Pascal: Jared is fantastic. Who could be better? You can’t imagine. It’s fantastic. I’m not involved in that one, but the studio just wrapped, and I think it looks really great.
Such a great run he had.
Amy Pascal: Well, that’s the thing about the Spidey universe. There are so many characters; we haven’t even scratched the surface of it. I’m always getting calls from Dan Slott saying, “But you haven’t done this one yet! You haven’t done that one yet!”
We’ve seen Spider-Man in Germany, we’ve seen him all around Europe now. But in Homecoming, he’s the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Amy Pascal: Oh, yeah. He’s one of my favorites.
Speaking of the future, what’s in store for May and Happy Hogan?
Amy Pascal: You can’t put this in your article, because this is a spoiler, but obviously he’s in a very different situation now at the end of this movie. So, you never know, he might be a fugitive. He’s going to be in a very different place, and it’s a different story than we’ve ever told before. You have to keep changing these movies, because there’s only so many times it can be “To be Spider-Man or to be Peter Parker.” There’s only so many versions of Hamlet we can do. We’ve challenged ourselves, sometimes that’s what you have to do.
I think we’re just scratching the surface of MJ. When Zendaya got the role, how much did she know about what her character was going to be?
Amy Pascal: Aren’t they wonderful? So cute. Who would have thought? It’s a true story about romance, absolutely.
There’s been a lot of rumblings about Spider-Man TV properties. Are you involved with those? What can we expect?
Amy Pascal: Oh, yeah. There’s lots of secrets for that character. I think that she knew that she wanted to play somebody very different from who she’s been. When she came in and read for us, she was wearing no makeup, she was not the character or the person that you think of. And I think that she is a woman who has her own ideas about herself.
Spider-Ham, Spider-Man 2099, I’m all for it.
Amy Pascal: Yeah. I am doing them with Lord and Miller, so that’s really exciting. It’s a big world, Spider-Man and his multiverse, so we’re just starting to figure out which shows we’re going to focus on.
Sam Jackson, another great actor, is obviously playing Nick Fury. But he has to make certain deliberate choices this time. Did he know what he was doing?
Amy Pascal: All of those things we’re talking about.
With Far From Home going all around Europe, production can get a little tricky.
Amy Pascal: Of course. We all knew what we were going to do, and he knew.
Tom Holland said he wants to play this role for a very long time.
Amy Pascal: We shot most of it here [in London]. We were in Prague, we were in Venice, but we mostly shot in London.
Where do you personally want to see Spider-Man go?
Amy Pascal: He better play this role for a very long time. We have plans for him forever. He’s just a kid now, and there’s a lot of places for Spider-Man to go.
One big influence for Spider-Man is Uncle Ben, and I caught the Easter Egg with his suitcase.
Amy Pascal: I want to tell personal stories about him. I think that, as he grows up, those are the stories we should tell. And we should mimic real life, which is what makes Spider-Man so great.
Is he still an important part of Spider-Man’s origin even though his father figure onscreen has been Tony Stark?
Amy Pascal: We have plans for that too. We have plans for everything.
More: Jon Watts Interview for Far From Home
Amy Pascal: Yeah. We didn’t need to tell the Uncle Ben story again because we’ve told it a few times, but he’s still there.
