If timing is everything, then the bid by comedian and Community actor Donald Glover to get an audition for the reboot of Sony's blockbuster Spider-Man franchise shows a keen awareness of how to capitalize on it.
A few days ago, Marc Bernardin wrote a lament on io9 about the fact that all of the actors seemingly up for the part that made billions of dollars previously with Tobey Maguire were, well, seemingly less exciting and bland. Like white bread bland. So Bernardin asked, does Spider-Man have to be a white guy? Sure, the teen who gets bitten by a radioactive spider on a high-school field trip always has been white-skinned in the Marvel comic books, movies, and TV movies. But the orphaned outcast from the outer borough of Queens, New York, might as well be black, Latino or Asian, right? And when a few commenters on Bernardin's blog post suggested Donald Glover for the part, complete with a photo of Glover as a geeky high-schooler from his film, Mystery Team, the comedian himself noticed.
Glover launched his own campaign for the role last night on his Tumblr, writing: "I'm putting myself in the running for the Spiderman reboot. I'm actually quite interested to see how far this goes. If this happens, I'll buy each and every one of you a mini cooper."
That last part may or may not be a joke. But he quickly went to Twitter to spread the word and promote his bid via the hashtag #donald4spiderman.
Comedy vlogger Michelle Vargas quickly created a Donald Glover 4 Spiderman Facebook group for the effort, gaining more than 2,200 fans in the first 24 hours. After all, if Facebook can get Betty White a one-time hosting gig on Saturday Night Live, then why not help Glover get considered for a blockbuster movie franchise? Hey, wait a second. Those don't sound like similar things. So I asked Vargas how she felt about helping Glover, and whether it was a fun diversion or serious. Her reply: "I don't know Donald personally, but I have seen him perform live at UCB
enough times to adore him. I was SO excited for him when Community came
about. It's one of the only shows I watch and I think he is an
exceptional actor. I'd say I'm part 'fun diversion' and part 'should be
seriously considered.'"
With the laziness of a holiday weekend leaving media outlets and bloggers few things to write about and many reasons to want a fun distraction from the BP oil spill (yeah, that's still happening, people!), several people have picked up on the donald4spiderman campaign, whether through ReTweets or blog posts.
For his part, Glover said a half-hour ago on Twitter that he is serious enough to clarify that he doesn't expect Twitter and Facebook to get him the part. He wrote: "Some people are mistaken. I don't want to just be given the role. I want to be able to audition. I truly love Spider-Man. #donald4spiderman"
He already has the attention of one Sony publicist (thanks to his Community connection; Sony Pictures Television is behind the show alongside Universal Media Studios), but he's hoping to become a Trending Topic to get more people noticing and thinking about him. So if you see that happening in the next hour, then now you'll know why.
He shouldn’t get it. Not because he’s black, but because he can’t properly hyphenate Spider-Man.
Yeah, right. And Morgan Freeman as the new J. J. Jameson!!