U2 Talk “Spider-Man” Musical’s New Villain, Slacker Peter Parker

August 20th, 2009 by Daniel Kreps Leave a reply »

Photo: Martindale/FilmMagic

“We’ve got big tunes. We’re very proud of it,” U2’s Bono says of the Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark musical he co-wrote with the Edge. Despite reports that the cash-strapped Broadway show has shut down production, the duo spoke to the BBC about the Julie Taymor-directed musical dedicated to the legendary Marvel superhero, which currently is still planned to debut in February 2010. “Our Peter Parker is much more… not Kurt Cobain, but a kind of slacker, a more kind of shy sort of guy,” Bono told the BBC about how his and the Edge’s vision of the superhero will differ from the comic and recent films.

In a move that might unnerve Spider-Man diehards, Bono also revealed that he and the Edge created a new villainess for the musical. “We’ve got a new villain, it’s a girl. It’s a very extraordinary role. We’ve taken it to a much more dizzy place than you’d expect,” the U2 frontman revealed. Bono also spoke glowingly about actress Evan Rachel Wood, who will play love interest Mary Jane Watson and with whom Bono co-starred with during his cameo in Taymor’s Across the Universe. “She’s the greatest actor of her generation, she’s the one to watch,” said Bono. “She happens to sing like a bird, it’s like a true voice. She’s a very pure spirit and a very bright mind and she brings the part of MJ to life really.”

The Edge, meanwhile, said the singing in Turn Off the Dark is closer to an opera than the traditional Broadway musical. “It touches on opera, it touches on rock & roll. There are some real character-driven songs as well, very unusual song types for us,” the Edge told the BBC. “It is much more like opera than a straight musical. We’re actually not calling it a music...

Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

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