Jon Watts has come a long way since his early independent features such as Cop Car and Clown. Those films got his foot in the door, which he then kicked wide open as director of Marvel’s recent Spider-Man trilogy, concluding with the massive $1B hit with 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. With a fourth film reportedly in the works, Marvel has a vacancy on their hands because Watts has left the MCU to pursue other projects. But what drove him to leave the place that turned him into a household name?
Speaking with THR, Watts talked about the time he spent with Marvel and came to the realization that it’ll be tough to beat…
“That was such a specific moment in time, and the reaction to that movie was just so unbelievable,” he said, adding “It’s never going to be like this, ever again.”
Watts, who turned down directing The Fantastic Four: First Steps and has since moved on to work on Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Skeleton Crew series and the George Clooney/Brad Pitt film Wolfs, talked about the creative freedom that he was eager to get back to…
“Sometimes you do an action movie, and all the fun action stuff is given to the second-unit director. On the Marvel movies, you split up the work because there’s so much to be done. Rarely do you get the Christopher Nolan opportunity to do all of it. On this one, I was like, ‘I want to shoot every single shot.'”
“I was just getting started and Marvel came along – and I take full creative ownership over all those films – but Spider-Man is always going to be Stan Lee and Steve Ditko‘s creation,” he continues. “This was the chance for me to go back to my voice and my vision and my style. Wolfs is mine, and that’s a really good feeling.”
Watts’ next film Wolfs just had its world premiere at Venice, and will be released on September 27th.
