because superheroes already exist in this world . The Avengers exist . So we don ’ t have to tell any of that story . We can just have fun with “ what if a 15-year-old became a superhero ?” What would that be like ? But I mean he still has to shoot webs . That ’ s like that ’ s about it – he ’ s got to shoot webs .
Q : When you started on Homecoming , did you make a list of things that you were not going to do ? And then were there things that are just so inherent to Spider- Man that you knew you would have to include , and would just have to come up with a more clever way to incorporate them into your version ?
Watts : That ’ s what we tried to do with everything . Like if anything seemed familiar , we tried to come up with something else . The reason to make this movie is to show people things they ’ ve never seen before and to take them on a journey that they ’ ve never been on before . So that was actually a great creative limitation , to make everything new . Spider-Man still had to shoot webs and swing around every once in awhile , but then you would come up with , well , what haven ’ t we seen Spider- Man do ? Let ’ s take away buildings . Let ’ s throw him in the suburbs and see what he has to do , if he has to go from rooftop to rooftop . Or send him to Washington DC , make him climb up the side of the Washington Monument . What are you going to do then when there ’ s only one building ? What ’ s that going to look like ? So that was the fun challenge , to just keep trying to come up with something we haven ’ t seen before and keep pushing that .
Q : What was your first experience with Spider-Man ? Was there specific material that helped shape the landscape of the world your Spider-Man was going to inhabit ?
Watts : Well , I immediately just went back and started reading the comics from the very beginning when I got the job , [ and ] that was just a great cornerstone for what we were trying to build because it ’ s a reminder of why Spider-Man became so popular in the first place . And sure all these other people are dealing with these life threatening or world threatening stakes , but one of the first things that Peter Parker does in the comics is he goes to try and join the Fantastic Four because he needs to make some money . It ’ s just problems that a teen would have . So that was a great starting off point just in terms of the tone , because it was funny and irreverent and just its own unique perspective . And in terms of the visual language , I just was trying to apply my style to this universe and again keeping with this whole groundlevel perspective . I wanted this movie [ to be ] on the ground with Peter ; it ’ s like you ’ re up in the clouds with Tony , and now here you are down in the dirt with Peter .
Q : How tough was it to find your own way of depicting