Will Elizabeth Banks Return For SPIDER-MAN 4 and 5?

Now a legitimate movie star, Elizabeth Banks wonders if Betty Brant still is worth her time.
Word is that Sony definitely has Spider-Man 4 and 5 on its production slate, series director Sam Raimi is talking like it's all but a done deal, and even star Tobey Maguire reportedly will get a sweet package to suit up again. Everything else is up in the air, and that includes Kirsten Dunst as love interest Mary Jane Watson. Another cast member whose return appears even more in doubt is Elizabeth Banks.

How do we know? Banks said so herself.

"They don't need Betty Brant," she told DEVIN FARACI at the October 19th press junket for Kevin Smith's Zack & Miri Make a Porno. "It's purely, at this point--and I don't think they see it this way--it's kind of a favor at this point."

After auditioning for Mary Jane in the first Spider-Man, Banks was told she was too old for the part and was offered the "consolation prize" of playing J. Jonah Jameson's ever-suffering secretary who bats her eyes at Maguire's Peter Parker. For three films, Betty Brant was little more than a comedic walk-on, but Banks acquitted herself admirably.

Now she's moving quickly up the Hollywood ladder, thanks largely to her acclaimed turn as Laura Bush in Oliver Stone's W, and Banks is uncertain if another appearance at The Daily Bugle even makes sense.

"[The role] started out as a consolation prize," she reiterated, "and it's become a favor."

W is in theaters now. Zack & Miri Make a Porno opens on October 31st.
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PAnthony
10/22/2008
CHUD