LOS ANGELES, April 22, 2016 (UPI) — Michael Keaton won’t appear in Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” after all.
Deadline reported the 64-year-old actor has dropped out of early talks for the “Spider-Man” reboot, but did not offer an explanation for Keaton’s passing on the project.
Keaton was linked to the film last week, with Variety reporting he was being courted for a villain role. The actor played the DC Comics character Batman in the 1989 movie “Batman” and its 1992 sequel, “Batman Returns.”
The casting update follows word that Robert Downey, Jr., will reprise Iron Man in the film. Downey and new Spider-Man actor Tom Holland are expected to establish their characters’ relationship in “Captain America: Civil War,” which opens May 6.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” is scheduled for release on July 7, 2017. Holland will succeed Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, with Marisa Tomei as Aunt May and Zendaya in an unspecified but key role.
Keaton last appeared in Spotlight and will next star in “The Founder,” which recounts the life of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc. He is also slated for an adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel “American Assassin” and “Beetlejuice 2.”
“‘The Founder’ is brilliant and one of the most controversial films I have had the pleasure to be associated,” Harvey Weinstein of The Weinstein Co. told Entertainment Weekly in March. “The story of Ray Kroc should ignite adult audiences this summer.”
