Last year, after Luca Guadagnino’s “Sgt. Rock” was scrapped by James Gunn over at the DCU, I had heard a fascinating rumor that the project’s writer and Guadagnino regular, Justin Kuritzkes, had been hired by Marvel to write a film for them.
With today’s intriguing development, I’m now utterly convinced that Kuritzkes wrote the final draft for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
In an interview on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, Tom Holland mentions an on-set conversation he had with ‘Brand New day’ director Destin Daniel Cretton that led to a dramatic change in a scene for the movie. Recalling the tough conversation they had, he also mentions a writer, Justin:
And what I love about Destin is he's so calm. There's nothing that could throw him off. And he just kind of listened, and he sat down, and he was like, 'Well, what is it that you're trying to feel?' And I told him, and he went, 'Yeah, you're right. That's exactly what we need to be feeling.' So, he said to the crew, 'Everyone can go home. We're going to sit down, and we're going to rewrite this scene with the writer, Justin,' who is such a talent. And we came in the next day, we reshot the scene, and I'm so glad that we did because it sings in the movie, it really does.
Initially, early drafts of ‘Brand New Day’ faced creative differences regarding whether to pursue a cosmic/multiverse story or a more street-level narrative. When Holland signed on to film Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the entire production timeline for Spider-Man was postponed. As a result, Holland and Cretton used the six-month delay to completely restructure and rewrite the script into its final, classic street-level format — that might be when Kutizkes came in.
Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers were originally hired to write the ‘Brand New Day’ script. No word yet on whether they’ll actually be credited for their work.
It should also be mentioned that Kuritzkes has worked with Zendaya in the past — he penned “Challengers.” I mean, everything just makes sense, and you know what? If Kuritzkes actually wrote ‘Brand New Day,’I’m a bit more interested in seeing it now.
Kuritzkes, best known for Guadagnino’s “Challengers” and “Queer,” was also on the shortlist to write the script for “Bond 26.” Steven Knight eventually got the gig. He also wrote the upcoming Don Winslow adaptation “City on Fire,” starring Austin Butler. He’s one of the hottest screenwriters around.