EXCLUSIVE: Jim Sturgess Talks 'Spider-Man 4' and Spider-Man: The Musical!

Just got back from the Sony offices here in New York, where Cinematical managed to sit down with Jim Sturgess (star of 21), as well as Ben Mezrich (author of Bringing Down the House, the book 21 is based on) and Jeff Ma (who Sturgess' character is based on). I have to say we all had a pretty damn cool conversation, which we'll post on the site at some point before the weekend, but in the meantime check out what Sturgess had to say about Spidey.

Now, remember back when we told you how Across the Universe director Julie Taymor was directing a Spider-Man: The Musical, with music and lyrics from U2's Bono and the Edge? Well, at the time, Taymor said she was interested in Sturgess playing Spider-Man, with Evan Rachel Wood playing Mary Jane. Not only is that true, but apparently Sturgess and Wood have already performed the roles. He says, "We actually have done a workshop for it, which is how this all kind of started. [Taymor] asked me and Evan to come down and do this workshop that she was doing, so it was a chance to work with Julie again and Evan again and, yeah, at that point I didn't know much more about it. We just did two weeks, and we kind of hung out with Bono and the Edge and sung songs about Spider-Man. As a young actor and musician, it was an incredible experience to be involved in that."

He continued, "We then sort of did a rough performance of the play -- like a read through where we sang through the songs and stuff. As ridiculous as it sounds, it's going to be an incredible piece of work." Cinematical asked Sturgess whether that meant he would be starring in the musical, to which he replied: "Um, I don't know. I haven't spoken to Julie since, and I don't know when she plans to do it. It's a timing thing, I guess. I don't know how long it's going to be before it comes to the surface."

More Spidey after the jump ...

Of course, since he's already sort of played Spider-Man, we wondered whether Sturgess was interested in replacing Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 4. When we asked, he sort of laughed it off with "Oh, I don't know -- I don't think I would do it." Fine, no Spidey, but is he interested in donning some sort of superhero costume down the line (and trust me folks, this guy definitely looks like he could play a comic character)? Sturgess says, "No, I've never seen myself as an actor who might pass off as a superhero ... and I'm amazed that I'm even being considered for the Spider-Man role. Maybe it's my long legs ... I dunno."

Well we beg to differ. Would you be interested in seeing Sturgess replace Tobey? And who else is curious about a Spider-Man musical with music and lyrics from Bono and the Edge?

21, in case you were wondering, hits theaters this weekend.