John Leguizamo is opening up about feeling like a pawn when he was ultimately sidelined in favor of Michael Keaton to play the villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
The Romeo + Juliet actor recently revealed that he was in negotiations to play Vulture opposite Tom Holland in the Sony Pictures film. Leguizamo entered the conversation after Michael Keaton’s deal to star in the superhero film stalled.
“I was supposed to be the Vulture,” Leguizamo told ComicBook in an interview. “We had negotiated and I was about to play him, and they said that Michael Keaton wanted it back and they asked me if I would give it up. I said, ‘Well, okay I guess.’ They said, ‘No, we’ll work with you again, we’re gonna…’ That’s what happened there.”
Leguizamo said that Sony subsequently offered him “something tiny” that he ultimately opted to decline.
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After news sources picked up Leguizamo’s claim, the Encanto voice actor followed up by saying he felt like a “pawn” during the whole process.
“It’s true but I was used as a pawn to close Keaton but I should have said ‘no’ because we had agreed to terms! And I had a leg to sue but I ain’t litigious,” Leguizamo shared on Instagram.
Keaton starred in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming playing the role of Adrian Toomes, the villain known as Vulture. He reprised the antagonist role in 2022’s Morbius post-credits scene that seemingly sets up a wicked team-up.
