John Leguizamo says he felt like “a pawn” when he entered negotiations to play the villainous Vulture in Sony and Marvel’s 2017 reboot “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” only to be asked to step back so Michael Keaton could take the role back.
The “Encanto” voice actor claims he was in talks to play the villain in the film, but then found out Sony was basically using him to get Keaton to close his deal.
“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 offered him “something tiny” afterwards, but he declined.
In April 2016, it was reported that Keaton had entered talks to play the villain in “Homecoming,” but mere weeks later the “Batman” actor had bowed out of the role, purportedly due to scheduling conflicts with the drama “The Founder.” By May, Keaton was back in the mix and formally signed onto the film opposite Tom Holland.
After his recent comments about the matter made headlines, Leguizamo shared a screengrab of the story on his Instagram Sunday and continued to elaborate on the ordeal, writing, “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.”
Keaton went on to reprise his role in 2022’s “Morbius.” Leguizamo was most recently seen in “Violent Night” and “The Menu.”
