Bono: I Felt 'Impotent' While Making Spider-Man

U2 stars Bono and the Edge discuss firing Julie Taymor
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 14, 2011 11:52 AM CDT
Bono: I Felt 'Impotent' While Making Spider-Man
In this theater publicity image released by The O and M Co., Reeve Carney, center, portrays Peter Parker in a scene from the musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," in New York.   (AP Photo/The O and M Co., Jacob Cohl)

Bono and the Edge aren’t exactly pleased with how Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has worked out. In a blistering interview with the New York Times, the U2 leaders say they’re unhappy with the process and discuss their falling out with Julie Taymor, who was ousted in March. “If we thought it would take this long, there is not a chance on earth we’d have done it,” Bono says.

Revelations from the interview include:

  • Once Taymor began her work in earnest, Bono says he felt “fairly impotent” artistically.
  • Because they were on tour, Edge and Bono weren’t in the audience during December previews; most composers try to attend and take notes every night during previews.
  • Though they helped develop the original script and music, they weren’t pleased with how they came out. “The first time I loved Spider-Man was two and a half weeks ago,” Bono says, adding that though there was some magic in the thing, he was “really angry about its obtuse story and some of the awful readings of the music."
  • When playwright Glen Berger presented his idea to overhaul and simplify the story, Taymor objected that it couldn’t be done in three weeks. “When that was her response, the producers felt that whatever Julie would do with a hiatus was more of a polishing job than a top-to-bottom rethink of the show,” says the Edge.
(More Bono stories.)

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