The past couple of weeks have seen new casting announcements for Spider-Man: Homecoming, but the roles have yet to be revealed.
With the casting of Michael Barbieri came a rumor/speculation that the 14-year-old actor may be playing a version of the Marvel Comics character Ganke Lee, a Korean American, which caused some uproar as it followed the Doctor Strange Ancient One controversial casting of Tilda Swinton replacing a Tibetan character.
Now Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts has taken to Twitter to shoot down the rumor.
“What The–?! Michael Barbieri was never playing Ganke… no idea how that rumor started… Ok, back to work!!!” Watts posted, while also letting loose a second tweet: “What The–?! Michael Barbieri was never playing ‘a version of or a character based on/similar to’ Ganke… Ok, back to work for reals now!!!”
I actually speculated that Michael Barbieri may be playing Harry Osborn.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” has a July 7, 2017 release also starring Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Zendaya, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Kenneth Choi and Donald Glover.
What The–?! Michael Barbieri was never playing Ganke… no idea how that rumor started… Ok, back to work!!!
— Jon Watts (@jnwtts) June 16, 2016
What The–?! Michael Barbieri was never playing “a version of or a character based on/similar to” Ganke… Ok, back to work for reals now!!!
— Jon Watts (@jnwtts) June 16, 2016
