Jon Watts Talks About Diversity In Spider-Man: Homecoming

With all the whitewashing issues with Ghost in the Shell and Iron Fist, it's nice to see that Spider-Man: Homecoming has a pretty diverse cast. Director Jon Watts actually talks about the decision to have a multi-ethnic cast, and how he wanted the movie to portray a legit New York high school.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Watts explained:

"That was a big part of my pitch. The very first thing I made was a look book of what I wanted the world to look like and what the kids should look like and the high school should look like. I lived in New York for thirteen years and it should look like a school in New York, it shouldn't look like a school in the Midwest in the 50s. So I pulled a bunch of pictures of kids and documentary photos of kids in schools, and that was part of my pitch and everyone was really into that and followed through with the casting, which is so, so cool, I love the kids."

He was also asked if he considered a non-white actor for the role of Peter Parker, but he admits that the role of Peter was cast before he even came on board for Homecoming.

With Ghost in the Shell flopping, Sony is smart to steer clear of any whitewashing issues. Then again, I think that some people are just purposefully looking for ways to be "politically correct." I thought Ghost in the Shell was actually a pretty good movie, and some critics just jumped the "this-movie-is-terrible" bandwagon — like they always do.

Spider-Man: Homecoming comes out on July 7.

See Also: Watch: Easter Eggs And References In The New Thor: Ragnarok Trailer