LOS ANGELES: Veteran actor JK Simmons has revealed that he had signed on for "two sequels" when he came on board "Spider-Man: Far From Home", to reprise his character J Jonah Jameson.
The 65-year-old actor famously played Jameson, the Spider-Man-hating editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle newspaper, in Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man trilogy.
In an interview with People TV over video chat, the actor was quizzed on whether Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans can expect to see more of Jameson in the upcoming Spider-Man movie, Simmons said there is no contractual obligation to include his character as a reoccurring presence.
"I don't know if I would use the word 'expect'. When we signed on for the first movie we signed a contract to do two sequels as well," Simmons said.
"That's always a one-sided, well not always but in my case, a one-sided contract where you're committed to do it but they're not necessarily committed to use your character in the ensuing movies. It was great to have the opportunity as these things evolve to be one of the holdovers from the previous version," he added.
Simmons recalled auditioning for Raimi's first Spider-Man film, which involved an "old-school, classic camera test" to convince the producers.
"The producers and the people at Sony, they needed to be convinced, because obviously, there were a lot of much more high-profile actors that they had in mind that would help with the box office. It was very nerve-wracking."
Following his successful stint in the trilogy, Simmons reprised the role and voiced Jameson in various animated shows like "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" and "Ultimate Spider-Man".
He made a comeback to the MCU with "Far From Home", in which Jameson appears in a post-credit scene and shares Mysterio's doctored footage to New York City, blaming Spider-Man for his drone attack on London while exposing Peter Parker's identity.
The third stand-alone Spider-Man film, featuring Tom Holland as the superhero, is scheduled to be released on November 5, 2021.
However, the production on the Disney-Marvel/Sony project is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.