The Burbank office of Miller Studios was quiet. The morning sun filtered through the horizontal blinds, casting long, geometric shadows across Daniel's desk.
He had a legal pad in front of him, filled with scribbled notes, scene outlines, and dialogue fragments. His laptop was open to the final draft of the Spider-Man script.
He was being very careful with the tone of this one. The cinematic universe was still young. Iron Man and Iron Man 2 had established a world of billionaires, high-tech armor, and global stakes. Daniel wanted to pivot in the other direction. He wanted to ground the universe.
He was writing a kid from Queens.
Daniel leaned back in his leather chair, tapping his pen against his chin. He liked the angle they were taking. It was heavily inspired by the youthful, awkward, high-school energy of the Tom Holland version from his old life. But because this world didn't know Spider-Man yet, he couldn't just skip the origin entirely.
He just had to make it efficient.
He looked over the first act. There was no hour-long buildup of Peter getting bullied, crying, and learning lessons. The spider bite happened fast. The tragedy with Uncle Ben was handled with a sharp, emotional gut-punch that didn't drag. By page twenty, Peter was in the suit, out on the streets, trying to figure out his powers while simultaneously worrying about his geometry homework.
It was a standalone story, but Daniel wove in a few subtle threads to remind the audience of the larger world. A brief shot of a Stark Industries billboard in the background of Queens. A news broadcast playing on a bodega TV showing Tony Stark's recent Senate hearing. Just enough connective tissue to make it feel like an actual, breathing universe.
A soft knock on the door pulled him out of the script.
"Come in," Daniel said, closing the laptop.
The heavy wooden door opened, and Stephen Walker walked in.
He was wearing a plain grey t-shirt, jeans, and a backpack slung over one shoulder. He had a visitor's badge clipped to his pocket. He looked exactly like the YouTube videos Daniel had been watching, just a little taller, a little more athletic from the stunt training.
But right now, Stephen looked like he was about to pass out.
He stood awkwardly in the doorway, his hands gripping the strap of his backpack so tight his knuckles were white. Stephen had talked to Daniel on the phone multiple times over the last four years. But talking on the phone was one thing. Standing in the executive office of Miller Studios, looking at the man who had just dominated the global box office and the gaming industry in the same weekend, was entirely different. Daniel wasn't just a benefactor on a phone call anymore; he was a global icon, and the sheer gravity of his presence in the room was suffocating.
"Hey, Dan. Uh, your assistant said I could just come back," Stephen said, his voice actually cracking slightly. He looked terrified to even step on the rug.
"Yeah, come on in, Steph," Daniel smiled, standing up and walking around the desk. He didn't make a big deal out of it. He walked over to a small mini-fridge in the corner, grabbed two bottles of water, and tossed one to Stephen.
Stephen caught it, fumbling it slightly against his chest, almost dropping his backpack in the process. "Thanks. Thank you."
"Flight was okay?" Daniel asked, leaning casually against his desk.
"Yeah, yeah, it was good. Slept most of the way," Stephen said. He looked around the office, taking in the movie posters and the clean, modern furniture, actively avoiding direct eye contact with Daniel. "Man, this place is... it's a lot. I feel like I'm trespassing. Or like, breathing expensive air."
Daniel chuckled. "You're fine. Have a seat."
Stephen dropped his backpack by a leather armchair and sat down on the edge of the cushion. He was vibrating with nervous energy.
Daniel didn't give a comforting speech. He didn't try to hype him up or talk about how this was going to change his life. He just reached over to his desk, picked up a few stapled pages, and handed them to Stephen.
"Alright," Daniel said. "Let's see what you've got. Take a minute to read those over."
Stephen looked down at the pages. "Sides?"
"Two scenes," Daniel explained, walking over to a small digital camera set up on a tripod near the window. He flicked it on. "I'll read the other parts from behind the camera. Just regular volume, nothing crazy."
Stephen nodded, his eyes scanning the text rapidly. He took a deep, shaky breath, trying to slow his heart rate. He spent a couple of minutes reading the dialogue, his lips moving silently as he memorized the rhythm of the lines.
"Ready?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah. I think so," Stephen said. He stood up, shaking out his arms and rolling his shoulders to loosen up.
"First scene. It's Peter Parker," Daniel said, looking at the script in his hand. "He's in the hallway at school. He's trying to talk to a girl. He's incredibly smart, but socially, he's a disaster. Action."
Stephen shifted his weight. Instantly, his posture changed. His shoulders hunched forward slightly. He looked down at his shoes, then up, his eyes darting around the room as if he couldn't hold eye contact. The sheer nervousness he was feeling about acting in front of Daniel actually fed perfectly into the character.
"So, um," Stephen started, his voice a little softer, pitching up nervously. "I was thinking... if you weren't, you know, doing anything on Friday. Because the decathlon practice got canceled, so my schedule is actually open. Not that you care about my schedule. That was stupid. But, uh, do you want to get a slice of pizza? Or something?"
He nailed it. He looked like an awkward, highly intelligent kid who was completely out of his depth.
"Good," Daniel said. He flipped to the next page. "Scene two. You're in an alleyway. You've got the mask on. You just dropped down behind a guy trying to break into a car. Action."
Stephen closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, the nervous teenager was gone.
He stood up straight. The hunch in his shoulders vanished, replaced by a loose, athletic stance. He tilted his head slightly, a confident, highly amused smirk crossing his face.
"Hey, man," Stephen said, his voice completely different now. It was louder, sharper, entirely relaxed. "I'm not a mechanic, but I'm pretty sure you need a key for that. Unless you're trying to install a new stereo with a crowbar, in which case, I respect the hustle, but you're doing it wrong."
He shifted his weight effortlessly, miming a web-shooter pose with his hand, keeping the banter flowing smoothly without dropping the cocky attitude.
Daniel watched him. He had known Stephen could act since the kid was in high school. But he needed to verify his choice in person. He needed to be absolutely sure that the YouTube stunts and the art school classes had actually translated into the duality required for the role. He needed a guy who could play the loser and the superhero without it feeling like two different actors.
Stephen finished the scene and dropped his arms, letting out a long breath. He looked at Daniel, the nerves instantly flooding back in, waiting for a verdict.
Daniel didn't say anything. He just looked at him for a few seconds. He was completely content with what he had just seen. The instincts were all there. The investment had paid off perfectly.
Daniel reached over to his desk, picked up a yellow cloth measuring tape from a pile of reference materials, and casually tossed it across the room.
It hit Stephen right in the chest. He caught it instinctively, looking down at the yellow fabric in his hands, confused.
"Take that down the hall, take a left, and go into the wardrobe department," Daniel said, turning back to his laptop. "Tell them to start getting your measurements for the spandex."
Stephen just stood there, his mouth slightly open. He looked at the tape, then back at Daniel. "Wait. That's it?"
"That's it," Daniel nodded, pulling up his script file again. "Don't get fat. We start shooting in three months."
A massive, disbelieving grin broke out across Stephen's face. He let out a breathless laugh, gripping the measuring tape tight. "Okay. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to wardrobe."
"Take a left at the water cooler," Daniel called out as Stephen practically jogged out of the office, forgetting his backpack entirely.
By Wednesday morning, Miller Studios officially released a casting breakdown to the press.
They didn't try to hide what they were doing. The official press release stated that Miller Studios was moving into pre-production on an untitled Spider-Man project. Along with the announcement, they released open casting calls for the supporting roles, specifically highlighting the need for high-school-aged characters.
The industry immediately scrambled. Agencies across Los Angeles were blowing up the Miller Studios switchboard, trying to get their young clients into the audition room.
Daniel set up the casting sessions in a large, empty rehearsal room on the Burbank lot. He sat behind a folding table with a couple of casting executives and a camera operator. Stephen was sitting on a stool in the center of the room, acting as the reader for the chemistry tests.
They started with the role of Mary Jane.
Daniel had a very specific vision for MJ. He wanted someone with fire, a sharp sense of sarcasm, and an observant, intimidating edge. Someone who could see right through Peter's awkwardness.
Over the course of three hours, a parade of young actresses came into the room. Most of them failed before they even spoke a line. The problem was Daniel. The moment these girls walked into the room and saw Daniel Miller sitting behind the desk—widely considered one of the most handsome and powerful men on the planet—they completely lost their composure. They would blush, stutter through their introductions, and then try to play the scene while actively trying to look pretty for the director. It ruined the dynamic. They treated Peter like a puppy and spent the whole scene trying to flirt with the camera instead of embodying the character.
Stephen was being a good sport, resetting his energy for every single read, but he was visibly getting tired of reciting the same lines to girls who were constantly glancing nervously at Daniel.
The door opened, and Sadie Sink walked in.
She was wearing a casual vintage t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of worn-out Converse sneakers. Her red hair was pulled back loosely.
She stepped into the room, holding her printed sides, and looked toward the table.
Sadie froze. Her eyes went wide, and she actually took a half-step back. She had known she was auditioning for a Miller Studios movie, but she expected to see a random casting director, not Daniel Miller himself. Seeing him in person, sitting just fifteen feet away, was incredibly jarring. He had a natural, magnetic presence that cameras barely captured.
"Oh," Sadie breathed out, her cheeks flushing pink instantly. She gripped the paper in her hands tightly. "Um. Wow. Hi. I'm... I'm Sadie. Sink. Sadie Sink."
She swallowed hard, looking genuinely starstruck, her composure entirely fractured.
"Hi, Sadie. I'm Dan," Daniel said from behind the table. He offered a polite, patient smile. He was used to this reaction, especially from the younger talent. "Take your time. Whenever you're ready, you can step up to the mark."
Sadie nodded quickly. She walked over to the piece of tape on the floor across from Stephen. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a full three seconds, and visibly forced her shoulders to drop. She was an actress. She needed to do the job.
When she opened her eyes, she didn't look at Daniel again. She looked directly at Stephen.
"You're reading with Stephen today," Daniel said, gesturing to the stool. "This is the cafeteria scene. Peter is trying to make up a terrible excuse for why he disappeared during the field trip. Action."
Stephen went right into the awkward, stuttering Peter Parker routine. He looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, uh, yeah. I got lost. On the trip. I took a wrong turn near the exhibits and my phone died, so I couldn't find Mr. Harrington."
Sadie didn't respond immediately. She just stared at him. She let the silence stretch for a full three seconds, making the air in the room feel heavy. The starstruck, blushing girl from thirty seconds ago was completely gone. She tilted her head slightly, her eyes locking onto Stephen with a deadpan, piercing look.
"You got lost," Sadie said. Her tone was completely flat, laced with a heavy dose of skepticism.
"Yeah," Stephen said, genuinely thrown off by the delay and the intensity of her stare. He actually stammered. "I mean, it's a big museum."
"It's a circle, Peter," Sadie fired back instantly, the sarcasm cutting through the room like a knife. "The floor plan is a literal circle. You walk forward, you end up where you started. Were you walking backwards?"
Stephen blinked. He actually forgot his next line for a split second because her delivery felt so real and confrontational. He scrambled to recover. "No, I just... I got turned around near the bathrooms."
Sadie let out a short, cynical laugh, crossing her arms. "Right. The bathrooms. Fascinating stuff. You're a terrible liar, Parker. It's actually kind of embarrassing to watch."
"And scene," Daniel called out.
He looked at the monitor on his desk. He didn't need to see another take. Sadie had completely controlled the rhythm of that exchange. What impressed him most wasn't just her line delivery; it was the fact that she had been genuinely terrified and starstruck when she walked into the room, but had the raw talent to completely suppress it and command the space the second the camera was rolling.
Daniel looked up from the monitor. "Thanks, Sadie."
"Thank you," she nodded. The moment the scene ended, her intense posture dissolved, and she offered a quick, slightly nervous smile toward the table before walking out of the room.
Stephen let out a breath, looking over at Daniel. "Man, she's intimidating."
"She's hired," Daniel said, writing a checkmark next to her name on his casting sheet.
Over the next two days, they locked down the rest of the core cast.
For the role of Ned, Peter's best friend, they brought in Jacob Batalon. Jacob walked into the room, saw Daniel, and actively had to fan his own face.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry," Jacob said, laughing nervously, his eyes wide as he looked at Daniel. "I watched Vice City like, twelve times. I am a massive fan. This is crazy."
"Appreciate it, Jacob," Daniel smiled. "Let's see what you've got."
Jacob had a natural, infectious enthusiasm that lit up the room. When Daniel asked him to read a scene where Ned discovers Peter's secret, Jacob played it with pure, unadulterated shock and excitement, asking a million rapid-fire questions without taking a breath. He was the perfect, grounded counterpart to Stephen.
For Aunt May, Daniel wanted to lean into the reality of a modern, working-class Queens neighborhood. He cast Marisa Tomei. She brought a warmth and a grounded, no-nonsense maternal energy to the role. She felt like a real person who was trying to raise a teenager on a tight budget.
And then there was the villain.
Daniel wasn't writing a world-ending threat. He didn't want alien invasions or magic stones yet. He wanted a guy who drove a truck, got screwed over by the system, and decided to fight back. He was casting Adrian Toomes, the Vulture.
He needed an actor with serious gravity. Someone who could be charming, working-class, and absolutely terrifying in a quiet, subtle way.
Daniel reached out to Michael Keaton.
Keaton didn't come in for a chemistry read. Daniel just met him for coffee at a diner in Burbank. Keaton was a veteran. They just sat in a booth like two professionals. Daniel handed him the script and pitched the character. A guy running a salvage company who loses his contract to a massive Stark Industries subsidiary. A guy who steals advanced tech from battle cleanup just to provide for his family.
Keaton liked the grounded angle. He liked that Toomes wasn't a psychotic monster, just a desperate guy making bad choices. He signed on before the week was over.
By Friday afternoon, pre-production was running at full speed.
Daniel walked out of the executive building and took a short walk across the Burbank lot to the art and design department. He swiped his keycard and walked into the massive, open-plan workspace. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with concept art, storyboards, and color palettes.
He walked over to a cluster of drafting tables where the costume designers were working.
"Hey Dan," the lead designer said, pulling a large corkboard around so Daniel could see it. "We finished the final renders for the suit progression."
Daniel stood in front of the board, looking at the designs.
This was a crucial element of the movie. Daniel wanted to make it very clear that Peter Parker was a broke teenager, not a billionaire with a manufacturing plant.
The first design on the board was the homemade suit. It looked exactly like something a fifteen-year-old would throw together in his bedroom. A red hoodie with the sleeves cut off, a pair of light blue sweatpants, heavy red boots, and a pair of dark, welding-style goggles strapped over a red ski mask. It looked cheap, practical, and heavily worn.
"I like it," Daniel said, tapping the drawing of the goggles. "Make sure the fabric looks synthetic. Like he bought it at a discount sporting goods store. Nothing tailored."
"Got it," the designer nodded. "And the upgrade?"
He pointed to the second design. This was the suit Tony Stark would give him later in the movie. It was the classic red and blue. The web patterns were clean and subtle. The spider emblem on the chest was small and sharp. It looked sleek and high-tech.
"Perfect," Daniel approved. "Start fabricating the homemade suit today. We need it for camera tests next week."
Daniel walked back out of the art department, stepping into the warm California afternoon. The Burbank lot was buzzing with activity. Carpenters were driving golf carts loaded with lumber. Production assistants were running between buildings carrying binders.
His short-lived break was officially over. He had his script, he had his cast, and he had his vision locked in.
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A/N: Read ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/AmaanS