With all the rumors and speculation about Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4, whether or not it will make its scheduled May 5, 2011 release date and why it has run into production problems, it's come out in the wash that John Malkovich was indeed up for the role of the Vulture, Raimi's choice of villain for the fourth movie, which was first broken by Movieline a month ago.

Malkovich was interviewed by an Italian sports show called "Quelli Che il Calcio" and he was asked not only about whether he had been approached to play the Vulture but also about the production delays. The fine folks at the Italian web site Bad Taste have graciously provided an English summation of what was said on the show:

"When conductor Simona Ventura asked him about his role of Vulture in the movie, he not only didn't deny his involvement, but confirmed that he's waiting for the final script to be sent to him, and that the movie has been delayed. He also hopes that shooting will begin as soon as possible."

Some may remember that Malkovich was the alternate choice to play the Green Goblin in the first "Spider-Man" movie, a role that went to his Shadow of the Vampire co-star Willem Dafoe, so it has always made perfect sense that Raimi would be interested in him to play a Spidey villain. The question is whether Sony will agree to the lesser Spider-Man villain for such an important tentpole franchise.

We're hoping a clip of Malkovich's appearance will appear online soon, but if you're fluent in Italian, you can read the full transcript of Malkovich's appearance in Italian on BadTaste.it.