ROSS TO REWRITE "SPIDER-MAN 4"

Gary Ross is back in the saddle with his “Seabiscuit” star Tobey Maguire.

Ross has come aboard to rewrite the script for “Spider-Man 4,” the Sam Raimi-directed film that Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios will put into production early next year.

While Maguire has toplined both of the films Ross has directed (“Pleasantville” is the other), the “Spider-Man 4” deal comes more from Ross’s growing relationship with Sony.

Ross is rewriting to direct a Columbia Pictures film about cyclist Lance Armstrong. Though the film's focus is on Armstrong's recovery from testicular cancer to the triumph of winning seven Tour de France titles, the project has gained new relevance after Armstrong un-retired, returned to the Tour, and zoomed from back in the pack to second place this week.

Ross had also worked closely with the studio on “Tokyo Suckerpunch,” the film he expected to direct next. That picture got postponed when Anne Hathaway -- who planned to star with Maguire -- developed a scheduling problem.

The “Spider-Man 4” script was originally written by James Vanderbilt, and then rewritten by David Lindsay-Abaire.