Spiderman 3
http://www.ifilm.com/presents/spiderman3
The Secrets of Spider-Man 3
In an exclusive excerpt from Premiere's January/February cover story, Premiere.com untangles some of the mysteries surrounding the webslinger's third adventure.
By Tom Roston
Director Sam Raimi on why Spidey will finally face off against Venom: "[Avi Arad, the former chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios] said the fans want to see Venom. I come from a different generation. I read the comic books in the '70s, where it was Green Goblin, Sandman, Electro, Mysterio, the Vulture. It was not until the late '80s that Venom came about. But Avi said, 'I'm telling you, they're waiting for him. Don't be selfish. Spider-Man is everyone's myth, not just yours.' "
On casting Peter Parker's new love interest Gwen Stacy: To realize his vision, Raimi drew from both likely and unlikely sources for the casting. "Gwen Stacy is this buxom blond, and I'm this red-headed character actress," says [Bryce Dallas] Howard (The Village, Lady in the Water)."I was really, really shocked. Especially when I saw pictures of the character, I was like, 'What? Aren't there a million other women walking around in Los Angeles right now who actually already look like this?'" Says producer Laura Ziskin, "My joke is, I cast a blond as a famous redhead, and a redhead as a famous blond. There were a lot of hair issues."
On Peter Parker's "evil doppelgänger" Venom: Double Your Fun: Topher Grace plays Eddie Brock, a.k.a. Venom, "an evil doppelgänger of Peter," says Grace. "He dresses better, he's kind of good with the ladies, and we gave him a lot of hair gel."
Why Spider-Man 3 meant four times the stunts for star Tobey Maguire: For Spider-Man 3, Raimi says, Maguire multiplied his action scenes "by, like, four-fold." One extensive sequence has Harry fighting with Peter, who doesn't have his Spidey suit on. "It was more work for me, but it was fine," Maguire says of the maskless battle. "It's actually good when you've got the faces in there, because you get to feel for the characters and react more.""It is cool for me and hard on Tobey," Raimi notes. "He's got to do everything he could possibly do as Spider-Man. Stuntmen can fill in for the wide shots, CG can fill in for the outrageous stuff. But he's had to do a tremendous amount of physical action, of rolling, tumbling, leaping, landing, punching, fighting, falling." It's a touchy subject, because Spider-Man 2 almost imploded when there was talk that Maguire couldn't return because of back problems. "We're always careful with him," Ziskin says. "I mean, he has chronic problems and he works on it and he has a chiropractor, and we're careful in terms of what we ask him to do."
On Raimi's blissful unawareness of his stars' personal lives: Raimi does seem quite attached to his cast; he's watched them grow up over the course of three installments. "Remember on the first movie, Tobey and Kirsten had a thing?" he asks. "I'm so dumb, because I met with them for dinner one night during the shooting to talk about the next day's scenes. And I go, 'Okay, well, that's it for the meeting.' And then I ask Kirsten, 'Can I drive you home?' And they look at each other and she goes, 'No, no, I'm going to play a game of Touch 10 with Tobey.' I don't know, it was some game. I thought, 'That's weird. She's got to work tomorrow.'On the future of Spider-Man: "I'm sure they'll keep making Spider-Man pictures," says Raimi, who has signed up for each one individually. (Maguire was contracted for all three.)"Amy [Pascal, Sony cochairman] told me that she would. I love Spider-Man. And I love working with Kirsten, Tobey, James. I don't know if Thomas and Topher will be around in the next one, but probably Bryce will be. But I have to make sure that when I'm done with this picture I'm really still fascinated with the character. At this moment I'm fascinated with him. Whether or not I will be in six months when the movie's done I couldn't say. And I absolutely would not have anything to do with the picture unless I was hungry to tell the story."Could Raimi imagine doing Spider-Man without Maguire?"I'd rather not," he says, and then, "No, I couldn't imagine it."
Director Sam Raimi on why Spidey will finally face off against Venom: "[Avi Arad, the former chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios] said the fans want to see Venom. I come from a different generation. I read the comic books in the '70s, where it was Green Goblin, Sandman, Electro, Mysterio, the Vulture. It was not until the late '80s that Venom came about. But Avi said, 'I'm telling you, they're waiting for him. Don't be selfish. Spider-Man is everyone's myth, not just yours.' "
On casting Peter Parker's new love interest Gwen Stacy: To realize his vision, Raimi drew from both likely and unlikely sources for the casting. "Gwen Stacy is this buxom blond, and I'm this red-headed character actress," says [Bryce Dallas] Howard (The Village, Lady in the Water)."I was really, really shocked. Especially when I saw pictures of the character, I was like, 'What? Aren't there a million other women walking around in Los Angeles right now who actually already look like this?'" Says producer Laura Ziskin, "My joke is, I cast a blond as a famous redhead, and a redhead as a famous blond. There were a lot of hair issues."
On Peter Parker's "evil doppelgänger" Venom: Double Your Fun: Topher Grace plays Eddie Brock, a.k.a. Venom, "an evil doppelgänger of Peter," says Grace. "He dresses better, he's kind of good with the ladies, and we gave him a lot of hair gel."
Why Spider-Man 3 meant four times the stunts for star Tobey Maguire: For Spider-Man 3, Raimi says, Maguire multiplied his action scenes "by, like, four-fold." One extensive sequence has Harry fighting with Peter, who doesn't have his Spidey suit on. "It was more work for me, but it was fine," Maguire says of the maskless battle. "It's actually good when you've got the faces in there, because you get to feel for the characters and react more.""It is cool for me and hard on Tobey," Raimi notes. "He's got to do everything he could possibly do as Spider-Man. Stuntmen can fill in for the wide shots, CG can fill in for the outrageous stuff. But he's had to do a tremendous amount of physical action, of rolling, tumbling, leaping, landing, punching, fighting, falling." It's a touchy subject, because Spider-Man 2 almost imploded when there was talk that Maguire couldn't return because of back problems. "We're always careful with him," Ziskin says. "I mean, he has chronic problems and he works on it and he has a chiropractor, and we're careful in terms of what we ask him to do."
On Raimi's blissful unawareness of his stars' personal lives: Raimi does seem quite attached to his cast; he's watched them grow up over the course of three installments. "Remember on the first movie, Tobey and Kirsten had a thing?" he asks. "I'm so dumb, because I met with them for dinner one night during the shooting to talk about the next day's scenes. And I go, 'Okay, well, that's it for the meeting.' And then I ask Kirsten, 'Can I drive you home?' And they look at each other and she goes, 'No, no, I'm going to play a game of Touch 10 with Tobey.' I don't know, it was some game. I thought, 'That's weird. She's got to work tomorrow.'On the future of Spider-Man: "I'm sure they'll keep making Spider-Man pictures," says Raimi, who has signed up for each one individually. (Maguire was contracted for all three.)"Amy [Pascal, Sony cochairman] told me that she would. I love Spider-Man. And I love working with Kirsten, Tobey, James. I don't know if Thomas and Topher will be around in the next one, but probably Bryce will be. But I have to make sure that when I'm done with this picture I'm really still fascinated with the character. At this moment I'm fascinated with him. Whether or not I will be in six months when the movie's done I couldn't say. And I absolutely would not have anything to do with the picture unless I was hungry to tell the story."Could Raimi imagine doing Spider-Man without Maguire?"I'd rather not," he says, and then, "No, I couldn't imagine it."
