Spider-Man has gotten several movies over the years, but in 2002, Sam Raimi made his first movie featuring the famous web-slinger. His Spider-Man film starred Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, as well as Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, James Franco as Harry Osborn and Willem Dafoe as the film’s villain: the Green Goblin.
The movie was well-received by fans and critics and even launched a trilogy with Maguire in the lead role. Since 2002, the franchise has been rebooted with Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, but there are some things you might not know about Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. Here are 10 things you didn't know about the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie.
James Cameron Almost Made A Spider-Man Movie
Prior to Sam Raimi taking over the Spider-Man franchise, Sony had turned to James Cameron to make a Spider-Man movie. Fresh off the success of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Cameron wrote a script for what would be included in his Spider-Man movie.
James Cameron’s Spider-Man script still featured Mary Jane Watson as Spider-Man’s love interest, but instead of the Green Goblin, Cameron wrote a story focusing on Electro. Cameron got side-tracked with True Lies and after Carolco Pictures went bankrupt, the rights to Spider-Man temporarily went to MGM and Cameron continued his career with Titanic.
They Could Have Jumped Straight To The Death Of Gwen Stacy
Another director that almost took over the Spider-Man franchise before Sam Raimi was David Fincher, the director behind popular movies like Se7en, The Social Network, and Gone Girl. Fincher wouldn’t have focused on Spider-Man’s backstory and actually would have told his origin in a matter of 10 minutes in the title sequence.
Instead, Fincher would have jumped into a Green Goblin storyline, specifically “The Night Gwen Stacy Died”. While Fincher obviously didn’t tackle a Spider-Man movie, he has still had a very successful career in Hollywood. Gwen Stacy’s death would later become a huge part of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014.
There Was A Death During Production
Spider-Man saves several people in the Spider-Man trilogy, but in real life, someone died on the set of the film. Back in March 2001, the crew on Spider-Man was working on a set of a Times Square building at the Rockwell International aerospace plant in California.
Two workers were in a crane basket when the arm of another crane fell over and hit one of the men in the head. The person was later identified as Tim Holcombe who was 45 at the age of his death. Columbia Pictures was fined around $60,000 for workplace violations.
Heath Ledger And Leonardo DiCaprio Could Have Been Spider-Man
Like any big superhero movie, there were many actors considered for the lead role in the film. Several big named actors like Colin Farrell, Heath Ledger, and Ewan McGregor were considered for the role of Spider-Man.
Leonardo DiCaprio also turned down the role, which is ironic since Tobey Maguire was considered Leo’s best friend back in the ‘90s. It’s crazy to think of what Spider-Man could have looked like with any of these actors taking on the role of Spider-Man, but Tobey Maguire was generally well-received as the character.
A Security Guard Stole A Spidey Suit
Lately, superhero movies have proven to be some of the most profitable films in the history of cinema. Due to the popularity of the movies, the props and memorabilia from the films are also quite valuable, especially since it usually costs a lot of money to make the props look realistic.
As for Spider-Man, a spidey suit cost around $50,000 to make and one was even stolen from set. A Sony security guard named Jeffrey Glenn Gustafson not only stole four Spider-Man suits from Sony, but he also stole a Batman suit from Warner Bros, which was valued around $150,000.
The Twin Towers Showed Up In The First Teaser Trailer
While many superheroes are protectors of a made-up city, Spider-Man is famous for being a protector of New York. New York is also home to one of the most horrific tragedies in American history: 9/11. Production on Spider-Man started before the Twin Towers fell, so the attack on the World Trade Center affected the marketing of Spider-Man.
Originally, Sony had released a teaser trailer for Spider-Man where Spidey caught a group of bank robbers and strung their helicopter up between the towers. They also released a poster of Spider-Man looking at the city, with the World Trade Center being reflected in his eye. After the attack, however, the trailer and poster were both pulled from theaters, with the poster quickly becoming a collector’s item.
Wolverine Almost Had A Cameo
Spider-Man has recently teamed up with the Avengers, but Sam Raimi didn’t include any superheroes in his Spider-Man trilogy. That being said, one of the most famous mutants almost appeared in the first film. The X-Men franchise also started in the early 2000s and featured Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
Wolverine was supposed to have a cameo role in Spider-Man, but it didn’t end up happening. Hugh Jackman once revealed to The Huffington Post that he was even in New York at the same time they were filming scenes for Spider-Man, but 20th Century Fox couldn’t find the Wolverine suit in time for him to film his scene.
Tobey Maguire Actually Caught All Of That Food
One of the most memorable scenes in Spider-Man comes at the beginning of the film when Peter Parker is eating lunch at his high school. Peter sees Mary Jane walking by in the cafeteria and his Spider-sense alerts him that she is about to slip. He jumps into action and not only catches Mary Jane, but everything that had been launched from her tray.
Some people might think that this was done using CGI, but Tobey Maguire actually caught everything on the tray. Kirsten Dunst revealed that the effects department put some type of glue to Maguire’s hand and the head of the VFX team John Dykstra said that it took 156 takes to complete.
John Malkovich Was Considered For The Green Goblin
Several actors were considered to play Spider-Man before Sony decided on Tobey Maguire, just like many actors were considered to play the Green Goblin. Willem Dafoe ultimately got the role, but John Malkovich was also considered for the part.
Malkovich has since shared the reason why he turned down the role saying, “It was everything. Way too much time, not enough money, not enough of anything. I mean, if I'd have loved it, obviously I would have done it, but those sort of films aren't art films, they're business propositions.” Malkovich’s words are eerily reminiscent of Martin Scorsese’s recent Marvel comments, but the actor was also ironically first in line to play Vulture in Sam Raimi’s canceled Spider-Man 4.
Sam Raimi Saw Backlash For Spidey’s Web-Shooters
One of the biggest changes from the comic books that Sam Raimi included in Spider-Man was giving Peter Parker organic web-shooters. In the comics, Parker develops his own web fluid that he uses in battle.
Raimi received quite a bit of fan backlash for the decision, but Raimi once brought up a good point in an interview. In his defense, Raimi stated, “He sticks to walls; he can leap; why does he then have to invent a web fluid? Why not just mutate him far enough into a spider to produce webbing?”