"Along Came a Spider-man"

By Shawna Malcom

SOURCE:  TV Guide (April 27, 2002)

 MMC thanks InsomniacFreak for typing this up from her printed materials archives.   The article is copyrighted to the above referenced author/publication with all rights reserved.  No copyright infringement is intended.

The comic-book hero swings into theaters with dazzling special effects, emotional showdowns and a red-hot arachno-romance.  Here, we unmask the secrets behinds Spidey’s long, strange trip to the big screen. Tobey Maguire reveals how he beat out other young A-list actors for the role of Spider-Man.

You wouldn’t think a superhero would be stuck taking public transportation.

Yet here’s Spider-Man—or, rather, Tobey Maguire, portraying the web slinger in a scene for the highly anticipated summer movie—running down a street in Queens, new York, one crisp afternoon in April 2001, desperately trying to catch a bus.  As he bangs on the bus’s side, his hand lands on a paper banner; when he pulls it away, the sign comes off too.  Perplexed, Maguire shakes the banner loose and inspects his hand.

What the…?

While Spidey is starting to discover his powers, Maguire and Co. are beginning to comprehend the power of his fans.  At one end of the street, a spirited crowd has gathered behind a row of orange cones.  They cheer at the end of each take (and sometimes before director Sam Rami yells “Cut”, earning them a verbal slap on the wrist from the crew).  They call out to Maguire and a red-tressed Kirsten Dunst, who plays Spidey’s squeeze, Mary Jane Watson.  Several clutch Spider-Man Spider-Man comics; others snap pictures.  “Those photos will be up on [a fan] Web site before the end of the day.” Says Raimi (“The Gift”), serving up an amused look.  “I’ve never experienced anything like this.  But hey, that’s OK.  They’re just out to make sure we don’t screw up.”

It’s easy to understand why.  Hollywood has a spotty track record when it comes to big-screen comic-book adaptations.  For every “Superman”, there’s a “Howard the Duck.”  What’s more, after 40 years, Spider-Man is not only one of the comic-book universe’s most enduring icons, but also one of its most beloved.  Raimi’s film, which swings into theaters May 3, is quite faithful to its illustrated roots:  Peter Parker is still a geeky teen living with his aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) when he’s bitten by a mutant spider and develops great power (and with it, great responsibility).  After a loved one’s murder, he vows to use his new abilities to fight insidious villains (in this case, the glider-riding Green Goblin, played by Willem Dafoe).

At the same time, though, the film puts a new spin on the classic character, which has prompted heated debate among Spidey enthusiasts on the, er, Web.  Most significantly, the superhero’s web shooters are now an organic mutation, a side effect of being bitten by that pesky spider, not a mechanical device, as co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, conceived for Marvel Comics in 1962.

“Comic-book adaptations are always tricky,” says Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. “There’s a lot of pressure to deliver something fans want to see that also has appeal to non-fans.”

Columbia Pictures is gambling a $100 million budget in an effort to ensnare moviegoers.  “I think we’ve been true to the spirit of the comics,” says producer Laura Ziskin.  “But you have to make choices.  Sam loves these characters, and one hopes people will surrender to his vision.”

Raimi has been envisioning this opportunity since he was 12, when his parents bought him a Spidey painting for his bed-room wall.  “Spider-Man was cool to me because it was more a story of how super-powers effect a normal teenage kid’s life.” Raimi explains. “Peter Parker was from a lower-middle-class family.  He was an introvert.  He struggled with girls.  I identified with that.  But he was also capable of something special, and that gave me hope.”

That affinity ultimately earned Raimi the gig despite the fact that he’d never helmed a movie with a budget anywhere near that of “Spider-Man.” “A lot of people wanted to direct this movie,” says Amy Pascal, chairman of Columbia Pictures.  “And many had more experience.  But none spoke with more passion.”

Dafoe certainly got an earful when Raimi called to discuss his casting.  “Sam started talking and two hours later,” Dafoe says, laughing, “he was still talking.  He told the story in such precise and psychological detail:  ‘Ultimately, the Green Goblin goes after Spider-Man because he feels rejected.  He’d wanted Spider-Man to join him like a father wants his son in the family business.’ I thought, ‘This guy is nuts.  But he just might make a fantastic movie."

Superheros never have it easy, and for years it seemed Spider-Man might never make it to the multiplex.  Marvel first struck a deal for a live-action film based on the wall crawler in 1985 with the Cannon Group.  When Cannon went under in 1989, the comic-book giant made a new agreement with 21st Century Film Corp., which eventually divvied up rights among three entities:  Viacom (TV rights), Columbia TriStar (home video), and Carolco Pictures (film).  In 1991, Carolco hired Spider-Man fan James Cameron, who had just wrapped the highly successful “Terminator 2,” to write and direct a Spidey film for a cool $3 million.  Cameron wrote a lengthy treatment that emphasized the budding romance between the comic-book hero and Mary Jane, using Peter Parker’s transformation into Spider-Man as a metaphor for puberty.  “He doesn’t know what’s happening to him.” Cameron wrote. “His body has become a stranger.”

It was Cameron who first thought to make Spidey’s web-shooters organic.  Even with the radical change, “it was the best treatment I’d ever read,” says Stan Lee. “Jim would have made a wonderful movie.”

He didn’t get the chance.  With Cameron onboard, the project became a hot property, and faster than you can say “box office gold,” a complicated series of lawsuits was filed.  By the time the disputes were resolved in 1999 and Sony Pictures Entertainment had cut a deal with Marvel (which has weathered bankruptcy), Cameron had steered “Titanic” to 11 Oscars.  Says Marvel Studios CEO, Avi Arad:  “I think for Jim, [trying to make the movie] was like having this crush on this girl in high school and having [her] turn him down for years.  By the time she finally changed her mind, he’d had enough heartache.” (Cameron declined to comment.)

But Cameron’s influence can still be felt in Raimi’s film, which includes the organic web shooters. “It never made sense to me that Peter Parker would take on all these characteristics of a spider but not the ability to spin his own web,” Raimi explains.  (“It has an internal logic to it,” allows Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.  “It doesn’t detract from the character.”)

Determined to infuse “Spider-Man” with an emotional punch so often missing from action flicks, Raimi set his sights on 26-year-old Maguire, best known for sensitive performances in such art-house fare as “The Cider House Rules.” My wife and I watched ‘Cider House,’ and I just knew he was the guy,” the director says.

But the studio wasn’t as eager to pin a franchise on an actor who’d never proven his box office muscle.  Instead they suggested Heath Ledger (“A Knight’s Tale”) and Maguire’s pal Leonardo DiCaprio.  However, “Sam didn’t want to talk about anyone else,” says Pascal.  Eventually, Sony asked Maguire to shoot two screen tests.  “Tobey was reluctant,” says Ziskin. “But I said, ‘If you do the test, you’ll get the part.  If you don’t, you won’t.’”

Maguire felt confident Spidey’s suit and the role were a perfect fit.  Sitting in a coffeehouse in West Hollywood eight months after that April day in Queens, he recalls, “There were definitely a few people who were like, ‘Come on, that artsy soft kid from “Cider House?”  You’ve got to be kidding me,’ “ he says, chewing on a toothpick.  “But I wasn’t worried.  I enjoy proving people wrong.”

With their hero in place, producers turned to finding his leading lady.  They’d met with “nearly every young actress in town,” says Raimi, but none possessed the right chemistry with Maguire.  A few weeks before production was to start, a desperate Raimi and Ziskin decided to fly to Berlin to meet with Dunst, who was shooting the period murder mystery “The Cat’s Meow.”  Maguire was home sick with strep throat, recalls Ziskin, “[But]I said, ‘We have one night to see her and you have to come.’”

After wrapping a day’s shooting on “Meow,” Dunst met the group in a dimly lit conference room at her hotel, and stealing light from the hallway, Raimi shot the screen test with a handheld video camera.  “My hair was like half 1920s curl, half wet because I’d tried to get the curl out.” Dunst remembers.  “And I had this heavy mascara on so when I cried, tears of black were running down my face.  I looked like s—t.”

Others saw something beautiful.  “There was this zing between them,” Ziskin says.  “We all looked at each other like, ‘Eureka!’”

By the time production began in January 2001, rumors about a real-life romance were rampant.  But while the dynamic duo has been snapped by the tabloids vacationing together in Hawaii, both have denied the off-screen liaison.  When discussing Maguire one recent afternoon, Dunst, 19, merely giggles and says, “We’re good friends.” Finally, as if reconsidering, she leans in close:  “I swear on my mother’s life, we’re not dating” – “right this second.”

The otherwise laid-back Maguire has less patience for such talk.  “Everybody [asks], but my answer will never change,” he says, raising his voice for the first time that afternoon. “I’ll always say I’m single until I’m married.  A relationship doesn’t need the added pressure of the press following it day to day.  It’s nobody’s business.”

He’s more comfortable discussing his transformation into an acrobatic arachnid.  To get into crime-fighting shape, Maguire trained six days a week, some times up to four hours a day, for five months, using a combination of martial arts, gymnastics, yoga, cardio and weight training.  The vegetarian actor also adhered to a strict diet – sort of.  “I was given a ratio of carbs to protein to fat,” he says. “It was pretty much an exact science.  But Sundays [were] my cheat days, and believe me, I’d eat whatever I wanted.  If I went to the movies, I’d have popcorn and M&Ms.”

Nevertheless, for a time Maguire was able to get his 5-foot-8, 155 pound frame down to an almost superhuman 8 percent body fat. “I’ve heard people say that’s a [body] double when you see him all ripped in the [movie’s] trailer,” says Dunst.  “But believe me, that was Tobey.  All him.”

Maguire also contended with a costume drama.  Designed by Oscar winner James Acheson (“Dangerous Liaisons”), the one-piece suit was made of spandex and had no mouth.  “It wasn’t the most comfortable thing to wear,” Acheson admits. “It could get very hot, but Tobey was a sport.”

Trying to react to imaginary people and situations was almost as torturous for Dunst. “I’ve never been on a movie with this much green screen and special effects.” Says the teen-movie vet (“Bring It On”).  “Sam would be like, ‘Look up because there’s a pumpkin bomb exploding.  Then look over to the screaming children, which is that piece of tape.’ I was like, “Please, just give me a scene with human beings!’”

While the film makes heavy use of special effects, at least one sequence didn’t make the final cut.  In the first “Spider-Man trailer, bank robbers escaped in a helicopter that got caught up in a giant Spidey web spun between the World Trade Center towers.  But the scenes, which were also included in a montage in an early cut of the film, were removed after September 11.  “It was never a crucial part of the storytelling.” Says Ziskin.  “And after [the attacks], I felt extremely uncomfortable seeing that aircraft in proximity to those towers.”

Likewise, the studio also pulled the original movie poster, which reflected the twin towers in Spider-Man’s eyes.  But the New York landmark isn’t gone completely.  “The towers are still seen in the background of a few scenes,” Raimi says. “People probably won’t even notice them, but we decided, out of respect for the victims and their families, not to take them out.”

Sony has already committed to a Spidey sequel, to be written by TV’s Smallville executive producers, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. (Maguire, Dunst and Raimi are all set to return.). Maguire, for one, claims he isn’t worried about being defined by his alter ego. “But if Spider-Man is all I’m known for, I think I can still make a living.” He says with a grin.  “Don’t those Star Trek people do pretty well signing pictures at conventions?”  As if he’ll need the cash:  Maguire, who earned $4 million for “Spider-Man,” is reportedly earning eight figures for the sequel.

In the end, Spidey’s long-delayed spin to the big screen may have paid off.  “We wound up with the right team.” Says Arad.  “They say, ‘Don’t serve the wine before its time.’ Now is finally our time.”