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From today on, he spins his webs in "Spider-Man": Tobey Maguire
talks about his first action role- and about the curse of being a
merchandise product.
In spite of his 26 years, he already is a good character actor. He
proved that in "The Ice Storm", in "Pleasantville", in "Cider House
Rules"... but now one movie has made Tobey Maguire famous over
night, like it happened to his friend Leonardo DiCaprio before. From
today on, we can see him as Spider-Man.
PZ: Tell me the truth, is it always you in the spidey
suit?
TM: No, not all the time. I can't give you a percentage
or something. Often my stuntman and I did the same scenes and Sam
Raimi picked out the better version. And then it was done with a lot
of computer tricks, so it doesn't really matter who is in the
costume.
PZ: Your character lived through a special kind of
puberty. Where others have hair grow under their arms, you have
spider webs coming out of your wrists. What do you think does an
action hero mean for the teenagers today?
TM: We didn't see him as a fantasy character but as a
real human being. Superman is an alien our character is an outsider,
an underdog that the girls don't want to know anything about.
Everyone knows that, you can identify with that.
PZ: If you could have a superpower, which one would
that be?
TM: A while ago, I would have said: flying. Now it
seems to trivial. I would probably like to get above my physical
self, stay the same but in another dimension, a spiritual being.
PZ: Doesn't that already happen when you do yoga?
TM: It's not the same. To be able to get over the
physical world, not to be bound to it anymore like Keanu Reeves in
"Matrix", that would be the coolest superpower.
PZ: How did you prepare for being a spider?
TM: I never saw the old movies or the tv shows. I read
the comics before the casting. A friend of mine who wants to become
a stuntman then tried out the different moves with me.
PZ: There is the story that the producers didn't want you
first and you had to take off your shirt to convince them....
TM: I was working out in the studio months before. I
wore a sleeveless shirt at the test so you could see the muscles. I
took that off and showed them a fight scene. And the next day, I had
the job. But they didn't tale me because I'd been stripping, they
took me because I'd been fighting. They knew me, they had seen my
movies. They just couldn't imagine that I could fight as well.
PZ: Actually you are a character actor. Are you scared to
become a superstar now, like Christopher Reeves, once superman,
always superman?
TM: It's easier for me, spider-man wears a mask, he's
not really me. And everything that comes now, the merchandising, the
dolls, shirts, cups and so on, that doesn't have my face on it. Of
course I have lost my anonymity. But that only has positive effects
now. Maybe I'll get more role offers now.
PZ: Maybe more money as well. I heard you get millions for
the next two spider-man movies.
TM: I can't deny it and I can't confirm it. (smiles) We
will do another movie, in early 2003, I don't want to deny that. To
be honest: Money doesn't mean anything to me. I never go shopping.
No idea where my clothes come from, they're just there.
PZ: What is it like to act underneath a mask?
TM: That was something new of course and a great
challenge. Is it possible to make a character credible if you can
only use body language and you only have a bit of dialogue?
PZ: And what is it like to work on a CGI movie?
TM: That as well is just another experience. To look at
things that aren't there. To be in front of a blue screen. To do a
scene that becomes something different in the computer. it doesn't
feel less real. You just have to concentrate more to make it
credible.
PZ: Are you only going to act in expensive movies now? Or
will you do more stuff in the independent genre as well?
TM: I just do my job. I am only interested in the
script, the director and the charactor that I am supposed to play.
If it's worth 50 000$ or 50 million doesn't matter.
PZ: Like all your other characters, spider-man is an
outsider. Why do you like to chose these kind of roles?
TM: Directors cast me because they saw me in "The Ice
Storm" or "Cider House Rules". But these roles don't have anything
to do with me. And spider-man is simply the best script hat I was
offered in the last years.
PZ: Last question. Are you scared of spiders?
TM: I can let one crawl on my arm by now. But I still
wouldn't get into a tub full of spiders.
© Peter Zander, Berliner Morgenpost Online |
