Along with the Blade and X-Men franchises, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy is credited with birthing the modern trend of superhero movies. Without Raimi’s trilogy, we’d have no Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man set the template for superhero origin stories, Spider-Man 2 set the template for sequels that go bigger and better and escalate the hero’s internal and external conflicts, and Spider-Man 3 set the template for trilogy-closing finales that bitterly disappoint droves of fans who went in expecting too much. Making groundbreaking blockbusters like that is no easy task, so here are 10 Amazing Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy.
Willem Dafoe did 90% of his Green Goblin stunts
Sam Raimi decide to make the Green Goblin the villain in the first Spider-Man movie because he wanted to deepen the father-son theme established by Peter’s relationship with Uncle Ben. Willem Dafoe was cast as Norman Osborn and he decided to do most of his own stunts. When he made this decision, the concept of the Green Goblin’s costume changed to allow Dafoe more flexibility. The bulky armor of the original was streamlined to allow for more physicality. The costume that appears in the movie was constructed of 580 components and it took Dafoe half an hour to put it on, just so the actor could do his own stunts in it.
Robert De Niro and Arnold Schwarzenegger were considered for the role of Doc Ock
Alfred Molina ended up being the perfect choice to play Dr. Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Doctor Octopus, in Spider-Man 2, but he wasn’t the producers’ first pick for the role. Before settling on Molina, the filmmakers looked at a number of big-name actors. These included Apollo 13’s Ed Harris; The X-Files’ David Duchovny; Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill; Robert De Niro, who Sam Raimi had previously considered to play the Green Goblin in the first movie; Arnold Schwarzenegger, who infamously played Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin; and Chris Cooper, who would go on to play Norman Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Spider-Man 3 was the most expensive movie ever made in 2007
Back in 2007, Spider-Man 3 set the record for the most expensive movie ever made. It was greenlit with a budget of $250 million, but industry insiders reported that this figure ballooned to $350 million. This is due to the new CGI technologies required by the film (one of the villains is made of anthropomorphized grains of sand, while another is made of anthropomorphized alien sludge), shooting in New York City (which apparently cost the production $1 million a day), and reshoots that carried the movie eight months over schedule. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, another 2007 blockbuster, came in a close second with a budget of $300 million.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was supposed to cameo in the first movie
Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe would bring Marvel’s superheroes into the same on-screen world, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy hinted at it. J. Jonah Jameson mentioned that there was already a Doctor Strange, suggesting that the Sorcerer Supreme was operating in New York throughout the trilogy.
Hugh Jackman revealed that he was initially intended to have a cameo appearance as Wolverine in the first movie. The actor even flew all the way out to New York for the shoot. However, the idea was scrapped when the producers struggled to get ahold of Jackman’s Wolvie costume from the first X-Men movie.
Jake Gyllenhaal almost replaced Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 2
After the success of Spider-Man, Sony was eager to get a sequel out as soon as possible — so eager, in fact, that the producers were almost willing to make it without Tobey Maguire. After Maguire suffered a back injury on the set of Seabiscuit and it looked like he might not recover from it in time to shoot Spider-Man 2, the studio got Jake Gyllenhaal waiting in the wings to take over the role of Peter Parker if necessary. In the end, Maguire recovered and Gyllenhaal’s services weren’t needed. 15 years later, Gyllenhaal would join Spidey on the big screen when he played the villainous illusionist Mysterio in the MCU’s Spider-Man: Far From Home.
All of Kirsten Dunst’s screams in Spider-Man 3 were reused from Spider-Man 2
A staple of the Spider-Man trilogy is Mary Jane getting kidnapped by the villain and suspended in mid-air to get Spidey to crawl out of the woodwork and face the bad guy in a final battle. Some would say this is an outdated and tired trope, essentially making Mary Jane a damsel in distress. Aside from the sexist connotations, it’s just lazy storytelling to reuse the same plot device over and over. Kirsten Dunst didn’t even record any new screams for her damsel-in-distress situation in Spider-Man 3, because there was enough audio of Dunst screaming from her damsel-in-distress situation in Spider-Man 2.
It took Tobey Maguire 156 takes to catch M.J.’s whole lunch on the tray
In one of the early scenes in Spider-Man, Peter Parker uses his newly acquired reflexes to catch every single item of Mary Jane’s lunch as it falls from her tray. This shot was achieved using no CGI effects whatsoever. The tray was lathered with a kind of glue to keep it stuck on Tobey Maguire’s hand, and after a whopping 156 takes, Maguire managed to catch every single item on the tray, exactly as it’s seen in the final movie. There was probably a much easier way to do this with CGI, but at least doing it practically adds a layer of authenticity.
Rosemary Harris did all her own stunts in Spider-Man 2
Aunt May got to get in on the action in Spider-Man 2. During a bank meeting, May is taken hostage by Doc Ock. As he takes her up a skyscraper, she smacks the tentacled villain in the face to help Spidey fight him. Rosemary Harris perofrmed all of her own stunts in this scene, and really enjoyed doing it.
Alfred Molina, on the other hand, hated doing his own stunts in the role of Doc Ock, because he doesn’t think he was very good at them and he also didn’t like the idea of taking work away from actual stunt performers.
Sam Raimi didn’t want to include Venom in Spider-Man 3
Many of Spider-Man 3’s detractors have said that it’s stuffed with too many villains: the Sandman, Venom, and the Hobgoblin. The Sandman was the villain that Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire wanted to include from the start, and the Hobgoblin was the natural progression of the Harry Osborn storyline. Reasonably, if one villain was to be cut, it would be Venom, who has no place in the story and was totally misrepresented. As it turns out, Raimi didn’t want Venom in the movie. He’s not a fan of the character and didn’t think he could satisfy Venom fans. But producer Avi Arad insisted and Raimi was forced to include him.
Tobey Maguire had never read a Spider-Man comic when he was cast as Peter Parker
Tobey Maguire has admitted that when he signed on to play Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, he’d never read a Spider-Man comic in his life. What drew him to the project wasn’t the source material, but rather the script, which he was quite taken with. Spider-Man is, without a doubt, Marvel Comics’ most popular character, and he has been for years, so this might sound crazy. But some people just didn’t grow up with comic books, and Tobey Maguire was clearly one of them, despite how ecstatic he would go on to make comic book fans with his on-screen portrayal of Spidey.
