INTERVIEWS

Spider-Man Press Conference (Part 1 & 2) 
January 4th - 5th,  2001

Spider-Man Press Conference
Part 1

Hey fellow web-slingers, Mirko here to let you in on the big Sony Pictures event that took place this morning, January 4th, 2001!

Chris (aka Excelsior) and myself were greeted at the press conference with name tags with 'SPIDERMANHYPE.COM' on them - definitely a great way to start the event ; ) We were escorted into the sound stage past a huge banner emblazoned with the Spider-Man movie logo that we told you about yesterday.

The set we entered wasn't anything we had expected, as the press conference actually took place within the arena in which Spider-Man and Bone Saw McGraw will have their battle in the movie. The bleachers surrounding the steel cage reached high up into the sound stage, and to the left of our vantage point we saw the set piece where the actors will make their grand entrance in the film. (hit the pictures for larger versions!!!)

The actors, actress and producers were introduced - in attendance were Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Sam Raimi, Avi Arad, Laura Ziskin, Ian Bryce and John Dykstra - first Sam Raimi gave us a rundown of what the set we were on would be in the movie.

Raimi: The set is supposed to be a rental hall where a profession wrestling group, kind of a low-end wrestling group, has set up a few night stand for a strong man competition, and Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker in a Spider-Man outfit he devises as these wrestlers are pretty colorful characters. He comes here to use his power to make some money, because in the first act he's quite an irresponsible fellow. He hasn't quite realized that these powers are a great gift to be used for the betterment of all. So this is the scene where he'll be squaring off with Randy Savage who's a great ferocious professional wrestler. I won't tell you who wins the fight!!

and then questions kicked-off. We won't go through every question in detail - just the key ones.

Yours truly landed the first question!! 

There's been some debate about the organic webshooters and I was wondering if those were still in the movie and what your thoughts were about them?

Raimi: I'm familiar with the debate but I haven't followed every bit of it. I know that in the Spider-Man comic books, to clarify that issue, Spider-Man is vested with these powers and the webshooters and web fluid that he builds, he puts it in the webshooters and that's how he shoots the webs. But, what we're trying to do in this Spider-Man picture is not just stick to the level of the comic books, we're trying to capture the spirit of the picture. Now, we've always seen the great strength of Spider-Man and the fact that he's a real person, he's one of us. He's a kid from Brooklyn who doesn't have a lot of money. He doesn't get the girls, he's got acne, he's an average looking kid. (BIG LAUGH as Tobey looks at him weird)… well, slightly better than average. And he's one of us, unlike Superman who's from the planet Krypton or other fantastic heroes. He's really a kid who we identify with. And this kid is vested with these great powers, or perhaps cursed with these powers. But the important thing is that he's one of us. In the comic book, which I'm a giant fan of, he is a genius and we're going to keep that. He's a very smart kid, but when he can develop a material that even 3M corporation can't seem to develop, it stops and distances him from a normal human being and an average kid in high school. So we thought the best thing to do was, since he's bit by the spider and takes on the powers of the spider…crawling walls, the ability to leap like some spiders have, the great proportion of strength of a spider he's developed on the inside, we thought it was a logic progression to led it also spin its own web, and that way keep him a complete human being that we could identify with and being consistent with the once he's bitten by spider takes on all the powers, why not take on all 5 and not just 4 out of 5. In addition, it was another device to create alienation because Peter Parker has always been an outcast and Spider-Man a misunderstood hero. And I think that's a lot of the appeal of Spider-Man that teenage kids understand who think that I'm not understood just like Spider-Man. So having yourself change physically distances you from your friends and peers and I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.


For Tobey - what sort of training did you have to go trough to get in shape and how comfortable will you be playing Spider-Man?

Maguire: I've done all kinds of training for flexibility and acrobatic grace, also just to push up some iron. I've enjoyed it thoroughly, I'm a little nervous getting the pre-movie jitters. It's been a long time in the coming, I think I've been cast since July and the anticipation of the work, which is now Monday. It's all on me now, but I'm excited and I can't wait to get in the middle of it. As far as people expectations, I'm not too concerned, I put all that responsibility onto Sam (big laugh for the crowd). I'll just show up and do my job.


When Superman came out with the catch phrase.."You will believe a man can fly," let me ask about the burden of belief in this film. Also I want to know what Ted's gonna do in the movie.

Raimi: Ted will be taking a small part in the film, that's my brother. My mother made me put him in the picture! They did a great job on Superman, I loved that picture - it was really emotional and uplifting, and you did believe a man could fly. We're face with the great challenge of making Spider-Man believable, the kids really wanna soar with Spider-Man 60 stories up, dance with him in the aerial acrobatics that he performs, those illusions are going to be accomplished a lot of different ways and I don't want to reveal too much because I don't want to spoil it for the kids. I don't want to have them picking apart the effects as tricks but instead have them swept up into the thing. Tobey will be performing a lot of the pieces himself with backgrounds put in. And then John Dykstra will be helping him with some CGI. 

Dykstra: The challenge for the filmmakers is to use the [technology] in an effective fashion and being part of this team I feel as if I can't go wrong. We're going to enhance and help along the spirit and the soul of Spider-Man where the physical reasons we fall short. Superman was great at the time but I think the audience has become much more sophisticated and much more adept to determining what's real and what isn't and that's our challenge. I believe you will be hard-pressed to tell the places where we've helped reality. But we will press the limits and we're going to do things that haven't been done, but I'm loathed to tell you because then you'll look for them.


What is your target audience because you always have the battle of including violence and the kids?

Raimi: The picture will be rated PG-13 and the movie's really made for the whole family. We're trying to make the picture appeal to an intelligent audience so that adults can really enjoy but at the same time we'll have a lot of fun, excitement and adventure that the kids will also enjoy.


For Willem Dafoe - What is your motivation for characters like in Shadow of the Vampire and the Green Goblin?

Dafoe: I think of my role as Normon Osborn first and the Green Goblin grows from an aspect of Normon Osborn. Norman Osborn is an interesting character because he's got a dark side and a light positive side. He believes in science and is interested in developing the physical and mental capabilities of the human being through science. Before I even read the script, Sam talked me through the film and I loved the way he talked about it in such incredible psychological terms. I also liked how we talked about the relationship between Norman and his son, and Norman and Peter in particular. It's very rich. The other aspect that attracted me to it was the physicality of it. I come from the theater and still work in the theater, and sometimes what I miss in film is the real tangible, physical investment of things. And in this I have lots of things to play with, I'm really looking forward to it.


What can we expect for the look of Spider-Man?

Raimi: Regarding the outfit, we've decided to get back to the classical red and blue look of Spider-Man and Jim had decided to update it to bring it into the year 2002 when the picture opens. To add some dimensionality to it, to take a slightly more subtle approach to the coloration of the outfit, to increase the flexibility for Tobey Maguire where he can show maximum flexibility to show his athletic prowess. That's what I think the audience really likes about Spider-Man, not the Arnold Schwarzenegger look, rather the fact that he's this graceful dancer.

Spider-Man Press Conference
Part 2

Hey y'all, me again... first up, we also learned yesterday that the official Spider-Man movie teaser should be out very soon (the 'real' one, not the ShoWest trailer). Sorry for the delay on Part 2, but I had to catch a flight back to Houston. Just a quick note, as we left the press conference we also received a cool sweatshirt with the Spider-Man logo on it, check it out at the picture on the right. 

Sony also sent us a picture of the cast - from right to left is James Franco (Harry Osborn), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin), Sam Raimi (director), Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man), and Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane) - to check out the full version just click on the picture. 

Here we go:

What is the movie's budget, and will Spider-Man when the strike happens in May?

Bryce: The budget is the great unanswerable question, unfortunately. As with all prestigious, high profile pictures like this one that involve a lot of A level talent, and great technology, the pictures do tend to cost more. The more expensive they get, the more classified they get, so all I can say is that the cost of the picture is classified.

Ziskin: We will be finished before any impending strike. The picture will be finished.


Could some of the Producers speak as to why it took so long to get a Spider-Man movie rolling?

Arad: Marvel will be having a very big party today, because we've been waiting for this for a long time. There is kind of a bloody history here. There's bankruptcy in the past and lawsuits, and then we finally had to get the movie to where it should be made in the first place. It's been a long road, and all this has been written about. The good news is it's all here, the rights are clean, it's in the right place, it's in the right hands. Sam was an obvious choice because what we look for in our universe and our pictures is compassion, people have to come in here feeling that this is something they've always wanted to do. Sam can tell you the stories about his pajamas, and climbing behind his bed, and he still climbs the walls every so often. Everybody in this movie is in it for the passion and for being part of the history.


There have been a lot of superhero movies over the years. Some have succeeded and some have failed. I was wondering if Sam and Tobey and Willem could tell us if you've looked at any other superhero films and whether you'll try to capture certain successes of X-Men or Superman, or try to avoid the shortcomings of The Punisher or Captain America.

Raimi: That was my plan. I thought to myself early in pre-production, I'm going to watch every superhero picture ever made and try to understand why they work and why they don't work. But suddenly, I was overwhelmed with this outrageously gigantic job of making Spider-Man, and the pre-production of all these departments and their responsibilities. As far as I got was the first half of Superman I. I never got around to seeing the rest, although I did see X-Men. So I can't say that I've had time to learn from any of those movies. I do remember that I loved the first half of Superman 1. X-Men was a blast, but I never got around to them.

Maguire: It's not really a concern of mine at all; I'm just doing this movie.

Dafoe: It didn't occur to me to look at other movies that deal with superheroes. I've got my hands full.


Could you discuss Stan Lee's involvement?

Arad: Stan will be in the movie. We have a longstanding tradition that in our pictures we have Stan do a walk on for posterity and obviously to show the respect for the man who created that. Stan is not involved in making pictures, he's involved in other endeavors of writing, and this will be a tribute.


Will Mary Jane have red hair?

Dunst: I'm going to be a redhead, don't worry. I don't want to upset any Spider-Man fans.


Kirsten, one of the well-known lines from the Spider-Man comic is when Peter Parker and Mary Jane meet for the first time, she says to him, "Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot." I'm sure comic book fans out there would want to know, are you going to be saying that line?

Dunst: I guess it's in there now (crowd laughs). No, that's not the first line I say to him, but I do have a 'tiger' in there.


Is this going to be stylistically like Darkman, which many consider to be as much like a Marvel comic as any film has ever been?

Raimi: It's going to have it's own style. The guys and girls who read Spider-Man comic books are so into the outrageous movement that Spider-Man generates as he swings to these tremendous arcs, ninety miles per hour through the city of New York. It demands a much more visceral camera style then we presented with Darkman. He was more of a sedentary fellow as Liam Neeson, he wore masks. He didn't demand the same type of exciting movements that Spider-Man demands. I think it will be a lot more interesting camera movement, a lot more visceral in it's feeling, but not so much that the audience says, oh, that's a cool shot. I don't want to pull them out of the movie. I've got some great actors here. I'm going to try to make it exciting without making myself known.


In your earlier films, you established these great visual styles, but in your last three movies you've concentrated on more dramatic, performance-oriented stories. What have you learned, from those films, and how do you plan on combining the two?

Raimi: I'm learning that I don't know anything about actors. In every picture that I make I learn a lot from the actors. I got into motion pictures because I liked what cameras were and how they captured reality and how they replayed it. The fact that you could shuffle that reality in editing was outrageous to me. I got into it to study what were the effects of camera movement, lighting and sound. Those horror movies that I made, called Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and others, they were about the exploration of what film was. Presenting the world of the supernatural was a great medium for that because you had to present something that doesn't exist in our world. It was a great grounds for experimentation. But at some point in my life I began to think, I should make the type of movies I like to see, because the films that I saw were not horror films, yet I was making horror films, and I thought that was dishonest in some way. So I started to look for better material, and that attracted a finer caliber actor. I'm still learning to work with actors and what they bring to the film. The more I do that, the more astonished I am about the wonders that they create. Great stories are about human beings and their interaction. There's nothing wrong with a great visual. This picture is a great chance to combine both and make it visually interesting and exciting but still work with great actors and a really fine script. It's a film director's dream to work on a movie like Spider-Man.


James, can you tell us about your character, and is it difficult for someone who is mainly experienced in TV to go into such a high-profile movie?

Franco: I play Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn. I guess what we're developing is the dynamic that I'm searching for love from him that he will not give, and I can't satisfy his demands. It's pertinent in this day and age with so many problems between parents and children. In our film, all our parents are either absent or abusive. I'm very excited to be working on a film of this caliber with such talented people.


How ready is the script? We've heard about all the rewrites?

Raimi: The script is not in trouble. It's one of the best scripts I've had an opportunity to work on, actually. Like many pictures in Hollywood it's had a lot of writers. I say this because well, it's true. Spider-Man has a long history of many writers. Although it was created by Stan Lee, and he steered that ship for many years, different writers have come aboard. Sometimes on a monthly basis even, to write the various episodes. Spider-Man has really gone beyond being one person's creation to being owned by the world now. It's such a powerful character, and it means so much to everyone. It's okay to me that a number of different writers have worked on it, I think it's fitting to this particular project, seeing as how the comic book has had different writers for thirty years. It started with a James Cameron treatment that was really a fine piece of work, then David Koepp came along and did the lion's share of the work, turning it into a screenplay and working on it for many years. Scott Rosenberg did some work for us, and so did Alvin Sargent. Everybody's contributed a great deal. I'd say David Koepp is the main writer, and nobody is really ever off the picture, we need all those talents. It's not unlikely that I'll be calling some of those writers again for help on a problem scene, or some advice on particular pieces of business I need help on.


With the success of recent films like The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, where everyone is doing kung-fu, will Spider-Man be doing any kung-fu?

Maguire: No, I don't think Spider-Man is a martial artist. He has his own style of fighting. First of all, he's so strong that if he hit regular people like that, he could seriously injure them, and he's too responsible a man to do that. I personally can do any style of fighting that they ask and I did a demonstration for Sam begging him to please let me show off my skills. But no, we have to stick to the comic book. (Big Laughter)


I was wondering how much everyone knew about their characters in the comic books, and whether you read comic books?

Raimi: I'm a giant comic books fan, and I did my majority of reading them in the seventies and eighties, early eighties. Only occasionally do I pick them up now, I've been reading Spider-Man and some Batmans. My workload is so intense, I don't have the time to chew gum, sit on the bed and flip through comic books like I used to.

Maguire: I wasn't extremely familiar with the Spider-Man comics. I'm familiar with the character and I went back and read the first three and a half years of Spider-Man.

Bryce: I have a five-year old son. I know of them very well.


Kirsten, are you worried about getting typecast when you do genre films?

Dunst: I think that I've done enough independent films like The Virgin Suicides that I've broken up my work between that and genre films. Every character that I portray, hopefully, has been very different. I also have another movie coming up called At Seventeen, which is completely different then anything anyone has ever seen. My goal is to stay a moving target so that nobody can put a finger on me. The last thing I want is for people to see me as only one thing.


The movie is going to take place in New York. How important is that location for the movie?

Bryce: The balance of our work will be here, and we will be shooting some scenes in Los Angeles on the streets. We have a great design team, and we are able to create that illusion with no loss of creativity.


I was wondering if the script anticipates any sequels, or leaves room for any sequels?

Arad: Well, one of the nice things about our ongoing soap opera that is Spider-Man us that we will always have sequels. I guess you'll have to see the movie and figure out what's coming next.


Could you talk about the special effects?

Dykstra: I think the basis for this movie is having it's feet in reality, so that we are extending from a real world into a world that is hyper-real, and how it effects the people involved. I believe our challenge, and it's a significant one, is to make a seamless transition between things that that we can do and make the effects not become obvious and not become distracting. So that's the challenge. We have to take these people and this environment and the spirit of this film, to places that we can't go for real. I'll leave it to you to figure out what these things are, but hopefully the pieces that we create will be such contributors to the film that you won't notice. So yes, we will break the limits, but you won't be able to tell when we do.


Did you study the fighting patterns of real spiders in preparation for this movie?

Raimi: Like any good director, of course I studied all the different species of spider. I don't want to embarrass you with my knowledge here, in front of the press (BIG Laughter). But I don't want to give anything away.