OFFICIAL: Alfred Molina IS Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2!! Wednesday, February 19, 2003 7:09 CST!!

Sony Pictures has just provided Superhero Hype! with the official press release announcing that Alfred Molina will play Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. Let us know what you think about the casting on the SHH! Boards. Here we go!

COLUMBIA PICTURES CATCHES ALFRED MOLINA AS VILLAINOUS "DOC OCK"

CULVER CITY, CA, February 19, 2003 - Alfred Molina (Frida, Identity) will join Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco in Columbia Pictures' highly anticipated sequel to Spider-Man, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, Chairman of Columbia Pictures.

Molina will portray Spider-Man's new archenemy "Doc Ock" in the second installment to Columbia Pictures' 2002 worldwide phenomenon Spider-Man, which grossed more than $820 million worldwide and became the fifth highest grossing movie in U.S. history. Spider-Man is based on the classic Marvel Comic book series.

The sequel will reunite the cast and filmmakers from the original blockbuster, including Maguire, Dunst, and Franco along with director Sam Raimi, and producers Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad. Columbia Pictures co-president of production Matt Tolmach is overseeing development of the project for the studio.

Raimi will begin principal photography in April and the new film will be released in 2004.

"Alfred Molina has a remarkable facility for everything from classic drama to mainstream comedy and he is the ideal choice for 'Doc Ock,'" said Pascal. "We wanted an actor that would bring irresistible depth and dimension to this role and we are all tremendously excited to be working with Alfred."

Molina recently earned a SAG nomination for his portrayal of Mexican artist Diego Rivera in Julie Taymor's film Frida. Featured in Columbia Pictures' upcoming psychological thriller Identity, Molina has appeared in more than 50 film and television productions, as well as enjoying an extensive theatrical career. Born in London, he studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His stage work includes two major Royal National Theatre productions "Speed The Plow" and "Night of the Iguana." He made his Broadway debut in 1998 in the Tony Award-winning play "Art" opposite Victor Garber and Alan Alda. In addition to a Best Actor Tony nomination, Molina received a Drama Desk Award for his performance. Other theatrical performances of note include a starring role in the off-Broadway production of "Molly Sweeney," for which Molina garnered a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Debut Performance.

Molina made his movie debut with Raiders of The Lost Ark and had a notable role as a Soviet sailor in Letter To Brezhnev. His breakthrough movie role came in 1987 when he played the role of Kenneth Halliwell, the tragic lover of Joe Orton in Stephen Frears' Prick Up Your Ears. In 1998, Molina won accolades for his powerful performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's film Boogie Nights, which won the SAG Award for outstanding performance by a cast in a theatrical motion picture. He also appeared in Anderson's Magnolia. Other film credits include The Imposters, Anna Karenina, Species, The Perez Family, Maverick, Enchanted April, Not Without My Daughter, Dudley Do-Right, Texas Rangers and Chocolat. He will next be seen in the film drama Luther.

Molina is managed by Joan Hyler and represented by the William Morris Agency.

About Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures, part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a division of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com. ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

Word on Doc Ock's Design for Spider-Man 2? Saturday, February 22, 2003 1:21 CST!!

Scooper 'Nayman' sent us this rumor about Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2...

Recently, at my high school, we had a group of film professionals come and talk to us about their hollywood careers. One F/X artist, who shall remain nameless, commented on the villain he was currently working on for spider-man 2.

He had previously worked on the animation in the first spider-man, and was asked to come back and work on none other than Doctor Octopus.

He said that animation tests looked awesome, and that the fx of the tenticles were a mix of Full mechanical, computer tenticles on a real human, and a full Cg Doc Ock.

Sounds tantilizing

Superherohype.com ________________________________________________________________________________

Spider-Man II Title Update & Casting Info Sunday, February 23, 2003 12:25 CST

As you may know, the Spider-Man sequel is currently untitled but the folks at Filmjerk have an update on what the film is now being referred to and what may happen to the title...

According to official casting documents being shared with New York casting agents (which FilmJerk.com was able to obtain), the current name of the production is "Spider-Man II." The Roman numeral-focused title currently displaces the "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Spider-Man 2" titles that were previously rumored...

In speaking with several entertainment-focused branding experts tonight, they feel the title needs to be slightly tweaked with a possible sub-title, possibly tying into the villain this go-around, Dr. Octopus.

They've also got casting news on four new supporting roles needed for the film. Hit the link above for those characters' descriptions. ________________________________________________________________________________

Kroeger Asked to Write Spider-Man II Theme Sunday, February 23, 2003 12:17 CST

Chad Kroeger, who's Spider-Man song "Hero" is nominated three times for tonight's Grammy Awards on CBS (8PM ET/PT), told KITV that he's been asked to return for the sequel...

Although the film doesn't hit theaters until May 2004, the singer-songwriter-musician has already started to bat around ideas. He admits that he'd glad to have some time to pound it out.

"The first one was easy to write, it's this second one's that's going to be tough," Kroeger said. " So now what am I doing? I'm sitting in bed last night and I'm like trying to think of like a direction or the course or what I'm going to call the song. I can't use the word 'hero,' and I can't use anything to do with 'save us' or 'save' anybody. That's the worst. I literally hit all the good topics with 'Hero,' and I'm now I'm screwed."

He knows he'll get it eventually, so now he's just going to have fun with the idea of being unoriginal.

"What am I going to do? I'm sitting there just like okay maybe I should just call it "Hero II," Kroeger added with a laugh.

Hit the link above for much more of Kroeger talking about the first film's song! Composer Danny Elfman also received a nomination for Best Score at the Grammys, so be sure to watch tonight! ________________________________________________________________________________

Spider-Man 2 NY Dates, Locations & Doc Ock's Lab Monday, February 24, 2003 5:23 CST!!!!

Scooper 'Knightmare6', who first alerted us that Spider-Man 2 was to start shooting in New York in April, has now sent us the exact dates and locations and word on what will serve as Doc Ock's lab...

Hey guys it's Knightmare6 again with some more info for 'Spider-Man 2'. First off I can guarantee the current title for the sequel is 'Spider-Man 2'.

Starting April 12th to 13th, 'Spider-Man 2' will be filming in New York City at Columbia University. The 14th and 15th of April, there will be filming in Forest Hills, Queens. The 17th of April will be shooting in Chinatown off Pell and Doyer Streets. The 21st to 23rd, the film will be shooting at the Hayden Planetarium which will serve as Octavius' labs. On the 26th filming will be taking place at Carmine and Bleeker Streets.

The dates of the 16th, 19th-20th, 24th, and 27th to 30th of April are still unknown, but probably used for rain dates and reshoots while the film is in New York City.

Thanks for the great scoop. Be on the lookout for filming if you live in these New York areas! Below are some pictures of the Hayden Planetarium and you can learn more about it by going here and here ________________________________________________________________________________

No Lizard or Dr. Connors Mention in Spider-Man 2 Tuesday, February 25, 2003 10:31 CST

Marvel Studios' Avi Arad said last week that there would only be one villain in Spider-Man 2, then a few days later came the announcement that villain would be none other than Doc Ock (played by Alfred Molina).

Now, Coming Attractions has confirmed that there won't even be a mention of The Lizard nor Dr. Connors in the second film. Perhaps we'll get to see him in a future sequel? ________________________________________________________________________________

Marvel Sues Over Sony Spider-Man Deal Tuesday, February 25, 2003 9:13 CST

Marvel Enterprises Inc. on Tuesday said the unit that licenses its legendary cast of characters has filed suit over a Spider-Man licensing deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Marvel released the following statement:

"Earlier today Marvel Characters, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marvel Enterprises, filed a suit in Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles concerning a licensing agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and SPE Spider-Man GP Inc. The suit was filed under seal pursuant to California Rule Of Court 243.2 and confidentiality provisions in the companies' agreement.

"The complaint is not an attempt to stop production of the Spider-Man sequel slated for May 2004 nor is it an attempt to change or upset any of the merchandising/licensing deals that are in place for the sequel. Additionally, while the litigation is not expected to have any material negative impact on Marvel's financial results or on its guidance for 2003 and beyond, a successful resolution of the matter would be anticipated to have a positive financial effect upon Marvel's future operations. Given confidentiality requirements related to the agreement, Marvel is unable to comment further on the matter." ________________________________________________________________________________

More News on the Spider-Man 2 Stunt Team Thursday, March 6, 2003 4:20 CST

We learned earlier this week that Dan Bradley is the new stunt coordinator for Spider-Man 2 and that Spidey double Chris Daniels was returning for the same task on the sequel.

Sources now also tell Superhero Hype! that Zach Hudson, one of the main doubles from the first film, will also be returning.

We're hearing that the sequel will be even better than the first, so stay tuned for lots more! You can learn more about the stunt crew by clicking on the links above.

Meanwhile, 'Mike Steadman' says the Spider-Man movie was nominated for a stunt...

Interesting news from the world of stunts. Spider-Man is nominated for a World Stunt Award for best fight sequence. The end fight between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. As a side note: Scott Leva who was the number one choice to play Spider-Man for Cannon films is also nominated in two categories for an amazing (No pun intended) high fall he performed on the Antonio Banderas / Lucy Liu action pict, "Ballistic: Ecks VS Sever." It would make Spidey himself proud. ________________________________________________________________________________

AICN talks to Spider-man visual effects supervisor, John Dykstra!

As a kid, I used to while away the hours leafing through any number of movie books that battled for space on my bedroom’s bookshelf with baseball almanacs, comic books and Mack Bolan novels. The majority of these volumes were dedicated primarily to genre films – horror, sci-fi and fantasy – and their cultural impact, but one in particular sought to give a layman’s nuts-and-bolts understanding into how these films, so often reliant on spectacular visual effects, are made. It was INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC: THE ART OF SPECIAL EFFECTS, by Thomas G. Smith, a title that is no doubt very familiar to many of you who read the site. It’s an oversized, glossily illustrated tome that served as my primer for the Special Effects industry which, at that point, was really occupied solely by the book’s titular subject.

Of all the brilliant, groundbreaking artists profiled in the Smith’s book – Richard Edlund, Joe Johnston, Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett to name a few – the name that always stood out for me was John Dykstra. Charged by George Lucas with hiring the talent and developing the technology that would allow ILM to, over the next twenty years, blaze a blindingly bright trail through film history, Dykstra, according to the book’s brief bio, seemed the Zen-like center of the STAR WARS production unit. Equal parts innovator, facilitator and ameliorator, Dykstra was responsible for nothing less than capturing images the likes of which filmgoers had never seen. And if that meant designing and constructing new equipment (i.e. the Dykstraflex camera, a pioneering piece of hardware in the field of motion control for which he won a special Scientific and Engineering Oscar the same year his f/x team won their Oscar for the utilization of it on STAR WARS) to meet these goals, so be it.

But when the upstart f/x outfit, at the behest of Lucas, relocated to Northern California, Dykstra stayed behind to start his own company, Apogee, which went on to provide memorable images for the cult sci-fi television melodrama, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, and such films as STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, FIREFOX and Tobe Hooper’s Cannon Films combo, LIFEFORCE and INVADERS FROM MARS. Post-Apogee, Dykstra served as the visual effects supervisor on the Schumacher BATMAN entries - easy now, guys, he didn't write them - before beginning his long term collaboration with Sony Pictures Imageworks, where he garnered an Academy Award nomination right out of the gate with his celebrated work on the first STUART LITTLE. Most intriguing about this nomination, aside from it being John’s first in twenty years, was how John suddenly found himself pitted against the ILM crew – including old colleague Dennis Muren, who he brought aboard the company way back in 1975 – and their work on STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE; however, any awkwardness was effectively dashed when THE MATRIX ran away with every technical Oscar available. But considering Imageworks rising profile in the visual effects community, it was clearly only a matter of time before John once again went head-to-head against his old company.

This brings us to the reason I’m hanging out in Culver City, CA, looking to steal thirty minutes out of John Dykstra’s busy schedule for AICN. That day has arrived; along with Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier, Dykstra has received a Best Visual Effects nomination for SPIDER-MAN, vying for the coveted award against THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS and STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, both of which boast f/x artists who, at one time, worked for John. But while this is terribly pertinent in my mind, it appears to me that John has plenty of other projects to keep him occupied, most notably a little film called THE AMAZING SPIDER MAN. In fact, a production meeting for this hotly anticipated sequel is breaking up as I follow John’s athletic 6’4” frame into his office. As we sit down to begin our conversation, John ponders the notion of competing agains his legacy very diplomatically.

Slouching back into a black leather couch, John confesses, “The part of this business that I enjoy is the invention. So, the idea that we are in a league, a comparable league to an organization that is known worldwide for its inventiveness and for its cutting edge technology is exactly where we want to be. We want to be right there… step-for-step, stride-for-stride with the people who are doing the kinds of images that get this kind of recognition. It’s terrific to be there.”

It is, in other words, a friendly rivalry, since, as John puts it, “It’s too small a community to have hostility. It’s very much a friendly rivalry. The thing about films is that they are so collaborative. Each movie is a composite. It’s never, with the exception of our film, it’s rare for a movie to end up being solely one person’s effort.” As for what sets his film apart from the work of his former colleagues, John adds, “The thing that’s interesting and exciting to me is the difference in the personalities of the films – the different thrusts of the films. And they are significantly different. I think that the SPIDER-MAN movie is much more a story about this character and much less a story about a world, and I think that’s the difference between (our) movie and STAR WARS *and* THE LORD OF THE RINGS.”

From there, we backtracked a little to the formation of ILM. I was curious to know if, as he brought together this remarkably talented group of technicians, whether or not he had any inkling that their efforts were about to change the way films are made. John humbly allows that, “I’d like to think that I was prescient, but I wasn’t. I was actually a very enthusiastic technician, artist, filmmaker – whatever you want to call it – and I saw this as an opportunity to apply a unique talent that I had in a way that allowed me to participate in mainstream filmmaking. So, really, it was less about having some foreknowledge of the brilliance of this story, and was more about exploring every possible avenue of filmmaking in any possible way you can. You know what I mean? It’s one of those deals where you set out to become an architect, and you end up, in order to get into architecture, you end up… making hot tubs, but in the process of making hot tubs, you come up with some device which allows you to turn water into hydrogen. So, it’s that kind of…. free association employment. And I think that the people that came to work on the first STAR WARS were an extension of that same personal approach on my part. I worked for Doug Trumbull, and I liked the idea of the collaboration being based on friendship, as well as an understanding of mutual talent. And I think that what that combined was the business of communication. And by doing so I think that the… STAR WARS product reflected the camaraderie that the people who were making the film shared. And I think that that is very much the same case with SPIDER-MAN.”

I quickly discovered that, while I would never in this lifetime tire of talking STAR WARS with one of the film’s integral visionaries, John, ever the forward-thinking innovator, was far more interested in SPIDER-MAN, so I seized upon this opportunity to discuss the ways in which motion control technology has evolved since its inception in the 1970’s. Buckle your seat belts.

“That’s a strange question because it turns out that motion control is pretty much what it always was. It’s a more sophisticated version. It’s faster and more capable, but the basic components of it are the same as they always were, which is the ability to control a camera’s position in space relative to a frame. Because you vary the time which varies the frame rate, so by varying the frame rate you can vary the speed of the system, but the camera is always in the same place in each frame. That’s the idea. And that part’s the same as it ever was, I think. The thing that’s different, and the thing I think that is truly the change that’s occurred, is, because we can do pre-visualization in the computer, we can compose and choreograph the scene using a surrogate of the environment, and because that information interprets now into motion control, which is fast enough to work real time – which is a big change – and it is flexible enough and precise enough to be simulated in the computer – so, what you see on the computer screen is something that you actually get to achieve in the real space – and because we can bring and sets and environments into the computer, we get to think through shots a lot more than we used to. So, many times, in the past using motion control, you’d show up on the day and you’d conceive the shot while you’re there. Now, because we have the sets and the ability to do pre-visualization, the more complex shots, specifically, we get to conceive and analyze, and try different variations. You know, if you tried six different camera moves, a complex set of camera moves, on a live-action set, it’d take all day. Six different camera moves done in pre-visualization may take all day, but it’s only one guy. And the creatives, then, can come and look at it, and say, “Hey, that’s the one we want!” So, you show up on the day, you’re not fiddling around trying different things. You get to put more of the money on the screen, which I think is the real focus of our effort.

“And the inverse of that, the odd thing about that, and the other thing about motion control that’s changed is that motion control is now user friendly, meaning that, should you get on stage and say, ‘You know, this shot needs to be motion control,’ you actually can set up motion control and very quickly record a move in a fraction of the time that it would take to use that kind of system back in the days of STAR WARS. People used to groan when they saw motion control come on the stage.

“The thing I think that’s critical in SPIDER-MAN, in terms of using motion control, was that the camera became part of the personality of the character. Very specifically, in “spider sense”, where you were experiencing directly his sensory input, and how he was isolating things out of the environment and defining them. And I think that the other camera move that is an offshoot of motion control is the cameraman that we created for Spider-Man.”

I think this is where John hits upon the crucial visual invention that made SPIDER-MAN the most vastly appealing blockbuster of last year. By creating a “character” – the cameraman – that follows Spidey as he swings through Manhattan, John and his Imageworks team devised a surrogate through whom the audience could feel what it’s like to be the web-head. John refers to this cameraman as “the photographer that works for a competition skydiver”. Toward that end, you can see where they have, rather ingeniously, added some digital buffeting of the camera to enhance this sense of moving at a high velocity through the skyscraper-ed corridors of the city. But that technical verisimilitude is only half of the achievement; the other half was the attention to character. Even John grows a little animated as he explains, “I think the unique characteristic of our cameraman is that he actually improved over the course of the film. And that was a conscious decision. It wasn’t just because we started out at one end and got better because many of the shots that are at the end of the movie were done at the beginning. So, we had the capability of making the performance fluid and graceful, but we chose to give the camera operation sort of the same kind of characteristics of personality, or character arc, that Spider-Man went through himself; he started out awkward, but became facile. It was the same component of personality development as reflected in camera motion, and that’s something again where motion control and the ability to pre-visualize helped us significantly.”

John is also quite proud of how they met the challenge of defining Spider-Man’s character through pure movement. “I know a lot of people say, ‘Well, it’s easy. He doesn’t have a face!’” John laughs a little, and continues, “Well, guess what, the most critical component of an actor in a convention performance is their face. You take that away from them, then the actor *and* the director are stymied because, suddenly, everything has to be done with body language.” Nowhere is this more apparent than in the film’s final sequence – “The Last Swing” – where we watch a newly confident Peter Parker become the Spider-Man we know and love from the comics. It’s this extended shot – twenty nine seconds of screen time, which took six months to complete – that sent so many audiences out on a high note, ready for the sequel, or possibly a repeat viewing.

Pleased as he is with their achievement on SPIDER-MAN, and the subsequent vindication from the Academy, I ask John if he has ever considered returning to improve these images as his erstwhile collaborator, George Lucas, has so famously (or infamously, depending on your own personal assessment), done with the original STAR WARS trilogy.

“No. I don’t think so. It’s kind of an odd thing because I know George went back and adjusted the first STAR WARS, and when I saw the adjustment to the movie, I went, ‘Well, I understand why he did it. I’m not sure that it changed the movie at all.’ In fact, in an odd way, the thing that he did which was successful was that he kept the changes that he made to the movie in the spirit of the original movie. The quality of the opticals were not vastly improved over the quality of the opticals that existed in the first film. He didn’t go back and put… year 2000 imagery into a film from 1977, which wouldn’t have worked. And I give him credit for that.

“Now, you ask about going back to do things in SPIDER-MAN. I don’t think so. I think that the film stands in its own right. There’s an odd thing that’s said, that works of art are never completed, they’re abandoned. And I think that ‘abandon’ is truly what you do. You move on. You learn from that experience, and you go into the next opportunity with a new piece of vocabulary. Our vocabulary, our dictionary, now has pages full of information that we gained from the making of the first film. And the ingenuity that went into the making of that first film is no longer ingenuity; it’s a known commodity. So, now, we take our ingenuity and our experience and move into the next movie realizing that the last thing that we want to do is to simply make a better version of that movie. What we have to do is make a *different* movie. That’s the only way that SPIDER-MAN 2 will be a success compared to SPIDER-MAN 1.”

Finally, our conversation turned to the use of motion capture vis-à-vis full (absent the actor) CG character animation, both of which were employed on SPIDER-MAN. John explains, “We used a lot of motion capture for people who did conventional things, people walking and talking, which is really hard stuff to animate because of the subtle cues – we are so intimate with a human being, and when you watch a human being move you know their mental state. You can watch a guy across a room, sitting at a table, drinking a cup of coffee, and guess as to whether he’s unhappy or happy without hearing a word or even seeing their face. I think that the key to our survival is the ability to read other people’s language, be it directed at you, or not directed at you. This is what made this character so challenging to do. It was to create a surrogate for reality which we know intimately well, and, then, the second challenge was to, indistinguishable from the real character, take that character which we now recognize as a human, and make it do things that humans can’t do.

Summing up his philosophy, John states, “Motion capture for things that are conventional that real people can do; animation for things that extend beyond the realm of real things. And they both have their own strengths and weaknesses, and, fortunately for us, they can be used on the same movie.”

Creatively, John Dykstra appears to have found in Imageworks (and, specifically, Sam Raimi) the perfect collaborator through whom he can be, along with the rest of his Imageworks team, a true contributor to the finished film by, as John puts it, “expanding the normal areas of our contribution”. It’s the kind of freedom John has been pursuing throughout his career, which may have, at times, lent it a quixotic tincture. But there is little denying the confidence and contentment John now exudes. Given the ever-expanding tools at his disposal, and their rapidly growing sophistication, it’ll be a blast watching him push the envelope he personally sealed nearly thirty years ago. ________________________________________________________________________________

Doc Ock Test Taking Place Today Friday, March 7, 2003 5:36 CST

Scooper 'BF' alerted us there is/was a costume/screen test for Doc Ock today for Spider-Man 2. We're not sure if Alfred Molina was involved today or not. ________________________________________________________________________________

Lohan on Possible Spider-Man 2 Locations? Wednesday, March 12, 2003 9:20 CST

'Robert' send us this news regarding Lindsay Lohan possibly having a role in Spider-Man 2. First up, the IMDb has now changed her character's name from Kara to Melissa Carter. Here's her latest journal updates from her official website - is she talking about sequel locations?

March 11, 2003

Hey everyoneeeeeeeeeeee. wasup? I feel really bad that the last few entries i've written didn't make it to get put up. .. so i'm writin a new one now. lol-i've been really busy, and doin interview and photo shoots comin up. And now i'm kinda sick. But other than that, i'm jus gettin ready to go to Florida soon to record some more demos with other writers and to Disney World and to visit some friends in like i think Gainsville or somethin. idk lol. And then i'm off LA, then to Toronto to start filming a new movie i'm doin. I think we have some rehearsals in NY for a week and then the rest in Toronto. Then i am goin to LA to start promoting Freaky Friday, which again, is comin out in thearters in August!! So go see it!!!!! haha.

March 4, 2003

heyy peoples.. wasup? i feel sick right now .. i feel dizzy. i just had a phone interview for Movieline magazine, it's coming out in May i think. i don't know. i'm talking to my friend who's a vegitarian. i feel sad that he's a vegitarian cuz hamburgers are so freakin good man!! they rock. i don't think i could like not eat any meat. that's jus carazaayyyy to me for some reason. props to the people who don't eat it i guess. it's your deal, n that's cool. well i just wanted to touch base, i think imma be goin to do another movie in may. it shoots in Toronto and NYC. not sure if it's deff. yet though. i'll let youz know when i know . ... xoxo ll

Might Spider-Man 2 film in Toronto, Canada as well? Stay tuned... ________________________________________________________________________________

LaMolinara Talks Spider-Man 2 Special Effects! Saturday, March 15, 2003 10:29 CST

Animation Director Anthony LaMolinara, who is nominated for the Visual Effects Oscar along with his Spider-Man colleagues John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk and John Frazier, talked to the Montreal Gazette about what we can expect in the sequel!

LaMolinara is slaving away preparing the animation groundwork for Spider-Man 2, which starts filming later this spring. He said the sequel will up the computer-generated animation ante big time.

"We'll be topping whatever you've seen up until this point in computer-generated cinema. I'm very excited about what I see."

The hardest thing about doing the animation for the Spider-Man movies is giving the webbed hero superhuman qualities and still making it look believable, LaMolinara said.

"You have to accept that this character has shot the web and swung in between the buildings. To make the character incredible and believable was the biggest challenge for me.

"People know this character. They've grown up with this character. So you have got to satisfy their perception of what this character is and then try to lay something on top of it that's even more special, maybe something they haven't even thought of. Or give them action like they've never seen before."

This is LaMolinara's first Oscar nod, and he admits the nomination came as quite a thrill.

"I got so excited, I almost shot a web and swung to the stage. It's like a stamp of approval from your peers, and I think then people start to trust you more. It gives you more opportunities to do things, and eventually that adds up to you making the kinds of films you want to make." ________________________________________________________________________________

Tobey Maguire Not Returning for Spider-Man 2? Tuesday, March 18, 2003 12:30 CST

Word in Hollywood had it that Tobey Maguire may not be returning for Spider-Man 2, scheduled to start shooting April 12. The causes cited ranged from physical problems to a salary dispute. If Maguire dropped out, reports claimed that Jake Gyllenhaal could be in line to step into the role.

However, The Hollywood Reporter refutes those claims stating that both the studio and Maguire's rep debunked such accounts, with both saying that Maguire is still on board and is only suffering from a sore back from shooting "Seabiscuit". "After doing two physically demanding films in a row, Tobey has experienced mild discomfort in his back, which is in the final stages of healing," his rep said. "With an April 12 start date around the corner, everyone involved wants to be certain he is able to do the intense stunts."

Even despite his back trouble, Bush added, Maguire has been busy preparing for another go as Peter Parker, working out and showing up for special effects meetings. As for Gyllenhaal, a CAA spokesperson said the actor has never been offered the part. ________________________________________________________________________________

USA Today Reconfirms Tobey's Still in Spider-Man 2 Wednesday, March 19, 2003 7:48 CST

The USA Today reconfirms what The Hollywood Reporter reported about the fact that Tobey Maguire is NOT out of Spider-Man 2, despite what Variety said.

No, Tobey Maguire is not out of the Spider-Man sequel because of an injury sustained while playing a jockey in this summer's horse-racing yarn, Seabiscuit.

Tobey Maguire is suffering from a sore back, not cold foot. Contrary to rumor, he'll be back in the Spider-Man sequel.

No, look-alike Jake Gyllenhaal (Moonlight Mile) is not the new Peter Parker, nor was he offered the part. And, no, Maguire is not in a dispute over his paycheck for The Amazing Spider-Man.

In fact, he renegotiated his price last month and is getting an estimated $17 million — $13 million more than for the first superhero adventure, which took in $400 million-plus at the box office last year.

In fact, Maguire, 27, is repeating his routine of yoga, weight training and bulking up to once more transform into the arachnid avenger after dropping 20 pounds for his jockey role. But the star should continue to watch his back, because the effects-filled production doesn't have much room for delays if it wants to meet its May 2004 release date... ________________________________________________________________________________

Interview With Spider-Man's John Dykstra Thursday, March 20, 2003 8:52 CST

Effects guru John Dykstra talks with U Magazine about his career and bringing Spider-Man to life:

On "Spider-Man," ' Dykstra's skills were put to the test. Director Sam Raimi wanted the computer-generated images to convey the essence of being Spider-Man.

"It goes further than just what it" s like to swing through the city,'' says Dykstra, who also worked on visual effects for 1977's "Star Wars," ' 1995's "Batman Forever" ' and 1999's "Stuart Little." ' "The idea was to give you the emotional content involved, not only being the character, but the transition that occurs between him being a young man going through puberty and being a superhero.

"When Peter Parker puts his costume on, we" ve lost his face. The most difficult thing was to create a performance without the obvious context of the eyes and the mouth. To give the character any kind of emotional content, it has to be explained with body language,'' Dykstra says.

"The hardest part was the subtle bits that made you realize that character was a human being. Our animators had to do that. We" d never taken it to that level of sophistication.''

Audiences noticed, particularly members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Dykstra, along with visual effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk, animation supervisor Anthony LaMolinara and special effects supervisor John Frazier have all received Oscar nominations for best visual effects.

The nomination is Dykstra's fourth, following 1999's "Stuart Little," ' 1979's "Star Trek The Motion Picture" ' and 1977's "Star Wars," ' which garnered him an Oscar.

Dykstra is now in New York City working on pre-production for the next "Spider-Man" ' film, which is scheduled for a May 2004 release.

What computer-imaging feats will Dykstra and the team tackle this time?

"One of the things about being in the visual effects business is you have to take on the challenge of things you don" t know yet how to do,'' Dykstra says. "You have to literally commit to doing things you don" t know how you're going to achieve in order to make the film current when it's released because it takes so long to make a film and things change so rapidly.

"We" ve set for ourselves several challenges,'' he says. "We" re going to do a real human being with real flesh and make it indistinguishable from the live actor on film. We're going to take the level of performance to the next level for Spider-Man.'' ________________________________________________________________________________

Spider-Man Wins Publicity Award Wednesday, March 19, 2003 11:15 CST

Variety says that Hollywood publicists tapped the publicity team for Sony's Spider-Man as the winner of their Maxwell Weinberg showmanship award for top publicity campaign.

Spider-Man, which grossed $805 million worldwide, topped MGM's "Die Another Day," Universal's "8 Mile," 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age" and Disney's "Signs."

ABC's "The Bachelor" won the Weinberg award for TV over Warner's Smallville and a trio of CBS entries -- "Becker," "CSI Miami" and the movie "Martin & Lewis."

The awards were presented Wednesday at the 40th annual publicists awards event at the Beverly Hilton with about 900 in attendance and Wayne Brady handling MC duties. ________________________________________________________________________________

Dunst Talks Spider-Man 2 on ET Tonight! Thursday, March 20, 2003 8:18 CST

Be sure to catch Entertainment Tonight for an interview with Kirsten Dunst about the recent Tobey Maguire Spider-Man 2 rumor...

First, the star of the upcoming drama 'Levity' gives her spin on co-star TOBEY MAGUIRE's return to the 'Spider-Man' sequel. Tobey, who has been filming the jockey picture, 'Seabiscuit,' is reportedly recovering from "slight" back problems that some say could jeopardize his starring role in 'The Amazing Spider-Man,' which is expected to start shooting in April. Find out what Kirsten has to say about his fate, and the rumor that her real-life boyfriend JAKE GYLLENHAAL might take over the superhero role, on tonight's ET!

Tune in tonight to watch the interview! ________________________________________________________________________________

Preview of Doc Ock Friday, March 21, 2003 12:32 CST

Sci Fi Wire reports on the new villain for The Amazing Spider-Man:

Steve Johnson, the prosthetic and animatronic effects artist for the upcoming sequel The Amazing Spider-Man, told SCI FI Wire that director Sam Raimi wanted a real costume for the new villain, Doctor Octopus. "Sam's a fan [of animatronics], and he feels like the fans would prefer to see the real thing," rather than a computer-generated image, Johnson said in an interview. "It's a lot harder when you have a puppet, and you've got 18 performers on the set. It takes a lot longer to shoot than if you do it digitally." ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

Kirsten Dunst Talks Spider-Man 2! Sunday, March 23, 2003 1:08 CST

Comingsoon.net has up a new interview with Kirsten Dunst in which she talks about her April 4 film, "Levity", and what we can expect of Mary Jane in Spider-Man 2...

Now, Dunst is preparing to go back to work on Spider-Man 2, and looking forward to her character's growth. "The growth of my character is really good. I'm really happy where they've brought Mary Jane and she's really a stronger woman now. She's learned a lot and I'm ready for her to move on and be the strong one and take the initiative with Peter and be like stronger."

Check out the link above for the full interview! Meanwhile, 'Krista' alerted us that the Entertainment Tonight interview (which apparently hasn't aired yet on the regular program) will be shown on ET on VH1 next weekend...

I was watching ET that night when you gave us the heads up and was disappointed to see nothing. Then, tonight I was watching ET ON VH1 and it said that next weekend (29-30) Kirsten Dunst will be interviewed. They didn't say what the interview would be about but I'm guessing that Spider-Man 2 and Tobey Maguire will pop up in the convo. Here's the different times the show is on:

VH1 Saturday at 1:00/12:00 PM Saturday at 11:00/10:00 PM Sunday at 1:30/12:30 PM Sunday at 10:00/9:00 PM

These times could possibly change, so local listings should be checked. I really hope this helps you guys out! Thanks for keeping all the comic-book-to-screen fans posted!! ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Spider-Man release date moved to July 2! 3/27/03