Director Sam Raimi — the genre-jumping dynamo who's done everything from bloody horror (The Evil Dead) to wild Westerns (The Quick and the Dead) — brings Spider-Man 2 back for a second spin as it hits DVD this week. And as Raimi tells TV Guide Online, he's still happy to be caught in Spidey's web.
TV Guide Online: Was it fun to come back and direct a second Spider-Man?
Sam Raimi: Yeah, because
Tobey [Maguire],
Kirsten [Dunst],
James [Franco] and myself had just gotten to know each other as we were finishing the first one. So this movie was even more enjoyable than the first; it was working with old friends.
TVGO: Why do audiences love Spidey?
Raimi: Well, Peter Parker is very appealing because he is really one of us. In our own lives, we wrestle with doing the right thing... OK, obviously in a less dramatic way than Spider-Man. (Laughs)
TVGO: Did you dig the Marvel
read more
Theater vet Alfred Molina — who plays Spider-Man 2's Doctor Octopus — was tickled by everything to do with the big-budget popcorn film. "I have seen the Doc Oc action figure and I'm glad to say they've been very flattering," he says. "I didn't model for it, but I think Brad Pitt did! Because I've never had pecs like that — I have middle-aged-man breasts. My wife said, 'Honey, why can't you look more like that?'"
It gives nothing away to say Doc Oc's defeated in the end. Of course, Spidey has to win. But will Molina be back for future sequels? "There's no way of knowing," the 51-year-old chuckles. "I think that really depends on the audiences. In the Marvel comic-book universe, you never die, you just disappear for a while. If they love Doc Oc, he may well come back. If they say, 'Who's the weird guy with the tentacles? We could've done without him!' — he probably won't."
So far, Molina's ea
read more
Theater vet Alfred Molina — who plays Spider-Man 2's Doctor Octopus — was tickled by everything to do with the big-budget popcorn film. "I have seen the Doc Oc action figure and I'm glad to say they've been very flattering," he says. "I didn't model for it, but I think Brad Pitt did! Because I've never had pecs like that — I have middle-aged-man breasts. My wife said, 'Honey, why can't you look more like that?'"
It gives nothing away to say Doc Oc's defeated in the end. Of course, Spidey has to win. But will Molina be back for future sequels? "There's no way of knowing," the 51-year-old chuckles. "I think that really depends on the audiences. In the Marvel comic-book universe, you never die, you just disappear for a while. If they love Doc Oc, he may well come back. If they say, 'Who's the weird guy with the tentacles? We could've done without him!' — he probably won't."
So far, Molina's ea
read more
Last year, Tobey Maguire's back problems nearly forced Spider-Man 2 producers to find a new web-slinger. Rumor had it Tobey was using his achy back as a gambit to get a list of demands met, prompting Columbia Pictures to recast the Spidey role with Jake Gyllenhaal. Shortly afterward, Tobey's agents retrieved his gig for him. But how did the 29-year-old feel about the studio almost handing the Spidey franchise to another actor?
"That's fine, that's their business. I understand and I take no offense to any of that," Maguire says. "You're talking about a [large financial] investment in the movie. And we were [in discussion] six weeks prior to the start date."
Maguire clearly does resent the unflattering rumors surrounding his back problems. "My back coming out of Seabiscuit wasn't great," he admits, "[but] the reports of [an injury] happening on Seabiscuit were absolutely false. It's a condition I've had for several years, si
read more
