{"id":31126,"date":"2013-11-08T06:57:51","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T11:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=31126"},"modified":"2013-11-08T00:47:19","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T05:47:19","slug":"history-of-the-comic-book-film-up-up-and-away-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/08\/history-of-the-comic-book-film-up-up-and-away-web\/","title":{"rendered":"HISTORY OF THE COMIC BOOK FILM: Up, Up And Away, Web!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a multi-part series, Comic Book Film Editor William Gatevackes will be tracing the history of comic book movies from the earliest days of the film serials to today\u2019s big blockbusters and beyond. Along with the history lesson, Bill will be covering some of the most prominent comic book films over the years and why they were so special. Today, we look at one of the best superhero franchises, the first Spider-Man trilogy.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"MV5BMzk3MTE5MDU5NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjY3NTY3._V1._SX424_SY627_\"<\/a>The years of stops and starts were behind it, and all the legal wrangling was a thing of the past. It was now finally time for Sony to bring Spider-Man to the big screen. The only question was who would be the director at the helm.<\/p>\n

Sony was not messing around. When it began its search in 1999, its list of directors included Roland Emmerich ( three years removed from Independence Day <\/b>and following up the critically lambasted yet still successful Godzilla<\/b>), Tim Burton (the man who brought Batman <\/b>to the big screen and was coming off Mars Attacks <\/b>and a failed attempt to bring a Nic Cage Superman to the big screen), Chris Columbus (much in demand director of Home Alone <\/b>and Mrs. Doubtfire <\/b>who was coming off a hit with Stepmom<\/b>), and David Fincher (who was still riding high from Se7en<\/b> and was in the process of making Fight Club <\/b>\u00a0at the time).<\/p>\n

Each director would do well in capturing a quality of the character. Emmerich would do well with the bombast and spectacle of the character, Burton the quirky weirdness, Columbus the heart and sensitivity and Fincher the dark and morbid underpinnings (his proposal for the film? Start with the death of Gwen Stacy).\u00a0 But the director they chose was able to capture all these characteristics of Spider-Man and more. That director would be Sam Raimi.<\/p>\n

\"Spiderman<\/a>Raimi was at the time best known for the Evil Dead <\/b>series of films, but was starting to move away from genre films with films such as A Simple Plan<\/b>, For the Love of the Game<\/b>, and the then in-production, The Gift<\/b>. But Raimi was also a comic book collector with a focus on the Silver Age. So, Sony hired the perfect man for the job, someone who understood the character yet was a great director with a unique style and vision.<\/p>\n

Once Raimi signed on, work began on updating the James Cameron scriptment to the big screen.\u00a0 \u00a0David Koepp replaced Cameron\u2019s Electro and Sandman analogs with the more pertinent Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Raimi\u2019s wish to play up the father\/son triangle between Norman and Harry and Norman and Peter caused Doc Ock to become expendable. The character was removed in Scott Rosenberg\u2019s rewrite.\u00a0 Eventually, practically the only thing remaining in the final film from Cameron\u2019s scriptment was the organic web-shooters.<\/p>\n

\"tobey-maguire-1\"<\/a>Raimi then set about casting the film. Even though the studio wanted a big name like Leonardo DiCaprio or Freddie Prinze Jr. (yes, for a brief period after I Know What You Did Last Summer <\/b>and She\u2019s All That<\/b>, Prinze was a big name), Raimi insisted on Tobey Maguire for the role of Peter Parker. Casting Norman Osborn\/Green Goblin was slightly more difficult, as first choices Nicolas Cage (thankfully) and John Malkovich (regrettably) passed on the role. Luckily, a copy of the script fell into Willem Dafoe\u2019s hands and he began to lobby for the part. Eventually, he won Raimi over and was cast as the villain.<\/p>\n

This was a boon for the franchise. Maguire was well enough known as an actor that he was recognizable, but was not so famous that he would overshadow the character. He also was a great character actor, playing Peter\u2019s angst-filled and somewhat sad sack persona without ever becoming annoying. And Dafoe was a great fit for Osborn, creating the right note as a good man going insane. In other hands, the transformation would not be believable. In Dafoe\u2019s it was.<\/p>\n

\"the_original_spider_man_poster_that_was_pulled_after_911\"<\/a>Of course, the casting was solid top to bottom, with everyone doing well in their roles. Kristen Dunst\u2019s Mary Jane might not have been the sexpot she was in the comics, but she was the girl next door the script called for. James Franco did well as Harry in what he was given. But the greatest acting job of the entire cast was J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. Simmons totally captured the bluster and the bombast of the character to a \u201cT\u201d. Also, watch closely as you will see future stars Joe Manganiello (True Blood<\/b>) and Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games<\/b>) as Flash Thompson and Betty Brant.<\/p>\n

But even this time around, the path to the big screen wasn\u2019t without bumps, this time provided by real world events. While teasing the film in the summer of 2001, Sony wanted to show that the film was set in New York and used an iconic New York City landmark in its publicity\u2014the World Trade Center.\u00a0 The Twin Towers feature prominently in the first posters for the film (look at Spidey\u2019s eyes in the poster to the right for their reflection) and in the first teaser trailer.
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