Hasitha Fernando on the story behind Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 as it turns 20…
Spider-Man 2 is that rare gem of a sequel that took what worked in the original, dialled it up to eleven whilst delivering good storytelling and great characterization with some top notch visuals. As it celebrates its 20th anniversary, we look back at some interesting behind-the-scenes details that took place during the making of this amazing superhero sequel. This is that story.
Tobey Maguire nearly lost the gig due to a back problem
Tobey Maguire didn’t become a star overnight. In the early 90s the young actor had a steady flow of work having appeared in numerous commercials, small screen productions and supporting roles in movies. Maguire even found himself auditioning for roles opposite Leonardo DiCaprio on more than one occasion, which resulted in the pair quickly becoming close friends. However, his regular gigs paved the way to a hard-partying lifestyle with his fellow actors and soon Maguire developed a drinking problem. After battling alcoholism and putting his unhealthy past behind him, he finally got his breakout role with Ang Lee’s 1997 film The Ice Storm. This led to a variety of lead roles in critically acclaimed films like Pleasantville, The Cider House Rules and Wonder Boys for which he received high-praise but it was with Sam Raimi’s immensely popular superhero flick Spider-Man, that the actor achieved super stardom.
Back when Maguire signed on to play our friendly neighborhood web head, he was given a three-film contract but things took a sudden turn for the worse when a pre-existing back condition flared up after filming on Seabiscuit concluded in late 2002. When Raimi heard that any further injury to his back would end up paralyzing Maguire, the director decided to have a backup plan, just in case. And that backup plan was none other than Jake Gyllenhaal himself. However, Maguire’s then girlfriend’s father Ronald Meyer – head of Universal Studios – intervened and helped the performer regain his role along with a salary of $17 million.
The script had multiple screenwriters involved at different stages
Most popular movies in Hollywood have encountered their faire share of problems during production and Spider-Man 2 was no different. Immediately after wrapping production on Spider-Man, director Sam Raimi signed on to helm the sequel. At that time The CW’s Superman prequel television show Smallville was proving to be quite a hit with younger audiences so Sony hired its creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar to pen the script for the Spidey sequel. The following month, the screenwriter of the first Spider-Man movie David Koepp was also added into the mix. Koepp wanted to adapt the critically lauded comic book story arc of “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” for the sequel but this idea was eventually dropped.
In September 2002 Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, was hired to revamp the script. His draft featured a younger Dr. Octavius who was responsible for the creation of the genetically altered spider from the first film. The character also had a major infatuation with Mary Jane in Chabon’s screenplay. However, producer Avi Arad wasn’t too thrilled with the ideas Chabon brought to the table and thus his screenplay too was rejected. Finally, Oscar winning screenwriter Alvin Sargent was brought on board to sift through all of the previous drafts with Raimi to pick out what would work and compile the new script. Raimi wanted to explore Peter’s personal conflict more in Spider-Man 2, so the story was mostly influence by the 1967 storyline Spider-Man No More!, specifically The Amazing Spider-Man #50 issue along with partial influences from Doc Ock’s debut back in 1963.
Alfred Molina’s casting as Doc Ock had a mixed response
Starting out his career in the stage, British actor Alfred Molina first rose to prominence in The West End production of Oklahoma! in 1980 for which he received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a play. He also received multiple Tony Award nominations for his theatrical contributions to Broadway productions as well. Molina gained prominence for his performance on Lasse Hallström’s Chocolat (2000) and drew unanimous praise for his portrayal of Diego Rivera alongside Salma Hayek in the bio pic Frida (2002), for which he nabbed BAFTA and SAG award nominations. And it was this critically lauded performance that caught the attention of director Sam Raimi who also felt that the actor’s imposing physicality was true to the comic book character as well.
Molina was eventually cast as the sequel’s antagonist in February 2003 and the reaction to his casting was… mixed. More familiar names like Ed Harris and Christopher Walken were considered for the role but Molina was mostly a lesser known actor for general audiences up until that moment. In preparation for Doc Ock, the performer underwent physical training in order to get the physique of a “1950s weightlifter”. Although unfamiliar with the Marvel Comics’ villain Molina was drawn to one element of the IP that he wanted to include in his performance – the character’s cruel and sardonic sense of humor.
Solving Doc Ock’s tentacle dilemma wasn’t an easy feat
Casting Alfred Molina was one thing, but trying to bring Doc Ock to life was a whole different ball game for Sam Raimi & co. The biggest challenge involving the iconic comic book villain was how to pull off four complex, mechanical tentacles attached to his body in a convincing manner. And this was accomplished through a combination of CGI wizardry, practical effects and some ingenious puppetry. In the early stages, the puppeteers had to practice with vacuum hoses before getting ready to operate the real tentacles which weighed approximately 60 pounds.
Molina actually gave names to his four mechanical companions – Larry, Harry, Flo, and Moe. Flo was the top right tentacle, operated by a female grip that was responsible for carrying out the more delicate tasks like removing the actor’s sunglasses or giving him sips of his drinks. To cut a long story short the close ups of Doctor Octopus were done using practical props and the wide shots where we see the villain being carried by the tentacles were CGI. This was achieved by connecting Molina to a 20-foot high rig and carrying him around the surroundings, with the CGI tentacles added in post-production.
The gripping hospital scene with Doc Ock started out as a test shoot
One of the most intense and unforgettable sequences in Spider-Man 2 which harkened back to Sam Raimi’s classic horror roots was the gripping hospital scene which kicks off around the 40 minute mark. The action set piece started out as a test shoot, but it came together better than everyone expected so Raimi decided to use it in the actual film. From the get-go the filmmaker was very clear that it was the mechanical arms that was attacking the doctors and not Octavius himself. So, the crew had to build four practical tentacles that were 13 feet long and had their capabilities be augmented by CGI.
In the end, the combined effects of puppetry and VFX was so seamless that the designers couldn’t tell apart the CGI elements from that of the practical effects. The original concept for it, however, was far more violent and gore filled but those aspects were trimmed down in order to make the scene PG-13 viable. If one were inclined to see what Raimi originally had in store for us, the novelization of the movie is where you could find the desired info. In it the details of Doc Ock’s attack are described in gory detail, including doctors and nurses being eviscerated by the tentacles. Yikes.
Danny Elfman had a bitter falling out with director Sam Raimi
Hailing from an unconventional musical background, Danny Elfman has gone on to become one of Hollywood’s most prolific composers of all time. His frequent collaborations with the likes of Tim Burton, Gus Van Sant, Barry Sonnenfeld and Sam Raimi has yielded memorable scores for the likes of Edward Scissorhands, Batman, Good Will Hunting, Men in Black and The Nightmare Before Christmas. 2002’s Spider-Man was an opportunity for Elfman to flex his creative muscle in the superhero genre again and the man stepped up to the challenge to deliver one his best efforts yet. So, naturally Raimi wanted the talented creative for the Spidey sequel as well. But… things didn’t go quite as planned when it came to Spider-Man 2.
After completing his scoring sessions for the movie Raimi requested substantial rewrites to certain portions of the film which Elfman was unable to deliver due to prior commitments. To remedy the situation the filmmaker turned to veteran composers John Debney and Christopher Young to deliver the goods. Naturally this ticked off Elfman and he existed the franchise for good, with Christopher Young being hired to produce the music for Spider-Man 3. However, Raimi and Elfman reunited nine years later for the 2013 fantasy adventure Oz: The Great and Powerful and even came on board to score Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022.
A special camera system was created to film the high-speed swooping scenes
Spider-Man is chock full of exhilarating swinging scenes of our titular superhero. But achieving this was no mean feat. A very special camera system called “Spydercam” was developed which allowed DOP Bill Pope to create the effect of dropping 50 stories from above and craft those jaw-dropping high speed swooping sequences for the film that would accurately capture Spidey’s POV and giving audiences a more immersive experience. For some shots the camera would shoot at six frames per second for a faster playback which increased the overall sense of speed. Shots using this special camera were pre-planned in digital versions of cities, and the camera’s movement was controlled via motion control, making the entire process a highly cost-effective venture. Spydercam was only used in the previous movie for the final shot.
100 minor alterations were made to the original Spider-Man suit
Costume designer James Acheson had his work cut out for him when he was chosen to design the suit of Spider-Man for the first movie. However, when it came to the sequel film Acheson took a bold decision to slightly alter the suit Tobey Maguire wore and as a result over 100 minor alterations were made to the original design including making the colors richer and bolder, giving the spider emblem more elegant lines and to equip the muscle suit underneath into pieces, in order to give a better sense of movement. The helmet Maguire wore under his mask was also improved, with better movement for the false jaw and magnetic eyepieces, which were easier to remove.
About that positively adrenaline fuelling train sequence
Oh yeah. That train sequence mano-a-mano featuring our titular web slinger and his tentacled nemesis was truly something. It’s so well done that even two decades later it still manages to blow people away. This particular action set piece was one of director Sam Raimi’s brilliant ideas and one of the first major sequences to be filmed. Prior to the shoot everything was extensively storyboarded by Raimi’s team and pre-visualized so that none of their efforts would go to waste and with the assistance of the second unit directors and the flick’s stunt team the whole process was streamlined.
The pre-shoot of that train scene was shot on the Loop in Chicago over a period of two days because New York City doesn’t have elevated rails any more. In addition, the second unit crew acquired a train of 2200 series cars and placed 16 cameras to establish the background shots of the tussle between the two characters for the live action portions. John Dykstra the visual effects supervisor for Spider-Man 2 was responsible for overseeing more than 100 VFX shots for this ambitious sequence alone. It was certainly tough for Dykstra, since he had work around stunt doubles, the actual actors, soundstages and actual locations and amalgamate all those disparate elements with editor Bob Murawski, but the end result was nothing short of amazing.
Box-office success, critical acclaim, awards glory & much more
Made on a production budget of $200 million, Spider-Man 2 went on to make a whopping $795.9 million at the worldwide box office. The movies earnings even broke several domestic records ultimately going on to become the third-highest grossing movie of 2004. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% with an average score of 8.3/10 with the website’s critical consensus reading thus, “Boasting an entertaining villain and deeper emotional focus, this is a nimble sequel that improves upon the original.” World renowned film critic Roger Ebert gave Spider-Man 2 four stars out of four, calling it “the best superhero movie since the modern genre was launched with Superman (1978)”, and praising the film for “effortlessly [combining] special effects and a human story, keeping its parallel plots alive and moving.”
At the 77th Academy Awards, Spider-Man 2 won Best Visual Effects and was nominated for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing along with The Polar Express, but lost to Ray and The Incredibles, respectively. The American Film Institute (AFI) listed the effort as one of 2004’s ten best films. Since its release, Spider-Man 2 has been embraced as of the comic book genres finest additions. The movie has also been described by numerous media outlets as one of the greatest superhero sequels ever conceived ranked along the likes of The Dark Knight and Avengers: Infinity War.
Alfred Molina’s take on Doc Ock was so iconic and memorable the actor even reprised the role for the MCU’s Spider-Man: No Way Home three years back. Regardless, the impact Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 had on the superhero genre was tremendous. It reminded filmmakers of the importance of balancing grand visual effects with good storytelling and compelling characters and engaging performances. Because at the end of the day, it all boils down to the all-important “human factor” that makes audiences fall in love with cinema.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
