WEB OF INFORMATION on SPIDER-MAN 3

by: Lufguy 1 year, 7 months, 1 week, 2 days, 23 hours, 25 minutes ago 6

By Mike Cotton at Wizard Universe.

Spider-Man’s secret identity’s been revealed to at least a half dozen people. The mystery behind whether or not Venom would appear as “Spider-Man 3” will swing into theaters on May 4 is long solved. But there are still some secrets in the “Spider-Man” films. From romances to cameos and those early scripts, here is your inside track on the biggest secrets of the “Spider-Man” movie franchise.

1 James Franco originally auditioned for the role of Peter Parker, but director Sam Raimi decided to cast him as Harry Osborn instead.

2 The hand sketching Peter Parker’s different costumes during the montage in the first “Spider-Man” movie in reality belongs to Infinite Crisis artist Phil Jimenez.

3 Eliza Dushku, who co-starred with Kirsten Dunst in “Bring It On,” auditioned for the role of Mary Jane Watson and on the original “Spider-Man” DVD, during Tobey Maguire’s screen test, the actress reading Mary Jane’s lines was Dushku.

4 The name of Peter’s landlord in “Spider-Man 2,” Mr. Ditkovitch, is a reference to Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko.

5 The Spider-Man costumes cost upwards of $100,000 each to produce. Four of the valued costumes were stolen from the set of the original film and never recovered. Even a $25,000 reward for their recovery turned up no clues to the costumes’ whereabouts.

6 Now a highly prized collectible, the original teaser poster for the first film featured the New York City skyline, including the World Trade Center, reflected in Spider-Man’s eye. Sony Pictures recalled all of the posters after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

7 Comedy movie producer Mel Brooks sued Sony for unwanted advertisement in a motion picture space after he noticed during the scene in “Spider-Man” where Uncle Ben drops Peter off at the library, you can clearly see a bus drive by with a promotional advertisement reading “The Producers, A Mel Brooks Musical.”

8 While playing Doc Ock, Alfred Molina named his tentacles Larry, Harry, Moe and Flo. Flo was the top right tentacle and it was the most kind of the four since it would often give him his glasses or a drink in the film.

9 A vegetarian, Tobey Maguire ate a tofu hot dog in the scene in “Spider-Man 2” where Peter is supposed to watch police cars zoom by as he eats a New York street dog.

10 “Spider-Man 2” was sent to cinemas under the name “Spray Paint” to avoid the attention of pirates looking to burn the flick to DVD and sell it on the street.

11 The phone number on Peter’s helmet for Joe’s Pizzeria in “Spider-Man 2” belongs to a real New York pizza joint.

12 At one point, “Spider-Man 2” was considering a number of different titles including: “Spider-Man: No More,” “Spider-Man Lives” and “Spider-Man: Unmasked.”

13 The noise heard whenever Spidey’s web touches something was made by hitting tape from a cassette against leather strips on the floor.

14 Both Thomas Haden Church (Flint Marko / Sandman) and Topher Grace (Eddie Brock / Venom) admitted they had no idea they were up for a part in “Spider-Man 3” when they were invited to separate, clandestine meetings at Sony Pictures.

15 Director Sam Raimi gave “Spider-Man 3” villain Thomas Haden Church a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #4, the first appearance of his character, Sandman, as a “thank you” for doing the film.

16 Although “Spider-Man 3” may be the last film for Director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, Sony and Marvel have both said there will be more “Spider-Man” films in the future.

17 Before Marvel and Sony found Director Sam Raimi, they reviewed numerous scripts and pitches for the franchise and often saw much darker takes on the character, including one where Spider-Man murders a villain during the first act.

18 The two young boys who hand Spider-Man his mask on the train after Spidey’s fight with Doc Ock in “Spider-Man 2” are Tobey Maguire’s real life half brothers, Weston Epp and Jopaul Epp.

19 The opening sequences of painted pieces for “Spider-Man 2” were created by Justice artist Alex Ross. Ross refused to paint the movie costume though, instead sticking to the original Steve Ditko design.

20 When Mary Jane is running through the park at the end of “Spider-Man 2,” look closely and you’ll see “Punisher” star Thomas Jane strolling by, who has publicly admitted it was him in the movie.

21 Black Cat was originally planned to be a major character in “Spider-Man 2,” but the plot line and character were dropped.

22 Composer Danny Elfman and Sam Raimi were longtime pals, with Elfman scoring the first Spider-Man movie. But the pair had some sort of falling out during the scoring of the second film and Elfman was quoted as saying, “To see such a profound negative change in a human being was almost enough to make me feel like I didn’t want to make films anymore.”

23 Now a highly prized collectible, the original teaser poster for the first film featured the New York City skyline, including the World Trade Center, reflected in Spider-Man’s eye. Sony recalled all of the posters after the events of Sept. 11.

24 During the first “Spider-Man” film, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst’s on screen chemistry turned into a real life relationship, but the two split before filming the second film, which made things a little uncomfortable. But the actors remained professional and put their differences aside to create an awesome film.

25 Tobey Maguire’s involvement in “Spider-Man 2” was severely in doubt at one point due to his severe back pain that resulted from an injury he received while filming “Seabiscuit.” Jake Gyllenhaal (“Zodiac”) was lined up to take over the part and even began very early preparations.