All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S08E01.Swinging.Into.Action.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BTN_track4_[eng]

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During the comic book
boom of the 1960s,

when it came to superheroes,
the bigger, the better.

So how did the story
of an awkward
high school student...

Hey, tell 'em to to stop!

It was just this kid.

People didn't like him,
and he was a bit of a nerd.

...that no one wanted
to publish...

Part spider.
People will hate that.

...become one of
the most beloved
superheroes of all time?

Spider-Man resonated
with people.

Born of two creators,

Spider-Man.

...from groovy beginnings...

- ♪ Spider-Man
- ♪ Spider-Man

♪ Does whatever a spider can ♪

...to breathtaking artistry.

Wow, that's magic!

Spider-Man, The Movie.

It's a story
of financial ruin...

And they really wanted
to make this movie on the cheap.

- Marvel Comics
went into bankruptcy.
- ...takeovers...

He fired everybody.

...and studio battles.

It was just a mess.

I'm Peter Parker.

Three heroes...

You're Spider-Man.

Obviously,
he brought his A game,

...and three visionaries.

Nobody wanted him to do it.

Talk about
an outside-the-box choice.

A skeptical studio.

Sony was so upset.

They didn't even understand
how all the pieces
were going to fit together.

Missed opportunities.

I told them
they were fucking idiots.

Sometimes it just
doesn't come together.

Bad decisions.

You put an actor
who's claustrophobic
in a suit like that...

They said anyone involved
with the Green Goblin costume
should be shot.

Oh, it's giving me PTSD.

It's a rollercoaster ride.

They were so mad at me,
my God.

Unprecedented failures...

- The fans hated it.
- It was terrible.

...and
spectacular achievements.

We all knew we had
something really special.

Probably one of
the most iconic scenes
in any movie.

You are amazing.

It's a tale of love.

There was a sex scene
on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Violence...

She threw a sandwich at him.

If you have a hammer,
everything starts looking
like a nail.

...and heartbreak.

It's just a bad time.

We pivoted immediately.

That little scenario
screwed up my entire life.

I didn't re-watch the film
for 20 years.

Oh, my gosh,
we have to do it all again?

- No way.
- Cheaper and better.

Don't screw it up.

It's the amazing story...

It was the most
expensive movie ever made.

- Oh, my fucking God.
- Fans lost their minds.

That's Hollywood.

...of Spider-Man.

Spider-Man's just cool.
Come on. End of story.

For decades,
the heroes of DC have dominated
the comic book landscape.

But in the early '60s,
they were finally challenged
by a worthy competitor.

The newly rebranded
Marvel Comics.

Marvel Comics was
founded by Martin Goodman.

And it was basically
a new, fledgling company,

so they had to roll out
new characters.

Stan Lee was the writer
almost all the books.

And Stan Lee
was off to a fantastic start.

Fantastic Four, first one
to come out of the gate.

Stan
was hard at work
putting Marvel on the map.

And if anyone understands
the importance

of Stan's legacy,
it's his heir.

My name is Shirrel Rhoades,
and I was handpicked
by Stan Lee

to succeed him
as publisher of Marvel.

But in 1961,
Stan reported
to Martin Goodman,

a notorious traditionalist.

Goodman basically
followed the trend.

If Westerns were popular,
he did Western comics.

If romance was popular,
he did romance comics.

But with Marvel,
Stan Lee's innovative work
was reinventing the genre.

He said, "All I was doing
was trying to keep my job

"by cranking out
a lot of comics.
They had to keep coming."

And so, he was cranking out
these comic books.

And I saw a fly
crawling on the wall.

And I said to myself, "Wow,
what if I had a superhero

"who could crawl on walls
or stick to a ceiling
like an insect?"

And I needed a name.

And I went down the list
and I got to "Spider-Man",

I said,
"That's what I'll call him."

He brought it together
with this idea of this teenager

who got bitten
by a radioactive spider.

He was just this kid
who lived in Queens.

He lived with his aunt
and he wanted to meet girls.

He's a teenager
with problems in the real world.

People didn't like him
and he was a bit of a nerd.

[Mark Millar] Peter Parker
is the complete opposite

of what had traditionally worked
as secret identities.

He wasn't from another planet.

Another galaxy,
as a matter of fact.

He's not a billionaire playboy.

Hi, Bruce Wayne.

Stan thought that
the character should be
more of a normal person.

And he took the idea
to Martin Goodman.

Having been
pitched the greatest
comic book of all time,

Martin Goodman
enthusiastically responded.

And Martin turned him down.

And said, "Stan,
what are you thinking of?

"I mean, that's crazy."

"First of all, superheroes
aren't teenagers.

"Teenagers are sidekicks.

"Also, part spider.

"Nobody likes spiders.

"People will hate that."

Stan's
spider hero comic book

had been rejected as a series,

but Goodman didn't say
anything about a one-shot.

[McFarlane] Marvel Comics had a book
called Amazing Fantasy.

It was a book that
they rotated characters.

[Rhoades] It was about to be killed,

and nobody cares
what goes in the last issue.

So Stan threw
the Spider-Man character
into the last issue.

But Stan couldn't do it alone.

He worked with Jack Kirby
to create the costume.

But he didn't like Jack's
take on Spider-Man,

so he threw it over
to Steve Ditko.

Steve Ditko kind of came in
and breathed life to it.

[McFarlane] He had this funky,
quirky style.

Steve Ditko's work
took advantage

of comic book medium.

Where a lot of stuff is kind
of spindly and exaggerated
and surreal,

and with Ditko's work,
you really see the spider
in Spider-Man, you know.

Steve Ditko
also came up with this.

The...

[Sean O'Connell] It's kind of remarkable

that Spider-Man was in a book
that was going to be buried.

It essentially was
going to be forgotten.

Marvel, they just
wanted to let Stan
get it out of his system.

And on
August 1st, 1962,

Amazing Fantasy's final issue,

without fanfare,

rolled off the presses.

- And it was a hit.
- Sales rocketed.

You know, it sold out.

So they said,
"Let's give him his own book."

Amazing Spider-Man 1 is born.

And it clicked.

It's Spider-Man!

I adored Stan.

But this is the only bone
of contention we ever had

where we actually were
in disagreement.

The charm and the success
of Spider-Man, Peter Parker,

was that because
he's the everyday guy.

I think that Spider-Man works
on a lot of levels for kids
because he's so damn cool.

You can stick to walls
and you can hang upside down

and you can shoot webs
and you can swing around.

That's the appeal,
to me, of Spider-Man.

Marvel
was more than happy

to cash in on the friendly
neighborhood phenomenon.

[McFarlane] By the mid '60s,
there's already
pajamas, hats, toys.

I mean, Spider-Man was a thing.

[O'Connell] And throughout this time,

Stan Lee was constantly
shipping the rights

to Spider-Man around
to anybody who would listen.

Spider-Man was big.

And the only thing bigger
than comics
for kids in the '60s...

Like many people,
I grew up on
the Saturday morning cartoons.

Here comes
your friendly
neighborhood Spider-Man.

[Murray] The Spider-Man cartoon,

I wanted to watch it,
like, religiously.

[Lanning] I would sit
on the floor,

watching Spider-Man cartoon
with Spider-Man comics out.

And then my mum would come in
and turn the telly off
and say, "Go outside.

"You need to get sunlight."

♪ Spider-Man, Spider-Man

♪ Does whatever a spider can ♪

We all remember that theme song.

♪ There goes the Spider-Man ♪

And that stuck
in our heads forever.

[Spider-Man] Music may have charm,
but this is too much.

And Marvel could produce
Spider-Man cheaply,

thanks to tricks
like recycled animation,

which leaned heavily into
Spidey swinging across
the New York skyline.

The animated series,Spider-Man just kind of
lends itself to that.

My spider senses
are starting to tingle.

There's a certain
kind of charm to it, you know.

Marvel looked to bring Spidey
to young and old alike.

Spider-Man!

The the first
live action Spider-Man

landed on the children's show,
The Electric Company.

Well, if it isn't
the wall-crawling creep.

While the kids'
segment was a hit,

adults wouldn't get to see
Spider-Man hit anything
for another three years,

when Nicholas Hammond
would play the wall-crawler
in primetime.

Hey, look! It's that Spider-Man.

But Marvel would soon learn
television had its limitations.

The budget on the TV series
wasn't particularly high.

While the budget
didn't allow for many
of Spider-Man's classic moves,

it did allow for shots
of Spider-Man looking around.

Lots and lots of shots
of Spider-Man looking around.

[O'Connell] They also didn't have
the budget to necessarily do

all of the really
popular Marvel villains
that fans wanted to see.

As a result,
Spider-Man's rogues gallery
was replaced by...

Ninjas.

Where are the supervillains?

- Lots...
- Kill him.

...and lots of ninjas.

Yah! Yah! Yah!

And while zipping
across the skyline

would prove challenging,

TV Spider-Man found a way.

[Spider-Man] Can you get me
a little closer?

The special effects,

I mean, you know,
it was cheap television.

And he'd go and do his thing
with the webbing.

And then offstage,
a couple of prop people

threw, like, a fishing net
over the bad guy.

And then the bad guy
would go like that
and go, "Oh, man, look at that."

- Okay. You call the police
and tell them about the bomb.
- Right.

It was really crude
and really silly.

You couldn't really
make them crawl up walls.

Spider-Man lasted one year,
and that's all, I think,
people could take.

Needless to say,
the show fell short
of fans' expectations.

[Rhoades] I wasn't crazy
about it.

I didn't think it captured this
superhero genre well enough.

Despite its reception,
Stan had succeeded

in bringing Spider-Man
to a larger audience.

[Busch] Whether
it was low budget,
high budget, animated,

Stan, he just cared
that this thing that he made

was being loved
by even more people.

Stan was
determined to spread
the gospel of Spidey.

He believed
that a Spider-Man film
would be a great way

to help market the comic books.

Door after door was closed
in smiling Stan's face,

until one day...

[Drummond] Cannon films got the rights.

Cannon was the low budget place.

But Stan knew
it wasn't about perfection.

It was about promotion.

And Cannon
were willing to bring
Spider-Man to the cinema.

[Busch] They've got
a certain amount
of time to make movies,

and if they don't,
the rights go back.

They're independent
film producers.

They really wanted
to make this movie
on the cheap.

Spider-Man, the movie.

A live action spectacular.

The director of the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre...

...was the first director
who was going to tackle this,

And when
it came to casting,
no one was off the table.

Tom Cruise was even
looked at for Peter Parker.

There is no substitute.

And this was Tom Cruise
right before Top Gun.

I'm Maverick.

But I would have probably,
at that time, said, "Tom Cruise?

"What? What are you
talking about?"

Well, it was Cannon
who were all talk

as plans to
begin filming fizzled.

[O'Connell] They could never
really get filmmakers

who wanted to collaborate
on their vision

because of the way that
they wanted to nickel and dime
the whole production.

As it turns out,
Hollywood had a preview

of what a low budget
Spider-Man looked like.

And it was not good.

[O'Connell] Cannon Films recognized
how valuable that IP was,

and they knew that no matter
how long they strung it along,

they would figure out some way
to make it profitable.

While the film
failed to get off
the ground at Cannon,

Spider-Man's hype man
never stopped

trying to bring Spidey
to the big screen.

[O'Connell] Stan Lee
met with James Cameron.

Stan mentioned to him,

"I hear you're
a Spider-Man fan,"
and that really put a lightbulb

on over James Cameron's head,

and he thought,
"Maybe I could pursue this."

For the first time,

an A-list director was prepared
to bring Spider-Man
to the big screen.

James Cameron wrote
a great script for Spider-Man.

And this is where
things get complicated.

Who has the rights to what?
It's all very complicated.

In 1989,
after Cannon films failed
to produce a Spider-Man film,

the rights were splintered
and sold to the highest bidder.

The rights were a mess.

Sony buys
their home video rights.

Viacom buys
their broadcast rights.

But it was theatrical rights
James Cameron had his eye on.

James Cameron became interested
in Spider-Man as a property
that he wanted to pursue.

This was right after Terminator
and before he was
taking on Titanic.

Soon after,
James Cameron's
longtime collaborators,

Carolco began
to pursue the rights.

[O'Connell] So Carolco did.
They bought the rights
to Spider-Man for $5 million.

And
with the rights in hand,

James Cameron began
to adapt Spider-Man.

Cameron wrote
a very extensive treatment.

A 28-page treatment.

[Edlitz] It was an origin story.

His villains were
Electro and Sandman.

[Sneider] With Cameron's Aliens guys

Michael Biehn
and Lance Henriksen,

who were being eyed
to play those characters.

He was thinking about
having Leonardo DiCaprio
play Spider-Man.

Hold on to the railing.

Keep your eyes closed.
Don't peek.

James Cameron's
take on Spider-Man

was distinctly mature,

at times bordering on erotic.

There was a sex scene
on the Brooklyn Bridge.

People
wanted to see Spider-Man
in action on the big screen.

[Busch] If Spider-Man gets laid,
that's great for Spider-Man,

but it doesn't make sense
for the Spider-Man
that we had seen so far.

But before James Cameron
ruined the childhood

of multiple generations,

news broke
that would change everything.

Carolco went bankrupt,

thanks to a really
overproduced movie

called Cutthroat Island.

Cutthroat Islandhad sunk the Carolco ship

and was poised to take
Spider-Man down with it.

The rights to their library,
both produced and unproduced,
became available.

And MGM/UA acquired
the rights to Spider-Man,

and very specifically,
the James Cameron version.

I was slated to be
the executive who would
oversee the movie.

I'm a comic book fan,
I was a Spider-Man fan.

Yeah, I was a James Cameron fan.

It was an amazing opportunity
to not only get to work

with James Cameron,

but to get to work
with this character, Spider-Man.

It was such a world
of possibilities.

I was thrilled.

News of
an MGM produced Spider-Man film

resulted in more than a few
raised eyebrows.

[Busch] The studio,
they've got a certain amount
of time to make movies,

and if they don't,
the rights go back.

And with still
no Spider-Man film,
Marvel believed time was up.

The rights of the character
returned to Marvel.

But at the moment,
Marvel was more concerned

with paying the bills
than cinematic aspirations.

Since the 1960s,
when Marvel first came out,

comic readers,
they've watched Marvel go

from being the dominant leader
in the comic world,

carrying more than
two-thirds of the market,

down to a dwindling one-third.

[McFarlane] It seems inconceivable today,

but Marvel Comics
went into bankruptcy.

[Rhoades] The whole
comic book industry
was losing money.

And so we were now owned
by the bankruptcy courts.

And reporting to a judge.

Sony saw Marvel's
bankruptcy as an opportunity.

My name is Yair Landau.

Well, I was EVP
of corporate development.

You know, Sony had acquired
Columbia Pictures,

but was
starved for large,
relatable properties.

So I put together a deal to

buy Marvel out of bankruptcy
for $500 million.

But it wouldn't be that easy,

as Sony wasn't
the only interested party.

If you have come here uninvited
and unannounced...

I do know that Michael Jackson
wanted to buy Marvel.

Michael Jackson
wanted to mount films
and wanted to be in films.

He lobbied.

But I don't think
it ever was going to work.

But Sony Acquiring Marvel
wasn't a foregone conclusion,

- as Toy Biz...
- Marvel Superheroes!

...who held the license
to make Marvel toys...

Spider-Man!

...stepped up to the plate
with a rival bid
to buy the publisher.

[Landau] Toy Biz
had a competing offer.

While we thought
our offer was superior,

the court decided to take
the Toy Biz's offer.

He's all yours, Spidey!

Toy Biz was owned
by Ike Perlmutter.

[O'Connell] He specialized
in properties that were
suffering from bankruptcy

and was ready to liquidate
the entire company.

Ike came in, he fired everybody.

All the executives,
including Stan Lee.

Stan Lee and I were
fired on the same day,

For Ike to fire Stan Lee,

he sent a shockwave
through the Marvel bullpen.

Thankfully, Ike's partner
was a true believer.

Ike had a partner
named Avi Arad.

[Rhoades] Avi was
a brilliant toy designer,

but Avi also knew comic books.

Avi was the one
who had the vision
of licensing these characters.

And so, looking
to sell the filming rights,

Marvel turned to a studio
they knew would be interested.

Avi and Ike offer Sony
the entire library.

of Marvel characters
for $25 million.

If Yair could close a deal,

it would be the deal
of the century.

$25 million
for 25 Marvel products.

Victorious,
Yair returned to Sony
with the good news.

And they said
they weren't interested
in 25 Marvel properties.

They told me to go back
and only negotiate
a deal for Spider-Man.

I thought it was a mistake.
I believe I told them
they were fucking idiots.

I know that Avi told us
we were fucking idiots.

Ultimately, the negotiation
of that deal lasted
for over a year,

and we ended up
paying $10 million
for Spider-Man.

Despite his misgivings,
Yair managed to squeeze in

one very important detail.

As part of that deal,

as long as Sony Pictures
has a Spider-Man property
in development,

Sony Pictures retains
the rights to Spider-Man.

Sony had just paid
$10 million to potentially own
Spider-Man forever.

There was just one problem.

MGM/UA acquired
the rights to Spider-Man.

When Cannon
owned the rights to Spider-Man,

they believed
they had the authority

to sell those rights,
and perhaps they did.

It was up to the judge
or, in this case,
several judges.

And it was basically the battle
for ownership of Spider-Man.

Sony didn't want to go forward
with a Spider-Man movie

if they couldn't own
every facet of the character
and profit 100%.

[Edlitz] Sony had
a piece of the rights.

MGM had a piece of the rights.

Marvel had some rights.

Columbia believed
they had some rights.

[Kleeman] This led to
MGM/UA suing Sony.

Because MGM thinks
that it has the right.

And it was just a mess.

It was a legal mess,
a mess in terms of business,

and it was an emotional mess,
I think, for a lot of us.

Ultimately it was
settled out of court.

And then they make,
like, this great trade.

[Bond] Can I help?

Why, Mr. Bond.

MGM wants the rights
to specific
James Bond properties.

Sony gave MGM rights
to Casino Royale,

and in return,
amongst other things,

MGM gave Sony
the rights to Spider-Man.

It took a decade,
but the rights to Spider-Manhad finally been unified.

There was just one loose end.

[Rhoades] Stan,
his original contract,

that Marvel said he was
publisher for life,

and it certainly looked like

it was giving them a license
to use his characters.

When they fired him,
it became questionable

whether they had
lost their license

for all of Stan's
superhero characters.

Marvel, realizing what
a mistake that they had made,

well, they had
to hire Stan back.

And give him a new contract
which gave him
ten percent of everything.

And then they had the rights.

Stan was back,
this time with ten percent.

And the rights
were finally secured.

- Which meant...
- [Peter Parker] Go, web, go!

...a Spider-Man movie
was finally going to happen.

The scattered filming rights
to Spider-Manhad been reunified at Sony,

who were fully committed
and ready to go.

[Bottegoni] There was a lot
of money at stake,

140-ish million-dollar movie
was kind of unheard of.

The Amazing Spider-Man!

[O'Connell] This movie had to work.

Sony worked really hard
to get the rights.

Luckily, Sony's chairperson
knew how to get things done.

[Dana precious] Amy Pascal.

It wasn't common to have,
at that point,
a female chairman.

She's a force of nature,
and she will not take no.

You're talking one
of the Hollywood powerhouses
that knows how to make movies.

And she has great instincts.

And her instincts told her

to go all in on Spider-Man.

There was so much pressure
to make this
something unbelievable.

Sony needed a point person
who understood production,

but could
also shepherd creative.

Laura Ziskin.

...who had
a long history in bringing
A-list films to the big screen.

She was a real
character-driven producer,

and she and Amy had a very
long-standing relationship.

And as for the filmmaker
attached to Spider-Man,

well, that was
a short-lived relationship.

Because bankruptcy
and corporate acquisitions

became too much
for James Cameron,

who left Spider-Manand his treatment behind him.

- Ziskin opted out
of using the script.
- Go, web.

But there was
one Cameron contribution...

- Fly!-...that survived.

In the comics,Spider-Man has mechanical
web shooters.

Simple doohickey
and zowie.

The organic
web shooter notion...

Up, up and away, web.

...that was Jim's idea
that it was a mutation

that allowed him to shoot
webbing from his wrists.

There was
one more moment
from James Cameron's treatment

that would make it
into Oscar montages
for years to come.

Only it wouldn't be
in a Spider-Man film.

[Landau] There is a scene
with Peter and Mary Jane on
the top of the Brooklyn Bridge,

where he basically
holds her in the web and
she leans out over the water.

Hold on. Keep your eyes closed.

Do you trust me?

Just like Leo
and Kate in Titanic.

Cameron had envisioned that
for Peter and Mary Jane,

and then later
realized it in Titanic.

I'm flying.

Veteran
action writer David Koepp
began work on a new script.

- Stop him,
he's got my money!
- Thanks.

He wanted to focus
on the criminal
that kills Uncle Ben.

Carjacker.
He's been shot

But to bring Spider-Man

to a wider audience,
they would need a director

who could bring
the web-slinging
action fans wanted

as well as heart
to Peter Parker's
underdog story.

They were considering
everybody.

David Fincher.

Tim Burton came in,

but essentially admitted
he was more of a DC guy.

But a promising candidate
began to emerge.

[Michael Barnathan] Chris Columbus,
when he was a kid,

he wanted
to be a comic book artist

before he wanted
to be a filmmaker.

Sony. They were
very interested in him.

But Columbus found
himself at the starting gate
of not one, but two franchises.

[Barnathan] Harry Potterneeded another director.

Suddenly Chris was like,
"That kind of
changes everything."

Columbus's exodus
had knocked Sony
back to square one.

Desperate, they began
meeting with even
the most unlikely directors.

Groovy.

Sam Raimi comes
to pitch himself for the film.

[Henderson] He came
from outside the system.

He wasn't some film school kid.

I mean, he used
his dad's credit cards

to pay for his first movie,

and he used his
friends to do it.

You're not gonna leave me,
are you? Are you, Ash?

[O'Connell] He had directed
a few other films since then,

some of them a little bit
more mainstream.

But he never worked on a movie
with this kind of budget
or at this level before.

Nobody wanted him to do it

because he had done
horror movies
and stuff like that.

But it turned out that Sam Raimi
was a comic book geek.

Sam loved Spider-Man,

and he loved
Steve Ditko's Spider-Man.

He really associated
with the fact that
this was a loner kid,

who struggled to fit in.

He really wanted to do justice
to the character.

As a filmmaker,
Sam's dynamic visual style

would be the a complement
for Spider-Man'soff the wall action.

Dolly angles.
And, like, Dutch stuff.

He created
his own visual language.

He understood the visual
vocabulary of comic books.

Amy liked to say,
and I think we all agreed,
Sam was Peter Parker.

What
sets Spider-Man apart
is his humanity.

Luckily, Laura Ziskin
had a writer on retainer.

Her husband, legendary
screenwriter Alvin Sargent.

Very much considered
among the cream of the crop.

Alvin's script
focused on Peter's personal
journey to make a choice.

With great power
comes great responsibility.

Which made
the Green Goblin
the perfect antagonist.

Peter's one-time
father figure...

That makes you family.

...turned
Spider-Man's archenemy.

Alvin shaped it
and gave it its heart.

[Peter] This, like
any story worth telling,
is all about a girl.

To pull it off,
Sam Raimi began to build

a team of filmmakers
and effects artists.

My name is Doug Lefler,
one of the storyboard artists.

My biggest contribution...

[Spider-Man] You have a knack
for getting in trouble.

When Spider-Man and MJ
were supposed to kiss
for the first time,

I did the drawing
of Spider-Man
hanging upside down.

When I showed it to Sam
and when I showed it to Laura,

they both
embraced it immediately.

Amazing.

Excitement over
Doug Lefler's storyboards
meant the pressure was on

to find a cinematographer
that could do them justice.

My name is Forrest.
Forrest Gump.

My name is Don Burgess.
I'm a director of photography.

My agent, he said,

"I'm sending you a script
for Spider-Man,"

and I'm thinking, "Hmm."

I was never much
of a comic book reader as a kid.

The first comic book

that I actually read
was a Spider-Man comic book

in the waiting room
to see Sam Raimi.

But I think Sam
sold me on the spot.

You know, I jumped on board.

When it came
to actually shooting
Spider-Man in action,

Sam and Don
had a lot to figure out.

Luckily, they found
a patient stunt coordinator
in Jeff Habberstad.

So the stunt work
was very substantial.

And I'm always nervous
about not making it
the coolest it can be.

Practical stunt work
and practical effects

would be at the center
of Sam Raimi's approach,

while digital artists
waited on the bench,

as practical effects
could only do so much.

Especially given what had
happened in the past,

Spider-Manhad to be convincing.

[Steve Saeta] I was fascinated

with everything
that the script asked for.

But I don't know how the hell
we're gonna make it.

I mean, how do you get a dude
swinging around New York City
at 70 miles an hour?

How do you make that look
real and authentic?

[Scott Stokdyk] It was at this inflection point

where computer graphics
had proven themselves

on some movies as a new tool.

But everyone
was still skeptical.

Is embarrassing.

Every advancement
in modern special effects
can be traced back to one man.

My name is John Dykstra,
and I designed
the visual effects

for two
of the Spider-Man movies.

[Henderson] The problems
of realizing Star Wars,

I mean, Dykstra solved
a lot of those problems.

But despite
falling out with George Lucas,
John struck out on his own,

always working to stay
on the forefront of practical
and digital effects...

The Holy Grail at that time
was trying to make

a digital image look like film.

...making him
the perfect partner

for a director caught
in between the practical
and digital world.

Departments began
to game plan storyboards.

[Stokdyk] Let's shoot
everything we can practically.

Anything we
can't do practically,

let's do with computer graphics.

[Lisa Satriano] All the departments
would go in with storyboards.

And we would go
frame by frame and say

what department is doing what.

And I remember
there being a lot of

you know, "Is this really
a visual effects call?

"Is this really
a production design call?"

One element Sam Raimi

was determined
to do practically
was Green Goblin's mask.

They were really gunning
for having a fully animatronic
head for Green Goblin.

While Sam's team
was making headway

on Green Goblin
and Spider-Man designs,

one question remained.

Who would wear them?

Stan Lee
and Steve Ditko

defied the status quo,

making their hero
an awkward teen.

But it remained to be seen
if Sony would make
the same gamble,

as this wasn't the last issue
of a canceled comic book,

but rather,
a massive motion picture
with millions on the line.

[JJ Jameson] Who is Spider-Man?

There was a lot of acrimony
about who would play the part.

[O'Connell] Sony cast
an extremely large net.

Almost anybody who was
viable for the part.

Freddie Prince Jr...

There's got to be
some kind of mistake.

...Heath Ledger...

Sure, Sparky.

- Jake Gyllenhaal.
- No way.

Almost anybody
who fit that age range,

their head shot crossed
the casting director's desk.

But Sam Raimi
found himself

drawn to a far more
unassuming performer.

Hey, everyone.

Tobey Maguire
was an up and comer.

[O'Connell] He wasn't really somebody
who commanded the screen.

Tobey primarily shined
in supporting roles.

I felt like one in a dream.

That's who Sam wanted
from the get go.

And he felt really
strongly about it.

- [Peter] Hey, stop the bus!
-

Sony were questioning
if he was the right fit.

Don't even think about it.

[Busch] He does seem
like a sidekick.

The studio
was convinced that
for the franchise to succeed...

They know it hasn't worked
at a bunch of different studios.

...they'd need a household-name
heartthrob, not Tobey Maguire.

Tobey wasn't
that well known.

There's no featherweight
division here, small fry.

I remember,
the studio really rebelled.

They thought he didn't
look handsome enough.

Virile enough.

They were looking for someone
who just felt more macho.

Because they didn't
understand the franchise.

Raimi knew
who this character was.

You gotta have that underdog
quality for Spider-Man.

It had become clear
Tobey Maguire
could play Peter Parker.

Uh, but was he Spider-Man?

Nobody knew.

It was a question
Sony would need answered

before even
considering Maguire.

The physicality of Spider-Man
is essentially an acrobat.

So he has to be a strong,
buff kind of guy.

But you have
this incredibly skinny kid.

If you're putting up
$150 million,

you want to see what the guy
looks like on screen.

Which meant a screen test.

Sam Raimi was suddenly tasked
with turning the actor
from Wonder Boys...

Did I do anything bad?

...into Spider-Man.

[Saeta] Tobey had
to get into shape.

To get, you know,
the ripped chest
and all of that good stuff.

And he did a physical stunt test
for the executives.

So we did this scene
from the movie where
these three thugs mug MJ.

Teach you little manners here.

[Habberstad] And out of nowhere,
Spider-Man had come.

Get the out of here.

So he did this fight scene.

And all of a sudden
they go...

Tobey, in that scene,
definitely looked like
a badass superhero dude.

Yeah, big change.

After that, and he got the job.

Sam Raimi was right
to want Tobey Maguire

'cause he was exactly
the franchise.

Another
adaptation challenge

was bringing Stan Lee
and Steve Ditko's
iconic costume to life...

And all he has to do is turn
in his little blue tights.

...as fans were expecting
more than Nicholas Hammond's
used tights.

Spider-Man's suit
is a difficult one,

[Hayden] That is a very intricate suit.

With every little web
hand-glued on.

But there was
a bigger concern looming over
the costume department.

[Satriano] It was
not a comfortable suit,

and it was very
difficult to get in.

There was only one zipper
that came back here.

He had to
put the whole thing over,

get it all on with the mask
and zip it up.

And that took about 20 minutes.

And if you wanted
to get out of it quickly,
you're not going to.

But comfort was
just the beginning of Tobey's
problems with the suit.

[Saeta] He puts on
the headpiece.

And he went nuts
'cause he's claustrophobic

and he literally tore it off.

You put an actor
who's claustrophobic
in a suit like that,

it's a big problem.

I remember Tobey just going,
"Oh, my God.

"Can I take this
thing off for a while?"

[Saeta] You would
think that the studio,
they might check

to see if the actor
is claustrophobic, you know.

Tobey
may have had anxiety,
but so did Peter Parker.

Especially when in the presence
of Mary Jane Watson.

Peter was always
less than in cool points
than MJ was.

Initially, Sam Raimi offered
the role to Kate Hudson.

But the actress had
already been committed
to star in The Four Feathers.

You could have cast
a lot of people in that role.

And while
Elizabeth Banks' audition

didn't land her
the role of MJ...

- Hi.
- Hi.

...it did put her
in the offices
of the Daily Bugle,

as J. Jonah Jameson's
assistant, Betty Brant.

Welcome to the Daily Bugle.

The coveted role of MJ
would go to Kirsten Dunst,

hot on the heels of playing
another high school it girl

in the runaway hit Bring It On.

This is not a democracy,
it's a cheer-ocracy.

For the role
of Peter's best friend,

Sony turned to the cast
of Freaks and Geeks,

snagging up and coming
actor James Franco
to play Harry Osborn.

- Leave him alone.
- Or what?

Or his father will fire
your father.

But casting Harry's father,
also known as the Green Goblin,

would prove
much more difficult.

Sony wanted to cast Nick Cage
as the Green Goblin.

You make me sick.

Nick Cage really
wanted to be part of
the comic book movie world.

Yeah, I mean, you were saying
it'll feel a little looser
the more I wear it.

Nicolas Cage
was the first choice
for the Green Goblin,

but instead, Cage opted
to make Adaptation

while holding out hope
for a Superman film.

John Malkovich
was offered the part.

But just before
signing the dotted line,
Malkovich backed out.

Sometimes it just
doesn't come together.

You know, sending Sony
back to the drawing board.

While Sam Raimi struggled
to find his Green Goblin,

the effects team struggled
with the goblin's
animatronic mask.

There's whole archives
of, like, iterations
of the Goblin mask.

They had this puppeteer one.

His eyebrows articulated
and his lips snarled
and everything.

That's a fine line to walk

because you're in
a live-action environment

and you don't want it
to look cartoon-like.

[Hayden] I think
at the end of the day,
it was hard to sell the notion

that he put on a mask
and that it came
to life like that.

[Green Goblin] Here's the real truth.

And just nothing would work.

After trying
the animatronic head,

they went in this
sort of battle mask look

that wasn't as cool.

But the Green Goblin
helmet, as it stood,

it did work as something
that he put on
and became a character.

The Green Goblin's
mask had been completed

long before the role
had been cast.

And Sony grew desperate
to find an actor worthy of
playing Spider-Man's great foe.

Sony was
on the hunt for a mad man,

and after a few
close calls in casting,

Sony finally found
their unhinged man.

Me.

The Green Goblin
is a little crazy.

Willem Dafoe does crazy
pretty good.

...we got nothing.
Nothing. Nothing. Fuck!

Willem Dafoe
played Green Goblin
as an absolute madman.

We killed them.

- We?
- Remember?

Even when he's not trying,
I don't know
what he's capable of.

Willem Dafoe scares me.

You know how much I sacrificed?

I'd watch that guy
read Chinese menus,

He's terrifying.

You know, just stop,
Willem Dafoe.
You're drunk. Go home.

[Green Goblin] I could squash you like a bug.

The mask, Willem Dafoe said,
it made him feel safe

in going really big.

[Green Goblin] Impressive!

As production began,

Sony had over a decade
invested in the film.

The troubled studio
needed the film to work.

Which resulted in
Sony questioning
Sam Raimi's decisions

every step along the way.

He wanted to do a bright film.

He didn't want to do
something cynical and dark

But
cynical and dark was in.

I'm through
doing Hell's dirty work.

Macabre
comic book adaptations

had proven to be
a successful formula.

But Raimi chose to swim
against the stream.

It was just a really fun
kind of playful tone.

- Bye, guys.
- [May] You haven't
eaten anything.

- Have you got your lunch money?
- [Peter] Yeah, I got it.

The mood of the film,
it was kind of trying to keep it

as natural and as simple
as possible at the beginning.

Peter Parker at home.

Teenagers.

It was enough
to make Sony question

if Sam Raimi was even trying
to make a superhero film.

What's your name, kid?

[Peter] The Human Spider.

First day of shooting,
we did the fight scene.

We spent a substantial amount
of rigging prep and rehearsed

to get that dialed in
just right.

1,200 extras.

What are you doing up there?

Sam Raimi
filmed the entire match

using practical effects.

I mean, so much of it
was just so perfectly achieved.

As production pushed onward,

Sam Raimi had every department
asking themselves one question.

"How can this be shot?"

- Practical.
- Practical.

- Practical.
- Practical.

- Practical.
- Practical.

Three, two, one, go.

We did a lot of things in camera
that were a lot of fun.

But the director's hesitation
to take advantage

of the latest digital advances
became a concern
for the studio.

I don't think
the studio agreed with it.

So how did they
make the wall-crawler
crawl up a wall?

We did not put
Tobey Maguire or stuntman
on the side of a building.

Fans had already seen
how well that turned out.

[Saeta] So what we did was
they built the wall flat,

and the camera was
turned sideways so that it
looked like he was going up.

It was almost embarrassing
of how simple it was.

But a sideways camera
can only do so much

as the shots became
more and more difficult,

especially for Tobey.

[Burgess] Tobey had to do
a lot of physical things

where he literally had to be
cabled to ceilings.

Willem Dafoe comes over.

Now, where is Peter?

[Burgess] He senses
something's not right.

And the camera reveals
that Tobey is literally
stuck to the ceiling

in a very
uncomfortable position,

and acting,
and playing the part.

While
some practical effects
relied on old tricks...

Stale is a better
adjective, Robin.

...some techniques
required innovation.

[Saeta] The scene where
his eyesight comes back.

He has his glasses on.

He takes them off.
He puts them back on.

We created the illusion
that you're looking
in the mirror

and he's taking
his glasses on and off.

So I had extra large
glasses made

and I put them over
the lens of the camera

and so I would
hold the glasses

and I would match Tobey
with the glasses, like this.

And he's looking in the mirror
and he's seeing the reflection.

But he's really
looking at the camera
and he's going like this.

Weird.

But practical
didn't always mean simple.

One of the producers asked me
to rework a sequence.

Sam had MJ slipping
and going up in the air,

and Spider-Man was
gonna catch her.

I didn't really love that idea
because what were we saying?

That MJ was klutzy?

So I had come up with this idea
that some kids roughhousing
at one of the tables

bump her
and send her tray
flying into the air.

And then Peter would spin around
and catch the tray.

And then we would have
all of the items go
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

And that was something
that would be
a lot quicker to film

than putting your lead actress
in a stunt harness.

But Sam Raimi
wasn't interested
in a simple plan.

Sam absolutely loved that idea,
and he said, "This is great.
We'll do that, too."

And with that,
Doug Lefler's genius
became his undoing.

Instead of making the scene
something that could be
shot within the time allotted,

I guaranteed that it would
never be shot
within the time allotted.

The pressure
for Doug Lefler

to pull off
the cafeteria stunt
was doubled,

thanks to a growing number
of lurking Sony executives

looking to build a case
for firing Sam Raimi.

After creating
Spider-Man's iconic kiss,

Doug Lefler had pitched
another trailer-worthy moment.

Spider-Man, you know,
gallantly slides over,
catches the girl,

grabs the tray, and catches
all the food on the tray.

Only one question remained.

[Burgess] How are we gonna do it?

We ended up putting a magnet
in the tray itself

and then all the food items,
so they would stick to the tray.

When she slipped,
I under cranked the camera

so that everything
was in sped up motion,
then the catch

with the effects man
just out of frame
dropping food onto the tray.

Bup, bup, bup, bup.
And there he is.

You know, he's got the girl
and the tray and all of that.

Great reflexes.

And then crank the camera
back up to 24 frames

for the dialogue
to finish the scene.

It took all day
to pull that shot off.

And by "a day",
Don means 156 takes.

Wow.

And the shot, I think,
holds up to this day.

I think it still
works pretty well.

- Thanks.
- No problem.

The scene
was a triumph
for the film and Doug,

who Sam would begin
to rely more and more on.

[Satriano] Doug Lefler
was very involved

in designing the sequences
with Sam and drawing them.

So Sam then wanted to give him
an opportunity to direct.

A lot of the stuff
that I ended up directing

was the montage
of Spider-Man first
discovering his powers.

The robbery at the Korean deli.

There's a few
muggings in there.

The armored car break in.

For the armored car robbery,

Doug knew practical effects
wouldn't be enough...

Watch the street.

...and it was time
to take Spidey digital.

[Lefler] We have one shot
where Spider-Man takes out

four or five guys
in the single shot.

Except Spider-Man is not
actually in that shot

or he wasn't in that shot
when we filmed it.

The plan
was to use real actors,

then add a computer-generated
Spidey in post.

Given that you had
to break the reality
of the rules of physics,

he needed a certain
level of technology
to be able to pull this off.

[Bottegoni] Creating
a digital double for Spider-Man

was actually not a small feat
at that point in time.

[Lefler] We had to work
at every bit of action,

and they timed it with
all the stunt guys on wires,

getting knocked left
and right and pulled,

and they had to all,
you know, react.

But it was a very difficult
thing to coordinate.

Unfortunately,
not every executive

could wrap their head
around the emerging technology.

Executives at the studio
were really upset
when they saw it,

because they couldn't figure out
why all these stuntmen

were just standing there
and then getting flung around.

And there was no Spider-Man
in the shot.

They fired me.

They said they needed
to get somebody

that understood
how to do action.

I got a call from Laura Ziskin
saying, "This isn't about you.

"The studio is trying
to control Sam.
They can't fire Sam.

"So they shot the person
standing next to him."

With shots fired,
along with Doug,

Sony had sent
Sam Raimi a message.

[Lefler] A lot of times
when people got hired
to make comic book movies,

they were trying to figure out
how to make a comic book film

that really wasn't
a comic book film.

Sam wanted to make
a comic book film.

He really did want
to do something that
was bright and colorful.

Sam may
have seen the film
as bright and colorful,

but Sony had
a different interpretation.

The studio was worried
that it would look
too much like a cartoon.

And Sony's fears
were about to be confirmed.

An image of Willem Dafoe
from a battle scene

with the balloons,
leaked onto the Internet.

The leak
turned the Internet

into an unintentional
focus group for Sony

as fans took to MySpace,
message boards,

and comments sections
to share their thoughts.

People were saying, "Anyone
involved with the Green Goblin
costume should be shot."