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Director Sam Raimi is on a tear, this time talking to FilmStew about the story development for the next sequel. They report: "With two stories under his belt and a divergence from the comic books now clearly delineated, from Comics 2Film:
>> Raimi is looking more now to wrap up the strands of the first two movies than remain tied to Stan Lee’s original narratives. 'I think the audience has been tracking this love story with Mary Jane Watson [Kirsten Dunst] and Peter Parker, and now they're together. The way they got together and the reality of the movies is slowly becoming more dominant of a guiding force than the books, just because so many unique things have been set up in the movies that have now got to be completed in the third part, that there's a demand to do that.'"
and from USA Today, a piece about the DVD extras of Spidey 2:
>> The success of the first Spider-Man, which grossed more than $403 million in 2002 and is the No. 6 movie of all time, scared Raimi. Until Spidey, he was known as the maker of more modestly budgeted movies such as The Evil Dead (1981) and Darkman (1990).
Raimi had to get a grip. "I said, 'Sam, calm down. It's not really anything you did. It is this comic book and 40 years of stories.' So I went back to the rich source material (to) find what I think is a moving, emotional story that can connect us to the characters that is already in the comic books."
He settled on The Amazing Spider-Man issue No. 50 from 1967, in which Peter decides to give up his superhero alter ego. The steps to bringing that story to the screen are documented on the new two-disc DVD (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, $30). There's also a gift set ($50) that includes additional movie artwork and a comic book reprint. A single-disc Superbit version ($27) has improved video and a second soundtrack in DTS surround-sound, but no extras.
Those interested in the development of villainous Dr. Otto Octavius and the other visual effects in the film will find the extras essential viewing. Among the web of extras:
•An Ock-Umentary: Eight Arms to Hold You chronicles the filmmakers' early experiments with dryer exhaust tubes to create the look of the arms of Doc Ock, the puppeteering process and, later, actor Alfred Molina learning to act with the finished arms harnessed to him.
• One chapter of the 12-part documentary Making the Amazing is devoted to the Spydercam, a high-flying camera used to capture the dizzying swinging footage. "The challenge then becomes finesse, and it really isn't about inventing a camera that can travel 600 mph and stop in 6 inches but whether the character has a sense of reality to it," says visual effects supervisor John Dykstra.
• Raimi says he's not a big fan of providing DVD commentaries, but his conversation with actor Tobey Maguire, who plays Spider-Man and Peter Parker, is revealing about their relationship.
Punishing Peter Parker creates drama, Raimi says, but that means punishing Maguire. In an early scene, Parker drops his books and is repeatedly pummeled in the head by passersby's purses, gym bags and backpacks. During filming, the supporting cast wasn't hitting Maguire aggressively enough, so Raimi took some shots of his own, highlighted in the DVD's bloopers.
"You like to do a lot of takes when I'm being punished," Maguire says on the commentary. "I don't do that on purpose," Raimi says and laughs. "But you were a big sport to let us hit you with that bag so many times."
Sony Pictures has plans for three more sequels, but Raimi is not signed on for the fourth movie.
"If I have the same passion after this (Spider-Man 3), I would love to direct (No. 4) and hope they would ask me."
Still no word on the villains yet. Raimi keeps saying he's got to figure out what the arc is for Peter and then choose the villain(s) accordingly. |
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