Raimi Talks Spiderman 3 and Moving Foward with 4
Posted by Rodneyon 26. 03. 2009in News Chat
Sam Raimi did an interview with Empire Magazine for their May issue, where he talks about his experience with Spiderman 3 and speculates on how he is moving forward with that under his belt.
ScreenRant quotes:
“They really gave me a tremendous amount of control on the first two films, actually. But then there were different opinions on the third film and I didn’t really have creative control, so to speak.”“The best way for me to move forward on films, I realize…and this was a lesson I had to learn for myself…is that I’ve gotta be the singular voice that makes the creative choices on the film.”
I gotta respect Raimi for these statements.
Most fans are willing to give him a pass on Spiderman 3 and let him direct Spiderman 4 without an uproar because we remember the first two films and are not ready to crucify him over one bad one. But he also throws credit where it deserves. He admits that the studio pushed him into including Venom, which seems like a waste now. But if the guy is going to get crapped on for what happens in his films, he is willing to earn that target on his back.
Credit where credit is due, even if its bad credit.
He doesn’t completely dodge the blame for the less than well receieved film, but he is learning from his mistakes and is putting his foot down on 4. Speculation is pointing towards Morbius and Lizard, however the fans are grasping at the logical step after Venom’s defeat to bring in Carnage. I think Carnage can wait for now.
Hopefully this means we can resume our regular schedule of Spidey flicks that looked to be improving until he hit his speed bump with 3.
i wouldnt want them to bring in carnage until they can do venom the right way and not give him the shaft, hell venom alone should have been enough of a villian, and as far as the having the lizard and morbius in the same film is a bad idea if you ask me, the first two were great and only had to focus on one villian
No Carnage at all, please. They butchered Venom and Carnage is just a shitty version of him.
I’m not really a fan of Raimi’s movies, so I’ll be waiting until the eventual reboot…
i only thought number 2 was good and even that had its flaw, so im not willing to give him a “pass” for 3.
they may have pushed him into using venom but it was his direction and the way he told the story that sucked. not just the idea of having venom. venom could have and should have been awesome. it was what raimi did with him that sucked.
but also it wasn’t even the venom that was the worst stuff in the film.
it was all the dancing and all the terrible deus ex machina used all the way through the film from beginning to end. all the mary jane nonsense
it was stuffed with the laziest storytelling imaginable.
awful awful film. i am glad he has made drag me into hell in the meantime … maybe it will refresh his memory as to what made him a good director in the fiurst place.
then again he is still the guy who directed for the love of the game and the quick and the dead. so its not like spider man 3 was the first time he has sucked.
venom was the main problem i had w/ the film and agree w/ what you said about mary jane and the plot holes
Nothing can excuse the dancing emo-Peter.
Seconded.
Nothing can excuse the dancing emo-Peter. (3)
Oh hell no! The Quick and the Dead is a badass movie dude. Oh and btw, Spider-Man 3 is better than the first one IMO. Yall may have found the dancing scenes cringeworthy and awkward. I found them to be funny as fuck just like the similar “Raindrops on my head” scene in SM 2, except 10 times funnier. The only thing that pissed me off about this movie was that the Sandman did not get destroyed and how his story arc got resolved: “Please forgive me” - I would have been like: “Fuck u bitch” and thrown his ass in a cement mixer.
Peter wasn’t dancing in Spider Man 2. I also highly doubt that you’d be able to “throw” Sandman into a conveniently available cement mixer.
unc-le ben!
unc-le ben!
unc-le ben!
I hope 4 is good, but after that 3rd one………idk
Just because a movie has only one villian doesn’t mean it will be good. Who invented that rule! I guess they better never make an Avengers movie because it may have to many villians.
yea but w/ one villian they have more time to focus on him and spiderman and also dont have to take up more time w/ two origins
That is true.
When you do an origin of a villain, it cheapens that villain to include others. The best part about the Superhero is often the Villain. I want HIS story told and told well.
But when it comes to something like Avengers - the more villains the better. It should be like a Legion of Doom sort of thing. This is why the film makers should NEVER kill off the villain. I want to see him again. I want to see the story progress between Superhero and Villain. For example (if they had not ended the movie so poorly) Sandman could make a return. But now that he and Spidey are buddies - it wouldn’t make sense. So lets have villains actually be villains. Enough of the “I’m a good guy with a bad situation.”
I don’t know what to think about Raimi - but I greatly appreciated Spiderman 1 & 2. I’m willing to give him another shot - but PLEASE…PLEASE make the bad guy a BAD GUY!
You can put the blame on Tim Burton for starting the “two villians in a comic-book movie” idea for BATMAN RETURNS. Come to think of it, every batman movie has had more than one villian in it excluding BATMAN(1989).
I don’t know. The Dark Knight pulled off 2 villans.
yes and most felt that two face was wasted
i meant many felt he was wasted
I don’t. I think Two-Face was utilized perfectly.
two face was wasted he just killed five people then fell got knocked off a building, they could have soo much more w/ that character, but they fucked him over
if they saved him for the third film that is
True, he didn’t do much in terms of body-count. But then again, he was ONLY going after those who played some part in Rachel’s death anyhow, so it’s not like anyone expected a complete bloodbath from Two-Face that could’ve rivaled the Joker’s.
i know that but they should have saved him for the third film ,TDK was the jokers movie, but they gave wasted him the same wasy they wasted venom, its not like it ruined the movie or anything
@Matt K
i think Venom was a total waste, but i dont think two-face was a waste, the movie weighted more towards Harvey Dent than Two-face which was very balanced imo, and in comparison Eddie Brock/Venom made no sense lol
I don’t think Two-Face was wasted, I thought he was more of a symbolic figure. Nolan’s universe is tailor-made to put as many villains as possible. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight all had multiple villains but they were all integral to the plot and fit the film’s themes.
oh well yall have yall’s opinion on the subject and i have mine and like i said before it didnt ruin the movie kinda seems like a waste to introduce the character for like 30 minutes(more or less) then kill him off when they could have done sooo much more w/ him and i have to admit that what they did w/ him was great, but the fact that they killed him off was a little lame oh well kinda cant everything
and i apologize for assuming “most” shared my opinion
If morbius is in it, blade should be in it too. And so should that werewolf dude and that vampire chick. If not, then why the fuck would they bring in morbius….hes not even a fucking villain (imo)
Morbius did make his first appearance as a baddie in “Amazing Spider-Man”, so I can see Raimi using him as Spidey’s next antagonist.
Yeah but so was the punisher (reaper)…those comic books suck (sorry to those of you that like them…no offense) theyre old and we shouldnt base ANYTHING off of them. when writters are replaced they bring back the dead and make family members look like theyre complete strangers. SO- base the current movies off of the new shit. Not what happened in the 20s spiderman comic books
Times have changed. Marvel has gotten rid of those writters…you know…the ones that used Kang all the time like he was a god, now hes like…a young avenger or something…writters have been replaced and things have changed…now kang is reed richards from the future (or w.e.) mystique and sabertooth are nightcrawlers parents…making wolverine his half brother (????!!!) and juggernaut is still xaviers brother…is scarlet witch magnetos daughter? i thought rogue went out with gambit? iceman? why was nightcrawler turned on by mistique in X2? because theyre no longer related, things changed. In X3 juggernaut and xavier werent bros…marvel changes fucking everything
Yes, things change….most of the time, for the better. I like morbius better as a good guy. IMO (in my opinion!!!!) morbius is lame as bad guy…just flat out stupid…as a good guy hes kinda cool cuz hes bad at the same time (sort off) and he has a badass appearance…when hes a villain he looks kinda cheesy
If theyre going to make a morbius movie they have to do it right
Sorry i must add to this discussion:
If they do have him as a spiderman villain, I want spiderman getting bit…I remember spiderman tripping out in the comic books after getting bit “OMG am I going to become a vampire!?!? no!!” that was funny to me. and then all the vampires hate his spiderblood…pretty funny
“dude! MJ i think im a vampire!”
“If theyre going to make a morbius movie they have to do it right”
They are, he will be an antagonist tormenting Spidey.
im sick of vampires, fuck that.
lame.
hazmat i read what u wrote but im pretty sure thats in the ultimate universe which is basically a way for marvel to come out with a “what if ” series i think
MaXiMuM Carnage!
Jeez, I must be the only one here who actually like Spider-Man 3 LOL.
Well, as far as the forth one goes, the biggest logical step would be to FINALLY have Dr. Connors transform into the Lizard.
Spider-Man 3 is a congested mess of a movie, but I thought it was entertaining. I even ended up buying the sucker on DVD so it wasn’t all that bad.
Same. I thought the final battle with all 4 of them going at it full out comic book style was just amazing in part 3 and is still one of my fav comic book movie battles. I just didn’t like how Sandman was all grunts and growls in his giant sand monster form.
The final villain team-up was so corny. It was too much like a comic book which was why it felt awkward and out of place.
Im sorry… did you just say Spiderman was too much like a comic book?
You realize that Spiderman IS a comic book right? This movie is a comic book made into a movie.
It faltered when it started to feel too much like a comic book. The first two tried to establish a more plausible world and the villains didn’t team up in corny duels that work in comic books but looks ridiculous on screen.
I’m just nitpicking though. Hope the 4th and 5th can pull through and re-establish the franchise.
They should give the 4th to Nolan lol
OH FUCK NO!! Dont get shit twisted. I love his Batman movies, but he’ll want to get all “realistic” and serious with spider-man. He’ll lose the comical aspect and make spider-man wear mechanical web-shooters instead of shooting them organically from his wrists. And then the villian will proly be the Kingpin with Nick Fury chasing after Spidey. BOOOORRRIIING.
Actually, awesome!
Raimi is full of it! All three Spider-Man films are of the same quality. SOmehow people only noticed that SPider-Man 3 sucked when the first two movies sucked just as much.
That’s only your opinion, like mine is that the first 2 were two of the greatest comic book movies ever, as well as 2 of the greatest family action films.
Unless you’ve ever gotten into the Spider-Man comic books or the cartoon shows as a kid, you wouldn’t understand anyway…
i disagree too…the first 2 movies where awesome in my opinion….3rd i really had no intrest in.
I didn’t like any of the movies including the first two movies because they are campy and corny. X-Men 1 and 2 were much superior comic book films. I like Spider Man as much as Batman and the X-Men. Unfortunately Spider-Man was made into pure camp movies while Batman and X-Men got the serious treatment.
Personally I’ve totally forgave Sam Raimi a long time ago for screwing up most of part 3. It wasn’t all his fault anyway, really I’m not sure if most any of it was his fault. I just know that he originally planned Sandman and Harry, aka Goblin Jr., as the only 2 villains.
But higher ups wanted Venom in it as well, mostly for the fans. And thus turning Venom, one of my favorite comic book villains of all time, into a wrench that got thrown into what should of been a perfect movie. Venom was just one villain too many. And from then on, I think it just made Sam mad and he did whatever everyone else behind the film wanted.
Thankfully Marvel is making an all Venom movie that will hopefully do this land mark villain justice.
I hope The Lizard is the villain in Spider-Man 4. Anyone else with me?! >_<
yeah i want the lizard too, i thought they canned the venom movie, but glad to here its back
Canned it, I’m not sure if they have or haven’t? Have yet to hear anything on this myself. Damn, I hope not. I know a Venom movie can be done and done right, if I can come up with a good story in my head, surly they can too.
i just went through the archives of this site and there was an article that rodney posted about the film is “moving forward”, but that was almost a year ago.
” I just know that he originally planned Sandman and Harry, aka Goblin Jr., as the only 2 villains.”
That’s incorrect. Folks have forgotten that The Vulture was in the mix before being bumped for Venom. (That’s where that legendary “4th villain rumor” originated from- early drafts, sketches and near casting)
Yes, Carnage could (should?) be spared for the Venom spinoff film, should it come to pass.
Yes, Lizard is built up a bit, and I would love to see Lizard as well. I am also a huge Morbius fan, although chances are his scientific vampire self “can’t’ begin in 1971, as I’d want the character to be. (‘Tis a vampire, science or not)
I also wouldn’t mind Kraven, but if Morbius is brung in…
do we get a six armed Spider-Man?
;0
Lizard was one of my favorites growing up. I don’t know if he’ll work for an entire film - but I’d LOVE to see him in it. Think of all the cool NYC Sewer scenes they could do. That would be killer!
Well I know the studio pushed him into Venom but who was responsable for emo-Peter, Mary Jane’s Career, Happy Harry, Cyber Snowboard Ninja Goblin, Sandman being a not-so-bad guy and casting Topher Grace. Granted the first film was ok and the second film was better. Both flawed and he learned from mistakes of those films. The 3rd however, is not forgivable. He has to pull a rabbit out of his ass to get me to even think of seeing the 4th film.
You give some good points, again - comic book logic doesn’t always translate on screen.
“..Cyber Snowboard Ninja Goblin”
thats just hilarious.
Well my first impression was “WTFH!!”. Then I seen a photo and thats exactly how I thought he looked like.
lol same
u know what would introduce carnage and the lizard in the same movie, dr.connor’s is doing an experiment in his lab, and remember from the 3rd film he has that little piece of symbiote, that peter gave him, sum thing goes wrong, mutating himself into the lizard and mutating that piece of symbiote in his lab, and sum how the symbiote is loose and meets cassidy, and in the middle of the film, kill off mary-jane and all that drama, and introduce JJ Jamesons secretary into the story as peters main love, like from the old comic books, a few gaps in there but its ok, i think it isnt to bad of a story line,
Huh, I interpreted that quote very differently. Just sounds to me like he was taking credit for 1 and 2 and pointing the finger at everyone but himself for 3. He sounds like he’s whining “no one listened to me and that’s why it sucked”.
My friends always get mad at me when i say this but so here we go.I blame Raimi for how bad Sm3 was cause he worte it and directed it so here some ways to make Sm4 better. Keep the Raimi brothers away from writting SM4.Here some storys i fell thay might work.1,Bring back Venom maybe recast Forman if not make him workout more then last time or make him take steroids… Cough….Cough. Just Introduce Kasady but dont make him into Carntage.2,put the Lizard in it with Kraven.Have kraven be hire by Jameson to hunt the lizard but he thinks that lizard is Sm.3,bring back Dafoe as Green Goblin he does come back to life in the Comic books but i dont think we need more Goblins in a movie. But one thing i want and i know all Marvel fans want make Marvel buy back all there moive rights take it all away from fox,Columbia Pictures, or whoever owns any marvel movie rights so we can see move crossover in the movies i know people want to see the kingpin in a SM movie or Captain America in a Sm movie and so on.But all it comes down to is Marvel listen to your fucking fan we pay to see the movies and they give us shity movies Fantastic Four 1 and 2,Ghost Rider. Does any one see the all part 3 of superheroes movie suck Sm3 suck,Xmen 3 suck,baman 3 sucks and some on this tell you something. I Know we all just want Sm4 to be kick ass if Raimi can make it good.
thats exactly the reason why nolan said he wasnt interested in directing a third batman in an interview once
And you really believe Nolan won’t do Batman 3, do you? Ahahaha, good one.
haha there will be a 3rd batman for sure
lars,
i never said i believed it where you got that i dont know, but nolan has said in recent interviews that he would only direct it if he can come up w/ a story that keeps him interested , you seem to automatically assume he will
Raimi sucks… and this is just the way John would have done it… Ohhh, it’s the evil studios fault Spiderman 3 was one of the worst movies ever made. Ya, right.
Part 1 and 2 weren’t as great as everyone’s saying too, so who the fuck cares for part 4.
You cared enough to post about it.
They should just bring Carnage into the Venom spin-off.
SM3 sucked ass!!!
I honestly think they should re-make SM3 before they move on - it was THAT bad.
Venom is such a major character he DESERVED to be the ONLY villain in that film… ruined it…
Lizard would be good in the next film - but then I’m looking forward to see any of the main characters come to life…
Kraven, Vulture, Electro or the Scorpion…
I actually agree with remaking it. Just not at this time. go off in different directions with other bigger characters, and then bring back venom “Faster, Better, Stronger!!!”
Also wouldn’t it just make perfect sense to bring in the Lizard for the next movie? maybe even add Scorpion in it as well. (I don’t really want a two villain thing right now but they would kinda go together)
Why remake? They should just keep making sequels until the franchise runs itself into the ground and eventually gets rebooted.
I think I read it somewhere before that Raimi is on the spidey universe of the sixties, the Stan Lee abd Steve Ditko era. Venom is a later edition from McFarlane and kind of stuck out a bit.
I think we will need a villian that wasnt caused by a lab accident this time. youd think they would give up science with the track record for success its had.
Mysterio?
The best Spider-Man villians were caused by lab accidents. The Lizard is the next best one.
I say we have Kraven and Lizard. It’s so perfect. Think about it!
You sir are a genius.
If spiderman 3 was the blemish on my direction portfolio, I’d feel pretty good. Granted, it wasn’t the best one in the franchise, but it’s not that bad. Then again, I don’t read the comics at all.
I have to agree with the people who said it wasn’t the fact that Vendom was included that sucked, it was the way he was used. And did the studio stand behind his bank and force him to include the dance and crap?
This statement from Raimi actually makes me lose a little respect for him. So he made a crappy movie big deal. But instead of just biting the bullit and saying he’ll do better, he trys to dump it on the studio.
I agree that it was how Venom was used, but I think that the reason Raimi didn’t know how to use Venom was because it wasn’t his idea to include Venom.
I believe the rule for super hero films should be one hero = one super villain or one group of villains working together on a single devious plan or goal (Example: Batman Begins). The X-Men movies work because it’s more like a football game with teams pitted against each other.
I’m a Spartan and a Sam Raimi fan but watching that Fred Astaire dancing crap was as uncomfortable as walking in on your parents having doggy sex.
I can see the Lizard happening, but as far as Carnage & Morbius go, I think that’s a bit out of the mood/genre they’ve set up for the Spider-Man movies. Morbius is a vampire. That’s not going to happen. Plain and simple. Carnage is a homocidal genocidal blood-lusting psychopath. Again, not going to happen (and if they change that then it’s not Carnage, it’s just a red Venom). There really aren’t many directions left to go for these movies. They’re trying to shove a moral lesson into these and they’re running out of ideas. They could do Kraven the Hunter, but that would just be Osborn’s story again. I’m hoping they include the Kingpin in some way, because he was originally a Spider-Man villain. Then when they remake Daredevil they can include him to help along with the Marvel Movie Universe. I’m always up for a superhero movie (except FF or Superman), so I have no problem with Raimi keeping the helm. I just don’t know what or how they can keep pulling this off.
It’s not the fact that he used Venom, it’s the way he used him.
Everything they did with Venom, from writing his lines to casting that kid from That 70′s Show, was completely stupid.
Venom shouldn’t be a secondary villain to Sandman. That’s like making the Joker the secondary villain to the Scarecrow and casting Screech from Saved By The Bell to play him.
i think i mentioned this before but what Raimi should do in the beginning of Spidey 4 is recap spider-man 3 in form of flashes and zoom out of Mysterio’s helmet-bowl… and begin from there lol
so its part reboot part sequeal, tadaaa!
i think to do carnage as a villain, it should be a rated R film, but marvel has said they’re never doing a rated R, to catch the true feeling of carnage or venom it would have to be a rated R film, ne one wish to comment or throw in their opinion thats cool, im open for discussion
Carnage does not need to be Rated R. The Joker was sadistic and brutal, and he was illustrated PG13.
People have to get it out of their head that everything needs to be R.
the joker wasnt sadistic, he was more mischieveous than sadistic, he could’ve been alot more and has the potential to be so
Joker is a sadist. He got enjoyment out of other people’s fear and pain. He was not “mischievous”, he went out of his way to cause violence for violence sake.
And the PG13 movie did that fine without being R.
i dont think people want an insane symbiote killing machine to be a PG-13 movie, it wont just be the same
And people said it wouldn’t be the same to see a insane sadistic Joker in PG13.
You don’t have to show gore to show violence. It doesnt NEED to be R.
I don’t like killing machine movie