http://www.nowplayingmag.com/content/view/772/2/ Spider-Man 3 Villain Locked Sam Raimi has been promoting the DVD release of his Ghost House Pictures’ The Grudge this past week, so of course while talking with him Now Playing snuck in a few Spider-Man questions as soon as the webslinging director let his guard down. And while Raimi’s spider-sense was tingling – keeping him from revealing too many details about the next Spidey film – he did confirm for us that a villain for Spider-Man 3 has been settled on. “Alvin Sargent is writing the screenplay right now,” Raimi says. “I’m not supposed to [talk about the villain]. When Sony Pictures decides to release the villain they do it in conjunction with Marvel Comic books. Avi Arad is the president there and my producer, and they’re really the ones that decide how they’re going to present this to the fans of the comic and they love doing it with a lot of drama and a big splash. So they consult with me, but it’s really something… they really want to please the fans and do it in a very particular way.” Raimi comes across as a nice enough guy, so it’s easy to let such doubletalk pass, but a bit more persuasion from Now Playing’s editors did get the filmmaker to discuss how he decided on the villain for the next film – whoever that villain may be. “What I did was, when I worked on the story with my brother Ivan, I determined what journey I felt was most important for Peter Parker to take,” he says. “He’s a young man so this is a coming of age story and he’s on a journey to becoming a more responsible adult – in each of the movies. And I tried to determine with my brother which human faults would be displayed in this particular story that Peter Parker would have to exhibit, and then recognize that he had that fault, and then try to grow and develop as a human being as somebody who could overcome that fault. So once [we] determined Peter Parker’s journey, we tried to determine a villain that best presented some aspect of that fault so that he could literally stand in the way of the growth of Peter Parker.” A lot of fans have high hopes that the villain in Spidey 3 will be Venom, a more modern foe for the wallcrawler than the first two films’ Green Goblin and Doc Ock. Of course, Raimi isn’t saying whether we’ll see the symbiote-suited Venom in the next film or not, but he does explain that the choice of villains also comes down to a balance between character and the cool visual aspect that modern special effects allow (and that would surely make for an amazing Venom, by the way). “Absolutely we wanted to have a villain not only who would fulfill the character needs but somebody who could entertain the audience on a visceral level and provide great visuals, something we haven’t seen before, and create a real challenge and great foe for Spider-Man and his unique spidery, spider-like powers,” says Raimi. Spider-Man 3 is currently targeted for a May 2007 release.
With the Spider-Man 2 ending the way it did I thought for sure the Hobgoblin would be in it but I guess it was just a setup.
Does there always need to be a villain? seriously. I think the villians are often times pretty cool. But Just once, I'd like to see something different.
I'm betting he is in it in some way. Raimi said they were looking at ways to make Spidey seem conflicted as he grew as an adult. What better way to do this than make putting him and his best friend on opposite sides of a fight. Although I would rather see venom as the villian, I think they will have to do something to progress the story between Peter and Harry.
Not to get all geek on you, but Harry Osbourne becomes the new Green Goblin in the comics, not the Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin's origin is that some petty crook stumbled into one of Norman Osbourne's many secret hideouts and found all his Goblin gear after his death. The guy stole it and started flying around as the Hobgoblin, an enemy I can't recall Spidey ever having any difficulty kicking the crap out of.
Is this true, I have always thought that Harry became the Hobgoblin. I mean, that's even how they have it in the cartoon.
God, I hope that doesn't mean it's the Lizard... Realistically, there are only two Spidey villains left that could carry a movie - Venom and a Harry Goblin. I'd put money on it being Harry for Spidey 3, and then Venom in part four where some new director runs the franchise into the ground a la Schumaker.
Yeah, Harry is Green Goblin II or III in comics continuity. All of this talk of him becoming the Hobgoblin in the film series stems from the belief that a second Green Goblin would be seen as a rehash of part one by the movie-going public.
Sure, but 2 1/2 years on mostly computer animation??? I don't know. I hope it's the best one yet. Venum would kick ass.
I bet it's purely for business reasons. The longer they wait to release it, the more anticipation, excitement, hype, etc.. builds up for the movie.
identity crisis IS spiderman. that's the point. a vulnerable character trapped between what he wants from life and what he feels an obligation to do given his power. as a fan, i think raimi has done an EXCELLENT job capturing the character of spiderman while still having the summer movie action sequences you'd expect. maguire and dunst signed on for 3 of these movies. think they'd do a 4th? if not, i have to assume we'll be seeing hobgoblin as the villain in this one. perhaps with another villain as well?? lizard??? we've already been introduced to Dr. Conners. soooo...that's my bet. my 4 year old son asks me all the time when the new spiderman is coming out! he'll be 5 soon...of course, he's requested a spiderman-themed birthday party! which i had on my 6th birthday!
I think we will see the Lizard, the return of the green Goblin, and a surprise guest villain. I would like to see a version of Kraven the hunter hunting down Spidey while he is trying to deal with multiple threats of the Lizard and the Goblin. Talk about a dilemma....sheesh
Ah, I was wondering when we would hear from Max about Spidey. Does anybody mind telling me more about the Lizard character?
While Venom is the best Spidey villian ever, IMO, I just can't see them being able to do the character justice. They'd have to do his suit completely by computer, and have to come up with some crackpot way of Venom getting the suit, since they're obviously not going to do the whole Secret Wars thing. What's made the Spidey moves good is not an overuse of the CGI and not making any of the characters entirely CGI generated. Could they make a CGI/real life person like Doc Ock work with Venom, or would it just look Jar Jar Binksish?
They should be careful. Look at the Matrix - they waited way too long (4 years) for the sequel. At the time of the first Matrix, people were fanatical. Reloaded would have been MUCH better received in 2001 than in 2003. But after four years, the film's luster diminised and the fanatacism weakened. Throw in some unrealistic expectations and disappointing story and the movie suffered. Spidey fimlmakers face a difficult task. Make another film that's not the same-old stuff that we saw in the first-two, but upholds the traditions of age-old comic fans. It must have good character and story development, but must use characters that everyone's already familiar with after many years of comics/cartoons. I'm surprised to hear that they are just now writing the screenplay - they shoulda been working on this before Spidey 2 was in theaters. It should have been a 2006 release: two years between each movie. -- droxford
The Lizard? Bleh. Might as well bring back the Vulture, or the Sandman. I'd rather see the Scorpion brought in, at least he's got an interesting plot element as being J. Jonah Jameson created. I think Venom's easily the most interesting enemy, with the Harry Osborn Goblin a 2nd best.
