Development Beginning in 1975, Marvel Comics made plans to bring its characters to films. By the early 1980s, the company was in negotiations with producers to bring its flagship character Spider-Man to the big screen, a process which was influenced by the critical and commercial success of
Superman (1978), which was based on rival
DC Comics' flagship character
Superman. The producer
Roger Corman was the first to hold an option on the
Spider-Man property, and began to develop the film at
Orion Pictures. Stan Lee, the co-creator of
Spider-Man, was brought in to write a screenplay which featured
Cold War themes and
Doctor Octopus as the primary antagonist. The project did not come to fruition following budgetary disputes between Corman and Lee, as well as the critical and commercial failure of
Superman III (1983), which made film adaptations of comic books a hard sell in the industry. (pictured in 2014) played a role in the film's development.|right The film rights were then acquired by
Menahem Golan and
Yoram Globus of
The Cannon Group for $225,000 in 1985. Golan and Globus were not familiar with Spider-Man and mistook him for a
werewolf-like character.
Leslie Stevens, creator of
The Outer Limits, was hired to write a screenplay based on this concept. Stevens' script depicted Peter Parker as a photographer who is subjected to a mad scientist's experiment, which transforms him into a human
tarantula.
Tobe Hooper, who was preparing to shoot
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and
Invaders from Mars (both 1986) for Cannon, signed on to direct. Lee despised the horror route the studio was taking with the character and demanded that a new script be written that was closer to the source material. By 1985, a new screenplay was being developed by Ted Newsom and
John Brancato. In this version, Peter receives his spider-like abilities from a
cyclotron experiment. Doctor Octopus served as the antagonist and was written as Peter's mentor-turned-enemy. Barney Cohen was brought in to do a rewrite, which added humor, additional action scenes, and a supporting villain. Newsom and Brancato had
John Cusack in mind for the part of Peter Parker. Cannon hired as director
Joseph Zito, who had previously directed the commercially successful
Invasion U.S.A. (1985) for the studio. Cannon considered
Tom Cruise for the role of Peter Parker, while Zito was interested in casting the actor and stuntman
Scott Leva, who had previously done promotional appearances as Spider-Man for Marvel.
Bob Hoskins was considered for Doctor Octopus while
Lauren Bacall and
Katharine Hepburn were considered for
Aunt May, while
Gregory Peck and
Paul Newman were considered for
Uncle Ben. Lee expressed his desire to make a cameo appearance as
J. Jonah Jameson in the film. The project was tentatively titled
Spider-Man: The Movie and was budgeted between $15–20 million. Following the critical and financial failures of two 1987 Cannon films—
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and
Masters of the Universe—the budget for
Spider-Man: The Movie was cut to $7 million. Zito was unhappy with the lower budget and stepped down as the director. He was replaced by
Albert Pyun, but the project was cancelled following Cannon's acquisition by
Giancarlo Paretti and Golan's departure from the studio. Cameron had previously met with Stan Lee to discuss a possible
X-Men film, but Lee convinced Cameron that he would be a good choice to direct a
Spider-Man film. Cameron submitted a treatment to Carolco in 1993, which was a darker, more mature take on the
Spider-Man mythos. In addition to Spider-Man's origin story, it also included reimagined versions of the villains
Electro and
Sandman. Electro was described as a megalomaniacal businessman named Carlton Strand, while Sandman was depicted as Strand's personal bodyguard. Cameron's treatment featured heavy profanity and a sex scene between Spider-Man and
Mary Jane Watson atop the
Brooklyn Bridge. Carolco set a $50 million budget for the film, but progress stalled when Golan sued Carolco for attempting to make the film without his involvement. Cameron had recently completed
True Lies (1994) for
Twentieth Century Fox, and the studio unsuccessfully attempted to acquire the
Spider-Man film rights for him. Cameron then abandoned the film and began work on
Titanic (1997) and other projects. He revealed in a 1997 interview that he had the
Titanic star
Leonardo DiCaprio in mind for the role of Peter Parker. In 1995,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) acquired 21st Century Film Corporation's rights to produce the film, which gave them access to previous
Spider-Man scripts. MGM then sued Viacom,
Sony Pictures, and Marvel, which they accused of fraud in the original deal with Cannon. The following year, 21st Century, Carolco, and Marvel all filed for bankruptcy. Following the disastrous reception of
Batman & Robin in 1997, film studios viewed comics as merely for children and did not take the
superhero genre seriously. No studio showed interest in a
Spider-Man film until the release of
Blade in 1998 and the development of
X-Men (2000), projects which convinced some studios that a Marvel character could carry a film. Marvel emerged from bankruptcy in 1998 and declared that Menahem Golan's option had expired and that the rights had reverted to them. Marvel then sold the rights to Sony for $7 million. Although Sony optioned from MGM all preceding
Spider-Man screenplays, it only exercised the options on "the Cameron material", which contractually included a multi-author screenplay and a forty-five-page "
scriptment" credited only to Cameron. However, the studio announced it was not hiring Cameron to direct the film nor would it be using his script. Sony lined up several potential directors, including
Michael Bay,
Jan de Bont,
Tim Burton,
Chris Columbus,
Roland Emmerich,
David Fincher,
Ang Lee,
Baz Luhrmann,
Tony Scott,
M. Night Shyamalan and
Barry Sonnenfeld. Fincher considered taking the job, but did not want to depict Spider-Man's
origin story, as he felt it was "dumb". He proposed basing the film on
The Night Gwen Stacy Died storyline, but the studio was not interested in that approach., pictured in 2014 The chair of Columbia Pictures,
Amy Pascal, had a first choice for director:
Sam Raimi, who was a fan of the
Spider-Man comics during his youth. However, Raimi's agent warned him that he was not Sony's preferred choice. During a meeting with Pascal, Sony Pictures CEO
John Calley,
Marvel Films chief
Avi Arad, Sony executive
Matt Tolmach, and the film's producer,
Laura Ziskin, Raimi
pitched himself as the ideal director for the project. He abruptly ended his pitch after one hour, not wanting to overstay his welcome if the executives did not want him.
David Koepp was brought aboard to write the screenplay. Cameron's script was the foundation for his first draft, often word for word. Koepp pitched the idea that Peter should not get his Spider-Man suit until halfway through the film, so his origin story could be lengthened. He also proposed that Peter and Mary Jane should not be a couple by the end of the film, feeling it was more romantic if they remained apart. In this version of the script, Electro was the main antagonist. However, Raimi cut Doctor Octopus from the story to focus on the surrogate father-son dynamic between Norman Osborn and Peter Parker, which he found interesting. In June 2000,
Scott Rosenberg was hired to rewrite Koepp's material. Remaining a constant in all the rewrites was Cameron's idea that Peter shoots organic webbing from his wrists, as opposed to him inventing mechanical webshooters, which is how he shoots webs in the comics. Raimi felt the mechanical webshooters would stretch the audience's
suspension of disbelief too far. Although Rosenberg, Sargent, and Cameron all could have received credit for the final
Spider-Man script, all three voluntarily relinquished credit to Koepp.
Joe Manganiello auditioned, but was cast as the bully Flash instead. Tobey Maguire was Raimi's first choice for Peter Parker after he saw him in
The Cider House Rules. The studio was initially hesitant to cast someone who did not seem like a "adrenaline-pumping, tail-kicking titan", but Maguire impressed studio executives with his audition. He was cast in the role in July 2000, and signed a deal in the range of $3 to $4million with higher salary options for two sequels. He studied spiders and learned how to perform arachnid-like movements.
Nicolas Cage,
Jason Isaacs,
John Malkovich and
Billy Bob Thornton were considered for the role of Norman Osborn, but all turned it down. Willem Dafoe was selected for the part in November 2000. He was intrigued by the prospect of working with Raimi and by the idea of a film based on comics. He insisted on wearing the Green Goblin costume himself, as he felt that a
stuntman would not convey the character's necessary body language. The 580-piece suit took half an hour to put on. The producers wanted Dunst to get her teeth straightened, but she refused.
Hugh Jackman was supposed to have a cameo as the
X-Men film series character
Wolverine, but the appearance was scrapped after the production team realized they did not have the Wolverine costume.
Design The first version of the Green Goblin's headgear was an animatronic mask created by
Amalgamated Dynamics. Dafoe described it as a "silly looking" Halloween mask. The second version was a helmet that Dafoe termed "very angular, very modern ... more like an armor." The Spider-Man suit worn by Maguire took six months to create. It was one piece, including the mask and boots. The eye lenses were hand-sculpted by Hans Moritz, who had created the visor for the character Cyclops in
X-Men (2000). An alternate suit with a detachable mask was used for scenes in which Spider-Man takes his mask off. A
Steatoda grossa spider was used for the genetically-modified spider that bites Peter and gives him his abilities. It was painted with red and blue makeup.
Filming Principal photography for
Spider-Man began on January 8, 2001, in Culver City, California. After the
September 11 attacks, certain sequences were re-filmed, and a shot of the
Twin Towers was removed from the film. Sequences in Peter's home and in the wrestling arena were filmed on soundstages. The
Times Square sequence in which Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fight for the first time was filmed on soundstages and in Downey, California. In Downey, a construction worker named Tim Holcombe was killed when a forklift modified as a construction crane crashed into the construction basket he was in. The following court case led the state of California to fine Sony $58,805. In a now-iconic scene, Mary Jane kisses Peter while he is hanging upside down in the rain. To prepare for the scene, Dunst was given a book describing famous film kisses. During filming, water was pouring into Maguire's nose, which made it difficult for him to breathe. For the wrestling scene,
Randy Savage insisted on doing his own stunts, one of which resulted in injury. The shot in which Peter catches Mary Jane's food tray was achieved without visual effects and with Maguire's hand glued to the tray. The shot took 156 takes and 16 hours to accomplish. In Los Angeles, filming locations included the
Natural History Museum for the
Columbia University laboratory where Peter is bitten, the Pacific Electricity Building for the
Daily Bugle offices, and
Greystone Mansion for the interiors of Norman's home. On April 4, Spider-Man costumes were stolen, and Sony put up a $25,000 reward for their return. They were recovered after 18 months; a former studio security guard and an accomplice were arrested. In New York City, filming took place at the
Queensboro Bridge, Columbia University's
Low Memorial Library, the
New York Public Library, the
Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens, and a rooftop garden at the
Rockefeller Center. The
Flatiron Building was used for the offices of the
Daily Bugle. He convinced Raimi to use
computer-generated imagery (CGI) for many of the physically impossible stunts. Raimi—who had used more traditional special effects in his previous films—worked hard to plan all the sequences of Spider-Man swinging from buildings, which he described as "ballet in the sky." When two studio executives were shown shots of the computer generated character, they believed it was actually Maguire performing stunts. ==Release==