Trivia / Spider-Man

• Actor Allusion: At one point, Bonesaw executes Randy Savage's signature flying elbow drop.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Willem Dafoe took the role of Norman Osborn in spite of disapproval from his acting peers because he predicted that it'd be quite the fun time for him. In particular, he was very excited of the prospect of using lots of wire work and stunts as the Goblin, even comparing the experience to being a circus performer. And he clearly enjoyed every moment of it, to the point where he later asked to be written in somewhere in the sequel during its production, and ended up reprising the role 19 years later in an entirely separate franchise.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!:
  • A popular meme emerged from this film where Peter puts on his glasses to better see a blurry image. In the film, however, the scene where the meme comes from depicts Peter's newfound powers improving his vision to the point where he no longer needs his glasses.
  • Another meme involves MJ saying "Tell me the truth. I'm... I'm ready to hear it." to Peter following Norman's funeral. Needless to say, she never actually utters such a line in the film proper.
  • Despite what the meme has said, Peter never asked, "Uncle Ben, what happened?" He just simply asked what happened and a lady from the crowed answered, "Carjacker; he's been shot. We've just called the paramedic, they are on their way."
• Blooper:
  • Harry is not seen in the brief overhead shots of Peter flipping in midair while fighting Flash, despite arriving just before.
  • When Green Goblin says, "Impressive", his lips are not moving.
• Career Resurrection: This became the first financial success Willem Dafoe had in years after regaining critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination two years before for Shadow of the Vampire. He remained on the A-list ever since, netting two more Oscar nominations for The Florida Project and At Eternity's Gate while starring in several other hits. He even made cameo appearances in this film's two sequels before making a full Role Reprise as the Green Goblin in the MCU-set Spider-Man: No Way Home 19 years later, which promptly became his biggest financial success to date.
• Cast the Expert: Spidey's wrestling opponent Bonesaw is, of course, played by real-life wrestler Macho Man Randy Savage.
• Common Knowledge: It has long been believed that the outcry from UK children and their parents when the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave Spider-Man a "12" certificate led to the creation of the less-restrictive "12A" rating, which is false. The BBFC were already making plans to revise their "12" rating as early as 2000 as a result of parents arguing that their 10 or 11-year-olds were mature enough to go see movies like the James Bond pictures yet were legally restricted from seeing them in the cinemas. In 2001, they introduced the "PG-12" rating as a test run in Norwich which allowed children under 12 to see the movie in the accompaniment of an adult. After the Norwich test run proved successful, the BBFC introduced the "12A" certificate with the release of The Bourne Identity.
• Dawson Casting:
  • 26-year-old Tobey Maguire and 23-year-old James Franco play high school seniors. Kirsten Dunst, being 18/19 during filming in 2001, was the only one close to the age of her character.
  • Although Uncle Ben claims to be 68 in the film, Cliff Robertson was 75 at the time of filming. Make-up artists still made him look a little older.
• Deleted Scene:
  • There's some debate over whether or not it originally appeared in the final film, but a famous trailer in which Spider-Man captures some baddies getting away in a helicopter in a web between the Twin Towers was tastefully removed following the September 11th attack.
  • After drawing his costume, Peter Parker was originally going to have to make his own web-shooters instead of his organic webbing, however this was cut entirely.
  • Stan Lee had an alternate cameo at the festival, originally asking Peter to buy sunglasses and referencing the X-Men, another Marvel property that had a film produced.
  • After saving a couple of people by web-pulling them away from the falling debris, Peter was seen by a couple of children, praising Peter for what he has done, ending the scene with Peter's shushing about his secret.
  • An alternative scene of Norman talking to his mask was filmed but cut from the film, the only footage of it can be seen is by the blooper reel.
  • Scenes with a version of Eddie Brock played by R.C. Everbeck was filmed but left out of the final cut, with the only remnant being a name drop from Robbie Robertson.
• Disowned Adaptation: According to someone who interviewed him, Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko had mixed feelings about the film. He felt that the film was too dark and he did not like its portrayal of the military and businessmen.
• Dyeing for Your Art: To acquire his bumped-up physique, Tobey Maguire went through a strict five-month regimen of exercise, weight training and martial arts six times a week, as well as eating a high protein meal four to six times a day.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Both the World Trade Center teaser trailer (and the associated early posters showing the reflection of the buildings in Spidey's eyes) have remained hotly-collected items, with fans continuing to circulate copies of the posters — which even had bootleg reprints — and copies of the teaser trailer itself. In 2019, Youtuber user Yoshikiller2S located a 35mm print of the teaser trailer and had it digitized in 4K, marking the highest quality of the trailer since its initial release. Not bad for a clip that was said to have been scrapped completely by Sony (to the extent that it never appeared on an official home media release).
  • This also extends to the "Beyond the Web" featurette, which detailed the making-of process for the aforementioned teaser. Once originally made for Screenslam.com, the featurette is still circulated by some collectors.
  • The tie-in game faced this, in the form of a limited-time demo released by Kellogg's, which included game elements that weren't available in the final product, including native 30 FPS support, modern controller support, different player models and advertisements and more. It can still be found on some abandonware sites.
• Milestone Celebration: The film debuted in 2002, 40 years after the first appearance of Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The original trailer for the movie depicted a theft of a bank, with the robbers making a getaway in a helicopter. A close-up of the helicopter was shown, until the helicopter stopped, apparently caught in mid-air. As the camera zoomed out, it was shown that the helicopter was caught in a spider web, suspended between the two towers of the World Trade Center. After 9/11, however, the trailer was changed.
• No Stunt Double: Willem Dafoe did 95% of his own stunts. The only stunt he didn't do was when the wall fell on him.
• On-Set Injury: Willem Dafoe accidentally chipped Tobey Maguire's chin while filming their fight scene.
• Orphaned Reference: J. Jonah Jameson mentions that "Eddie" has been trying to photograph Spider-Man for weeks, referring to a version of Eddie Brock played by R.C. Everbeck whose scene was cut from the film.
• Preview Piggybacking: The trailer for Hulk was shown for various screenings of the film.
• Reality Subtext: The movie came out just under eight months after 9/11. The scene in which pedestrians pelt the Green Goblin with trash from the Roosevelt Island tram, yelling "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" was added as a direct response.
• Recycled Set: The interior of the Osborn mansion was previously used as the interior for Wayne Manor in Tim Burton's Batman. Sam Raimi worked hard to shoot the corresponding scenes in such a way that the audience wouldn't catch it.
• Referenced by...: In X-Men: First Class, when Hank first demonstrates his power, he ends up hanging upside-down, right at Raven's eye level. Raven then exclaims "You're amazing!"
• Romance on the Set: Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst dated during the production of this movie, but broke up soon afterwards.
• Saved from Development Hell: Plans for a Spider-Man feature film had been in the works since the '80s, with Cannon Films and director Tobe Hooper attached to the project at one point.
• Throw It In!:
  • Tobey Maguire ad-libbed his lines when trying out the web.
  • Norman calling the testing table cold was the genuine reaction of Willem Dafoe.
  • Jim Norton improvised the line "He stinks and I don't like him".
• Uncredited Role: Ivan Reitman did some uncredited script doctoring.
• What Could Have Been: See here
• Word of Saint Paul: On the DVD Commentary, producer Laura Ziskin asks Kirsten Dunst if MJ is aware of Spider-Man's identity during the upside-down kiss. Dunst replies that "M.J's not that bright".

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