No matter how many heroes and how many comic-book movies come and go, few characters will reach the same heights as The Amazing Spider-Man. A joint creation by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spidey has been entertaining readers and audiences since 1962, when he first appeared in issue number 15 of the Amazing Fantasy comic. Lately, it has been Spider-Man’s movies that have packed theaters, dating back to Sam Raimi’s initial stab at a Sony origin story in 2002. Recently, I published a book entitled With Great Power: How Spider-Man Conquered Hollywood During the Golden Age of Comic Book Blockbusters. And as part of the research for that novel (which you can order right here), I uncovered a number of amazing behind-the-scenes stories, which I’d like to share in celebration of the live-action Spider-Man movies returning to theaters, starting today.
My book traces Spider-Man’s Hollywood history back to the television drama The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Nicholas Hammond. In addition to teaching Hollywood types how the wallcrawler could look and move in live-action, Hammond’s show gave fans one of their first looks at Spider-Man’s signature costume in live action. Needless to say, it left a few things to be desired. As I charted the history of Spider-Man for my book, I noted lessons that previous production companies had learned and then applied to their movie. Because by the time it came to Sam Raimi making Spider-Man for Sony, there were a lot of problems he had to solve, and none of the answers came easily.
‘Spider-Man hasn’t got a mouth.’
One key takeaway from the most recent animated movies set in the Spider-Verse has been that “anyone can wear the mask.” Miles Morales assumes the mantle of Spider-Man after his universe’s Peter Parker dies, but Miles also meets multiple Spider-People from wild new universes, and they all share traits that link them together.
Anyone can wear the Spider-Man mask, though, because unlike a hero such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Hulk, or Doctor Strange, you can’t see Spider-Man’s face. It protects his secret identity… and makes it VERY hard for an actor to give a performance.
Oscar-winning costume designer James Acheson ran into this issue when he started to design the original Spider-Man suit that would be worn by Tobey Maguire in 2002’s Spider-Man. As Acheson told me for the benefit of the book With Great Power:
I don’t think that they realized that Spider-Man hasn’t got a mouth until they started shooting.
Because of the amount of work that went into designing and creating the Spider-Man costume, Acheson and his team had to get to work before Sam Raimi finalized casting on the lead role. The costume designer – who had already won three Oscars for his work on The Last Emperor, Dangerous Liaisons, and Restoration – pored over sketches from legendary Marvel artists, including Alex Ross. At the same time, Acheson and his team were fielding offers from corporate brands who wanted to contribute to (and be featured on) the Spider-Man suit. Nike wanted to contribute material for the hero’s boots. Noted sunglass brand Oakley hoped that their lenses could be used for Spider-Man’s mask.
With all of this corporate attention, you might assume that Acheson’s team had immeasurable resources at their fingertips. As it turns out, it was far less glamorous than that. Acheson told me:
We built the first Spider-Man suit, or did the sculpting for it, in a little space just off Santa Monica Boulevard which turned out to be an ex-pornographic film studio called The G-Spot.
Ah, Hollywood. The dream factory. As Acheson labored on the suit, Raimi struggled with casting. Eventually, the two departments had to align. But that, too, created issues.
‘I’ve never seen such an embarrassed director.’
Any costume designer working on a superhero movie needs to know the body type of the actor cast in the role. As James Acheson toiled away on Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man suit, the director was struggling to cast the lead part. Picking Sony’s first Spider-Man came with a lot of pressure, and Acheson had to make a few educated guesses until Raimi finally committed.
Given the fact that Acheson was looking at comic-accurate sketches of Spider-Man, he was envisioning a muscly actor stepping into the role. As Acheson told me:
Because Spidey’s been bitten, he suddenly stops being the nerdy boy. He’s got a body!
That is reflected beautifully in the following transformation scene, when Maguire’s Peter Parker wakes up after receiving the spider bite, and suddenly sports a build.
But Acheson was guessing during the early stages of the costume design. He didn’t have a leading man to work off of, so he predicted body types. Finally, it got to be too much. And as he told me, he resorted to drastic measures. One afternoon, Acheson filled a conference room with 20 men of all shapes and sizes, wearing nothing but things and Speedos. He invited Sam Raimi to the costume department and demanded that he choose, so that Acheson’s work on the Spider-Man suit could continue!
As Acheson recalled:
I’ve never seen such an embarrassed director. And he chose one guy—I still remember him. He was a really beautiful looking man, but he was about six-foot-two, and built like a shithouse door! And then (Sam) chose Tobey Maguire!
It all worked out. Tobey Maguire remains the favorite Spider-Man of many Spidey fans, and they got to see their beloved icon return to the suit in Spider-Man: No Way Home opposite Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. It was fun to see the Spider-Man suit evolve over the years, leading to some major wins for Garfield (in The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and Holland (at the very end of No Way Home). Where does Spider-Man rank on the list of all-time Spider-Man movies? And do you plan to see the live-action Spider-Man movies on the big screen again? Act now, before they go away. And when you get back, grab a copy of my Spider-Man book, With Great Power. It has hundreds of other behind the scenes stories like this.
