Spider-Man 2
There's a hero in all of us.
Country
Production
Genre
Budget
$200 000 000
Revenue
$783 766 341
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, Lorne Orleans, Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr., Stan Lee, Kevin Feige, Joseph M. Caracciolo
Operator
Composer
Artist
Neil Spisak, Cosmas A. Demetriou
Audition
Dianne Crittenden
Editing
Short description
Peter Parker struggles to balance his studies, his jobs and his life as Spider-Man, and the strain is wearing down the relationships he cares about most, including his long-standing feelings for Mary Jane Watson. He begins to question whether he should keep wearing the mask at all. Meanwhile, the scientist Otto Octavius, whose work Peter's friend Harry Osborn has taken an interest in, is transformed by a failed experiment into the tentacled Doc Ock, turning a personal crisis into a threat to the whole city.
Sam Raimi directed the film, the eleventh of the seventeen features he has made in chronological order, arriving between Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3. Alvin Sargent wrote the screenplay, and Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad and Lorne Orleans produced. Tobey Maguire returns as Peter Parker, with Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane, James Franco as Harry, Alfred Molina as Doc Ock, Rosemary Harris as May Parker and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, among 121 credited cast members and 225 credited crew.
Released in June 2004, the film cost about 200 million dollars and took roughly 789 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.5/10 from around 778,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.3/10 from about 17,000 votes, while its critics' rating stands at 8.6/10 from 276 reviews, noticeably higher than the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the 112th minute of the film, as the wall begins to collapse over Mary Jane, she trips and falls to the floor. When Peter runs up and stops the falling wall, she is lying on the floor, pinned by a wooden beam that wasn't there before.
- Actor Scott Spiegel, who played the man on the balcony almost eating a slice of pizza, wrote the screenplay and played a role in another film by director Sam Raimi, "Evil Dead."
- The bank where the fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus takes place is the same bank seen in the movie 'Police Academy: City Under Siege'.
- At the 93rd minute of the film, Doctor Octopus climbs the facade of a building and tears down the flagpole hanging on the wall with one of his tentacles. When Peter emerges from under the rubble in the next shot and looks towards the building Octopus went to, the flagpole with the advertising banner he had previously torn down is again hanging on the wall.
- At the 105th minute of the film, Peter asks Harry where Octavius is holding Mary Jane and assembles his energy device. It is unknown how Harry could know the location of Doctor Octopus's hideout if he didn't tell Harry about it when they met.
- One of the film's plotlines is based on the fiftieth issue of the comic book The Amazing Spider-Man—Spider-Man No More.
- Ivan Reitman "polished" the script.
- Toby Maguire's agent requested $25 million or 10% of the box office revenue as his fee. Columbia Pictures rejected this offer.
- At the 92nd minute of the film, as Octavius walks on the tentacles, a reflection of a crew member can be noticed in the broken shop window on the left side of the frame.
- Sam Raimi became the director of the sequel on April 1, 2002, exactly one month before the premiere of the first film.
- At the 39th minute of the film, glass shards fly out of the window frame and kill Rosalind by hitting her in the head. However, when medical personnel cover Rosalind's face at the 40th minute, there are no injuries visible on her face.
- Tobey Maguire is a vegetarian. In the scene at the diner, his character eats a tofu sausage.
- For the role of Doctor Octopus, director Sam Raimi initially planned to invite Sam Neill or Robert De Niro.
- At the 43rd minute of the film, Octavius throws a taxi with his tentacles. Several errors can be noticed in this scene: First, the car takes off, flips over, and prepares to fall onto the road. However, in the next frame, the taxi is no longer flipped and falls on another car instead of the road. After a change of one of the frames, the driver disappears from the thrown taxi. The safety frame can be seen in the parked car that the taxi falls on. Moreover, the car continued to drive a few frames earlier, rather than standing still.
- The violinist (Elise Din) plays the musical theme from one of the earliest Spider-Man animated series.
- At the 38th minute of the film, the energy installation begins to attract all metallic objects in the room, including the guests' jewelry. However, in one shot, Rosalind's earrings can be seen hanging normally, unaffected.
- When Otto Octavius finishes presenting his mechanical tentacles at the 36th minute of the film, one of the attendees asks about the danger of artificial intelligence, which powers the manipulators. However, Octavius did not mention AI during his description of the tentacles.
- At the 5-minute mark of the film, when Peter is speeding on a motorcycle, weaving between lanes of cars, you can notice that in some frames actor Tobey Maguire is replaced by a stunt double.
- Jerry O'Connell auditioned for the role of J. Jonah Jameson.
- On June 30, 2004, the film set a new record for first-day earnings on a Wednesday – $40,442,604.
- Filming was scheduled to begin in January 2003. In February, due to a hand injury sustained by Tobey Maguire, filming was suspended for 2 months.
- The film contains several visual references to the first movie. Among them: — Peter runs into a burning house to save a child. — Peter runs across a rooftop before shooting his web. — Peter throws out the trash in Aunt May's backyard and talks to Mary Jane. — A view from Peter's eyes when he looks through his glasses and sees a blurred picture.
- Bruce Campbell was originally intended to play Dr. Connors (The Lizard). In the first draft of the script, The Lizard was supposed to appear at the end of the movie. After discovering who was behind the Spider-Man mask, Doctor Octopus tried to help him stop The Lizard. However, Sam Raimi rejected this plot development because he didn't want The Lizard and Harry Osborn to both be the main villains of the third part. Additionally, Raimi was certain that audiences would instantly remember that Bruce had a small role in the first film.
- When the writers announced their intention to include the Black Cat character in the plot, actress Chloë Sevigny literally begged the film's director, Sam Raimi, to cast her in the role.
- At the 6-minute mark of the film, when Peter exits the janitor's closet, the clock hanging behind the surprised administrator is significantly lower than in the previous frame.
- At the 5-minute mark of the film, Peter is running with a bundle of 8 pizza boxes. When a man goes out onto the balcony in one of the following scenes and sees the stack of boxes thrown by Spider-Man, there are only 7 boxes in the stack.
- The following titles were considered for the film: “Spider-Man: No More,” “Spider-Man 2 Lives,” and “Spider-Man: Unmasked.” The title “The Amazing Spider-Man” was mentioned in the initial statement regarding the preparation for filming the sequel.
- If you look closely at the front page of the Daily Bugle, in addition to the headline “Spidey and Doc Ock Rob Bank!” you can also see the headline “Can Chronic Back Pain Lead to Brain Shrinkage?” The latter is a possible joke referencing Tobey Maguire’s back problems.
- When Jameson offers $50 for the Spider-Man suit, he is told in response: "I can get more for it on eBay." In 2001, four suits belonging to the film's main character were stolen from the set. The suits were found eighteen months later, and one of the studio's former security guards was arrested on suspicion of the theft. Columbia Pictures offered a reward of $25,000 for the return of the missing suits. The studio clearly undervalued them, as collectors estimated each suit was worth around $50,000.
- Kirsten Dunst admitted in one interview that earlier versions of the script featured the character Black Cat.
- In the scene immediately after the bank robbery, when Doctor Octopus, Spider-Man, and Aunt May are on the side of the building, all the actors – including 76-year-old Rosemary Harris – were actually suspended on wires at a great height.
- At the 26th minute of the film, the bandits reload their weapons and begin shooting at Spider-Man who is chasing them. This scene contains two errors: First, the driver reaches for a submachine gun, while the passenger uses a pump-action shotgun. In some of the shots, their weapons are switched – the driver is holding a chrome pistol, and his accomplice is firing a submachine gun. The passenger is shooting a pump-action shotgun, but he doesn't reload it by working the fore-end after each shot, which in reality would not have allowed the bandit to continue firing.
- At one stage of film production, Michael Chabon worked on the script.
- The scene where Peter Parker runs down the street unbuttoning his shirt, revealing the Spider-Man suit underneath, is a reference to "Superman" (1978).
- 54 million dollars were spent solely on computer special effects.
- When Doctor Octopus appears in the Daily Bugle for the first time, he is depicted exactly as he was upon his first appearance in the Spider-Man comics.
- At the 64th minute of the film, Peter Parker walks through a park and stumbles, but in the next frame, when Peter gets up, he is already on a regular street. Also, when Parker stands up and puts on his glasses, it can be noticed that many random passers-by behind are looking directly at him.
- In the scene where Peter drops his textbooks on the college grounds and bends down to pick them up, he is hit in the face with a black bag by a passing student. The person carrying the bag was the film's director, Sam Raimi.
- At the 25-minute mark, a police car rams the robbers' car during a chase, leaving dents on its side. In one of the following scenes, when the criminals try to escape the police and start shooting, you can notice that there are no dents on the robbers' car.
- The promotional team intended for the 'Spider-Man 2' logo to appear regularly during broadcasts of National Baseball League games. However, negative reactions from television viewers forced producers to abandon the idea.
- At the 4-minute mark of the film, you can notice an error on Peter's helmet: the pizzeria where he works as a delivery driver is misspelled – Bleeker Street instead of Bleecker Street.
- The landlord of the apartment where Peter lives is named Ditkovich. This is a reference to Steve Ditko, one of the creators of Spider-Man.
- One of the tombstones in the cemetery scene bears the name of Neil Spisak, the production designer for the film.
- When Jameson debates what to call Doctor Octopus, one of the options suggested by Hoffman is Doctor Strange. Jameson replies that the name is already taken. This is a reference to Spider-Man's ally from the comics.
- The full version of the film has a runtime of 135 minutes.
- At the 26-minute mark of the film, when one of the police cars crashes into a parked car and takes off, you can notice that a stuntman in a black protective helmet is sitting at the wheel instead of the police officer.
- The creator of Spider-Man, Stan Lee, appears in this film in his standard cameo. During the fight between Spider-Man and Doc Ock on the side of a building, the first shot of the street during the battle shows a woman being pushed away from falling debris; the person pushing her is Lee himself.
- Danny Elfman, who composed the score for the film (as well as several other Sam Raimi pictures), had a serious falling out with the director. After filming concluded, he stated that he would never work with Sam again.
- Alfred Molina, who played Doctor Octopus, gave names to the four tentacles: Larry, Harry, Flo, and Moe.
- In the 120th minute of the film, when Mary Jane runs down the street in a wedding dress, her parting is on the left side of her head. In the next scene, when she arrives home to Peter, the parting is already on the right side.
- Spider-Man's web-shooters, which fire web balls, first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #53.
- The address of "Joe's Pizza" is exactly the same as Doctor Strange's in the Spider-Man comics.
- Filming of the second part began before the script was officially approved.
- Pre-production, the script, and casting were completed within one year of the release of the first film.
- At the 83rd minute of the film, Aunt May, hugging Peter, rests her head on his right shoulder. In the next frame, her head is on his left shoulder, and in the following one, it is back on his right.
- At the 37th minute of the film, Octavius uses tritium to initiate a fusion reaction, depicted as a yellow metallic sphere. In reality, tritium is a colorless gas under normal conditions and can only turn into a liquid or solid state at very low temperatures.
- Sam Raimi initially wanted to shoot the film with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. But then he changed his decision to 2.35:1.
- The drawings in the opening credits were created by Alex Ross.
- When a girl helps Peter climb onto the landing at the 79th minute of the film, it can be noticed that she has knee pads hidden under her pajamas.
- The play in which Mary Jane performs is Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." The scene in the theater when Peter arrives is taken from the second act.
- The scene where Peter Parker attempts to jump from building to building is reminiscent of a similar scene from "The Matrix" (1999).
- Ed Harris and Chris Cooper were considered for the role of Otto Octavius. Chris Cooper later played Norman Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
- At the 98th minute of the film, the dashboard in the lead car of the subway begins to spark and burns a hole in Spider-Man's mask, after which he takes it off his face. At the 102nd minute, when Peter comes to, a boy in the car returns his mask to him, and it is once again intact.
- When Aunt May and Peter bring flowers to Uncle Ben's grave at the 71st minute of the film, it can be noticed that the grave is in a completely different location compared to the burial shown at the 112th minute of the first film. Also, during this scene, it is clearly visible that the wind is created with the help of a fan standing nearby, as there is almost complete calm in the background.
- The fight between Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man on the roof of the train was Sam Raimi's idea. This scene was filmed first.
- In addition to Doctor Octopus, played by Alfred Molina, the film mentions two other villains: J. Jonah Jameson, also known as the Man-Wolf, and Dr. Curt Connors (who was mentioned in the first film as Peter Parker's boss), also known by the alias The Lizard.
- At the 99th minute of the film, Peter uses his web to try to stop the runaway subway train, and his suit begins to tear from the strain. The hole that appears on his left sleeve disappears and reappears with each cut.
- The two boys who return Spider-Man's mask on the train are Tobey Maguire's cousins.
- Tobey Maguire's participation was in serious doubt, as the actor was suffering from chronic back pain (after filming 'The Favorite'). The role of Spider-Man was already prepared to be given to Jake Gyllenhaal (Kirsten Dunst's boyfriend at the time), but Tobey found the strength to participate in the filming. Incidentally, he received a record fee for this role – 17 million dollars.
- When Peter runs down the stairs to avoid meeting his landlord, the latter says in Russian: "Fool! Why are people like you even born?"
- The poems that Peter recites to Mary Jane are taken from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Four Winds".
- The Punisher (another superhero from the Marvel Universe) appears in a cameo in the scene where Mary Jane runs across the street in a wedding dress. The Punisher was played by Tom McComas, a stunt double for Thomas Jane from the 2004 film "The Punisher."
- According to Bill Pope (cinematographer), 16 cameras were used to film the scene of the fight between Spidey and Doctor Octopus on the roof of the train: Super 35, six Panavision Super 65mm, four Arri 435, eight VistaVision, 8-perf Iwerks.
- The phone number for "Joe's Pizza" – 212-366-1182 – is the number of a real-life pizza restaurant in New York.
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