“Worth it”: the intense preparation Tobey Maguire carried out for ‘Spider-Man’
For relative newcomers to the web-slinging teenager, Tom Holland is Spider-Man. The London-born actor has embodied the dorky superhero in the MCU since 2018, bringing a boyish charm to the beloved Peter Parker. To teens of the 2010s, Andrew Garfield is Spider-Man. Starring opposite Emma Stone, he brought a new sense of cool to the character under Marc Webb’s direction. But for 2000s kids, no iteration of the character compares to Tobey Maguire.
When Sam Raimi took on the mammoth task of adapting Spider-Man to screen in the early 2000s, he was particularly keen for Maguire to take on the titular role. The casting choice wasn’t quite what the studio had initially imagined for the film – they had considered the likes of Jude Law and Leonardo DiCaprio for the character beforehand, so it took some convincing for them to get on board with Maguire.
This trepidation towards casting Maguire was not lost on the star. Speaking with the BBC, the actor stated that he wasn’t surprised by the work he was required to put in to secure the part. “Sam Raimi and I did a screen test which convinced the studio to hire me,” he remembered, “and they were very supportive once I got the role.”
Maguire had won over the studio, but the hard work didn’t stop once he made it past the audition room. In fact, it had only just begun. Peter Parker may be less threatening than some of Marvel’s other protagonists, but he is still a superhero, so there was a fair amount of physical preparation involved in the run-up to the shooting.
For five months, Maguire recalled exercising for four hours on six out of seven days each week. His exercise routine included a combination of things, from yoga to martial arts, while a nutritionist helped him with food choices. The hard work paid off, as Maguire was able to embody both the dorkiness of Peter Parker and his more heroic alter-ego, Spider-Man, as well as the interplay between the two.
Alongside dieting and training, Maguire explained that the costuming process was particularly intense. “I had a body cast and computer scans, and they covered my whole body in a plaster cast,” he remembered. “It took hours to do different sections of my body, and then afterwards they peel it all off – that rips out lots of your body hair when they do that, and it was really painful!”
Still, Maguire admitted that it was “worth it” for the double takes he received on-set. It was worth it in the long run too, as Maguire won over audiences with his loveable portrayal of Peter Parker. The initial Spider-Man movie was so successful that it received two sequels in the years that followed, meaning Maguire would have to return to his intense training and costuming sessions.
Over two decades since the first entry into the trilogy hit cinemas, Maguire is still favoured by many Spider-Man fans as the best iteration of the character. Whether it’s due to his iconic dance moves in Spider-Man 3 or the youthful energy Maguire brought to the character, he has stood his ground in the face of stellar performances by Garfield and Holland.
The studio could have hired an actor who was already fully trained for the part, but they wouldn’t have been able to teach him Maguire’s charm on-screen.
