Did ‘Spider-Man’ create the most difficult scene in film history?
When sitting in the cinema, tucking into popcorn or nestled under the duvet watching the latest movie that has Hollywood buzzing with anticipation, not often do we spare more than a couple of moments thought for the amount of hard work that went into making the final product. Whether it be blockbusters such as James Cameron’s Avatar and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, every film under the sun, even the most maligned efforts, have had a great deal of effort poured into them.
There can be many reasons for this, and more often than not, movies hit a bump in the road when in production. One of the most common factors is the presence of a diva on set, which can come in the form of an actor or director. Take the clash between Robert Downey Jr. and David Fincher on the set of 2007’s Zodiac, for instance. The auteur is such a perfectionist that, in some instances, he would demand to shoot over 70 takes for a single scene, which naturally brought him into conflict with the mercurial Downey Jr., who prides himself on creative freedom.
Elsewhere, problems with the script, CGI, or practical effects can arise, with the latter being mostly a discomfort since the dawn of cinema. The most famous example of practical effects becoming a nuisance is that of the mechanical shark in Jaws malfunctioning so often that director Steven Spielberg was forced to change the look of the film. The result was to use the machine as little as possible, which, in turn, made it far more chilling.
Practical effects are becoming less relied upon because they are simply not as reliable, and the proliferation of CGI is making the already tricky realm of cinema an easier place to navigate. However, this cannot delete the past. As displayed by Spielberg’s experiences on the set of Jaws, many auteurs have horror stories to tell because of practical effects, with Sam Raimi enduring the worst of them all. Duly, he can claim to have shot the most difficult scene in history.
This taut experience came when he was filming 2002’s Spider-Man, the first entry in his trilogy. Although they might look a tad dated compared to the CGI-heavy Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland efforts, for people of a particular generation, Raimi’s are the ultimate adaptation of Stan Lee’s comics. Notably, for the movies, Raimi used practical effects as much as possible, and whilst this gave them a lifelike feel, at points, it could be a Herculean challenge.
It all came to a head when shooting the pivotal scene where Peter Parker first discovers his powers. This scene is arguably the most iconic in Raimi’s series; when Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane slips and her tray and flies into the air, with Tobey Maguire’s Parker seamlessly catching her with one arm and her food on a tray with the other.
Raimi needed it to be as natural as possible, so without the CGI, it took 156 takes to perfect. Nevertheless, it was worth the effort, as it still holds up 20 years later due to his choice of forgoing CGI. Sometimes less is more.
