Slashdot Mirror
The Hiring, Firing and Re-Hiring of Spider-Man
Obiwan Kenobi writes "Remember that rumor that Tobey McGuire was fired and Jake Gyllenhaal was going to be Spider-Man? Well, it's true. According to the LA Times, McGuire's unwillingness to reveal the extent of his back injuries from his last project (Seabiscuit) resulted in a huge power struggle that incurred the wrath of Universal president Ron Meyer (whose daughter is 'coincidentally' dating McGuire), a pissed off Sam Raimi, and a now-fired agent. Interesting read about the politics of making a big budget blockbuster." Really just a gossipy story frankly, but McGuire seems to be in for the sequel despite the back problems.
Normally puts you at a disadvantage.
Tobey - Do NOT dump this girl. You will pay dearly.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
It's not McGuire, it's Maguire.
Tobey Maguire is weak. Always remember, with great back injuries comes great take-wrecking painkillers.
I was watching Celebrity Justice just today (don't ask) and it seems that Gylennhahallla was put in because he's dating Dunst and Raimi was upset with McGuire. But before Tobey can come back to play Spiderman (which is what everyone would prefer when attitudes aren't flying) he's now going to have to pass a physical and consider a paycut.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
Back problems didn't stop Orlando Bloom from doing Lord of the Rings. He actually broke his back too.
Funny how you can find out things about people, and how appearances are not always correct. Take me for instance, I really thought Tobby was as quiet and good natured as he plays in his movies. But after reading the article, I realize he's just another person who has allowed the money to go to his head.
Fine, you're a millionaire, this doesn't automatically mean you need to be a prick.. be thankful that someone actually pays to go see your stuff, and realize that without the studios/directors/producers there will be no film, and you woulnd't be getting jack..
---
But please, tell me what you really think.
They are currently filming down near the financial district in Manhattan. From everything I've heard Mr. McGuire is there, so I'm guessing he is in the movie.
thought it would be a good idea to change actors for a sequel. I dont ever remember ever seeing one weare they have that was any good
Can Tobey MCGuire even stay awake long enough for another movie? I remember watching spiderman and thinking it was some sort of joke or something. I always thought of spiderman as hyper-energetic and outgoing, but I guess a lethargic spiderman was kind of interesting.
all they need him for is to be a talking head other than that they can get someone better to fit into the costume
Nah, the world revolves around new york city.
Gotham.
Too bad it sucks!
Hah, easy there NYers, just yankin your chain.
Sent from your iPad.
On one of those TV trash programs Celebrity Justice that aired yesterday (nothing on the site about it though...) they painted a slightly different story.
According to them originally Tobey McGuire was cast in the role of SpiderMan but was going to be dropped because he was making demands that related to scheduling trying to make them work around his schedule because of his back.
When he started making these demands producers said fine we have Jake Gyllenhaal in our back pocket so tell Tobey to take a hike. Tobey basically crawled back and is now SpiderMan but had to agree to certain things including signing an agreement that he would be financially penalized if he was unable to fill his role as SpiderMan and also had to undergo a medical exam.
Never been a huge fan of McGuire. Jake Gyllenhaal is a much superior actor and also a little darker and more interesting. I'm probably in the minority and Jake doesn't fit with pop culture like McGuire does but it would have been cool.
Anyone ever see Donnie Darko??? That's about all you need to say about Jake Gyllenhaal.
Besides the fact that it runs in the family Maggie Gyllenhaal was amazing in Secretary.
Where the Music Matters
uhhhh did you not see Major League II?? Omar Epps played a stupendous Willie Mays Hayes.
Great Linux Site
In the classic Posting Of Stories With Blatant Spelling Mistakes tradition, I hereby apologize for mispelling Tobey Maguire three times in a row.
Yes, I too was in the running for a slashdot editor. (/joke)
Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan vs Alec Baldwin. Sean Connery as James Bond vs Anybody Else. Those are two big ones that come quickly to mind. I am not counting stuff like Michael Keaton being a better Batman than Adam West or the entire cast of MASH the TV show being better than the entire cast of MASH the movie.
For Star or Entertainment or People or the other 3000 tabloids and mindless mass-market celebrity magazines to cover.
Give us a story on overclocking or something.
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
canned his agent
with raise in hand.
The sooner we can get rid of these primadonna actors the better.
Honestly, for the amount of bank that this whiner is getting for making this movie I'd put up with an amazing amount of pain.
Yep, remember kids:
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday: The MPAA is evil and should be boycotted. Avoid all major studio movies!!!
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: Oooooh look shiny new movies/DVDs! Yay!!!
So remember to see Spiderman 2 the day it comes out... provided it comes out on a Tue/Thu/Sat. Otherwise, wait until the next day.
Meyer had more than one pony, so to speak, in this race. Not only was Maguire dating his daughter, he also was in Universal's "Seabiscuit." Meyer got on the phone with Maguire and told him he'd be making a catastrophic mistake if he didn't do everything in his power to get himself back into the movie.
From the sound of things, he'd be making an even worse mistake if he hadn't done everything in his power to get himself back into his boss's daughter. ;-)
Or does anyone else find the idea of someone restricted by a back injury playing the part of an action hero with superpowers more than a tad silly ??
Personally I think they should have got some else to play the part. I doubt many people will go just because Toby is in the movie. From my own experience with back injury it severly restricts the range and fluidity of motion, not something you want to see in your average action super hero. I imagine teh stunt double will end up doinga lot more work on this movie than originally intended.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
Let's get back to something geeky.
Oh, what a tangled web he wove
* Tobey Maguire was dropped from 'Spider-Man's' sequel, then rehired. How did he get back in the picture?
He's back
He's back
(Zade Rosenthal)
Search by movie title:
Search by ZIP code:
Movies
Theaters
Within
By Kim Masters, Special to The Times
Tobey Maguire is about as sorry as a movie star can be.
In a few short weeks this spring, he got himself dismissed from the next installment of "Spider-Man," had part of Hollywood's power elite work toward his reinstatement, won back his job, fired his agent and then was assiduously courted by the head of every major agency in town. He's back crawling the wall again, chastened by the whole experience.
"I feel like I learned a lesson," he says. "The movie is the most important thing."
The tale of how Maguire went from out-of-work webslinger to repentant star is a brief but engrossing saga of modern-day Hollywood. It takes place in a world where an actor's power can easily be miscalculated amid the multimillion-dollar paydays that accompany the big franchise movies driving the industry.
The first movie grossed more than $820 million worldwide, and in March, as filming on the inevitable sequel was underway, Maguire went astray. He had a notion that Columbia Pictures would arrange the shooting schedule for this costly and crucial project on his terms, to allow him to deal with a recurring problem: a bad back. "I was going 'They're going to have to make some accommodation for me,' " he says. Wrong. He was promptly dropped. He and Columbia Chairman Amy Pascal contend it was solely because of the concerns about his condition and poor communication on that subject. Even though he has an array of representatives that sounds like the setup for a Hollywood joke -- an agent, a manager and a lawyer -- Maguire takes full responsibility, saying his attitude going into the sequel was "inappropriate."
Whether he was let go simply because of a painful herniated disc or for more complicated reasons, Maguire had a narrow escape. He was saved, in part, by a highly unusual circumstance: He is dating the daughter of Universal chief Ron Meyer. Meyer not only convinced Maguire that he was making the mistake of his life to let the role go without a fight, but he was also willing to lobby on Maguire's behalf. Although Pascal minimizes Meyer's role, sources with firsthand knowledge of these events make it plain that Meyer used a career's worth of experience and good relationships to help get Maguire back into a film that is a major franchise for a rival studio.
For Maguire, the stakes were extremely high. In the past, rising stars have seen their fortunes change when they did not reprise their roles in major action franchises. It happened to Alec Baldwin after he balked at continuing as Jack Ryan in the Paramount Pictures films based on Tom Clancy's bestsellers. And it happened to Val Kilmer after a troublesome turn as Batman.
Maguire was seen as vulnerable in this case because, unlike his close friend Leonardo DiCaprio, he's not a conventional leading man. "You can be a really great actor without being a movie star," says a leading agent not directly involved in the situation. Had he not returned to "Spider-Man," that agent continues, "Tobey Maguire the actor would have survived. But Tobey Maguire the multimillion-dollar movie star? I don't know." Many also believe Maguire, 27, was especially replaceable in the "Spider-Man" sequel because, for a film of this nature, the concept overshadows the actor. After all, a number of actors have played James Bond -- and he works without a mask.
Maguire's career has had an enviable trajectory in the past few years. He cemented his claim to legitimacy with roles in such films as "The Ice Storm," "The Cider House Rules" and "Wonder Boys" before winning the role of "Spider-Man." Many doubted that he was right for the part. He is so small that "Cider House Rules" was shot to minimize the height difference
Jake Gyllenhaal is a much better actor, and this is exactly what he needs to become a household name.
"... or the entire cast of MASH the TV show being better than the entire cast of MASH the movie."
Except for Gary Burghoff, who played Radar O'Reilly in both the movie and the TV series.
Michael Keaton being a better Batman than Adam West? Are you on drugs?
Have you ever seen Conan O'Brien's pilot he made with Adam West? Neither have I, but I've heard that it's the funniest thing ever aired on teevee. But of course, if you don't like Adam West...
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
If I remember correctly, the studio didn't want Toby for the first film and finally relented when Raimi made sure that Toby would do the sequel. Kind of funny that the studio would dump him after making a stink to get him signed for the sequel in the first place.
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
no... he was better too.
lysergically yours
> Too bad it sucks!
> Hah, easy there NYers, just yankin your chain.
Haha, good one. Yeah, everyone knows that New Jersey barely ekes out over NYC as sucking worse.
James Bond, duuuuuh
Okay, arguably, it isn't really *good*, but it does have 20 sequels, most of which were very popular, so obviously changing actors between sequels isn't too bad (from a producer's point of view, anyway)
Karma: Could be worse (could be raining)
I don't think spiderman would survive if they changed actors, regardless of who could do it better.
Why is it more like Batman than Bond? Because Spiderman is a hero, and Bond is a secret agent.
But then we'll never know...
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
The spiderman movie had 'targetted demographics' to get women to go to the movie. I would bet private screenings for women to see if they liked the movie and if they didn't some script changes. Maybe.
They actually do that.
Happened to be discussing this yesterday.
Maguire was offered $10 million for the sequel. His agents persuaded him to go for $20. The studios then offered the job to Gyllenhaal for a million or two, who nicely offered to accept.
Maguire then got pissed and ditched his agent at the behest of said girlfriend. He managed to bump his deal to $13 mil and keep her.
Yay for him, I guess.
I recall that there was some problem with Stan Lee over the Spider-Man movie. I read taht he supopsedly got totally cheated out of his cut of the movie profits when the studio said they didnt make any money on it. That article says "The first movie grossed more than $820 million worldwide". Does anyone know what is going on with this?
In Soviet Russia, Toby Maguire is played by Spiderman.
I remember hearing (this is unsubstantiated) that after "The Hunt for Red October" was a hit, Alec Baldwin demanded an enormous pay increase to play Jack Ryan in the next movie. Imagine his surprise when he was soundly dropped and replaced with Harrison Ford, who I imagine commands a much higher check than Alec Baldwin ever got for a single movie.
The moral of these stories, of course, is that humility is a virtue worth cultivating, because when you get right down to it, nobody's irreplacable. Especially in Hollywood, where (if "The Matrix Reloaded" is any sign of things to come) we'll soon be able to map any actor's face onto a double's body with astonishing ease.
They are also filming in Los Angeles. There is a church 2 blocks from my Apt which is is being worked on for the SpiderMan film. I know one of the architects working on the project.
-- Robert
Bet this
"I'm Tobey, I hurt my back.. I can't feel my legs.. WHAAA! WHAAAA! I can't Walk.. WHAAA!!" Suck it up you Tobey, you fey little man, you.
Besides the fact that it runs in the family Maggie Gyllenhaal was amazing in Secretary.
Maggie is also the matchmaker to put Kirsten and Jake together on the semi-fasttrack down the aisle, which may have helped Jake's standing in getting the Spiderman role.
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
Well since spider-man was mostly CG they really need someone to play Peter Parker (and do the voice for spidey) so using the same actor would be preferable.
Obligatory questioning of your origin and its claim to fame!!
Obligatory statement of New Jersey's superiority! Evidence optional!
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
"'Do I want to go in on the seventh day for an eight-hour cyberscan?'"
If you want to get paid big bucks, you sure as shit better want to go that extra mile.
Sean Connery *was* the first James Bond ion Dr. No.
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
You know, if the movie is supposed to take place in NY, they should really film it in NY
Construction workers make his one-day rate in a year, and have way worse than minor back pain from playing "Spiderman".
stuff |
I'm still not sure what her face looks like.
ceci n'est pas un sig.
> Obligatory kneejerk defensive response
:) (err, yeah, I misread it, so what?)
:)
Hey, I'm not on the defensive. In fact I'm very offensive!
> Obligatory questioning of your origin and its claim to fame!!
I am beaten on origin, as my entire family is from NJ, but I was born in WV *shudder*. Somehow we aren't hicks or white trash -- thank allah.
> Obligatory statement of New Jersey's superiority! Evidence optional!
NJ does have more trash per-capita than most states, that's got to count for something.. I guess it shows they buy a lot of stuff: strong economy
Not only have I seen Spiderman 2 filming in NYC, I've seen Maguire on the set. They shot a scene in a pizza place in Greenwich Village, down the block from my apartment. I watched with about 20 other people as Maguire traded places with his stunt double and later as two production assistants escorted him to and from his trailer, parked down the street. So he's most definitely in this movie.
Lousy minor setbacks! This world sucks! -- Homer Simpson
Why yes, I have. And I've talked about it at length...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
(Nope, never met the guy. Just liked the book.)
you don't work construction with a herniated disk, no matter HOW tough you are. nice troll, though.
Have you ever seen the Michael Jordan commercials (forget what company they were for)? The one with Bulls MJ playing against 40-year-old MJ. That's exactly what they did there. They found a body double who was basically the same height and skin color and who could play basketball, pasted MJ's head onto his and hence we have Jordan vs. Jordan. Very convincing too. And yes, it still looks realistic when speaking.
Sorry to disappoint you, but Michael Paul LeVesque and Stephanie McMahon are not engaged.
They are not even dating.
That was merely part of the storyline. Do try to pay attention and to differentiate fact from fiction if you are going to come up with this stuff!
People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
Not to mention the fact that they filmed a lot of the 'web-swinging' shots outside my office building in Chicago a few months ago.
A very tall crane, and a very complex gyro-stabilized computer controlled camera mount, if you're interested.
The gift of death metal does not smile on the good looking.
I saw him on Letterman when Spidey 1 was about to come out. Dave was goofing on him, with footage from an ancient black and white spider horror flick.
McGuire *WAS NOT* amused. He looked royally pissed.
I though to myself, "Self, that guy's a dick!". Looks like we were right...
Brazil is gone??? Hmmm still shows up on my maps, and I can buy tickets too.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
Good grief, Tobey was working for Columbia Pictures, and he's dating the daughter of the head of Universal Studios. It clearly says in the article that Meyer is "the head of a rival studio."
200 replies and nobody mentioned this?
It's remarkable how parochial and unsohpisticated New Yorkers actually are. The only other places I've ever heard the nearest metropolis called "the city" are way the heck out in rural America, where it's widely known (to New Yorkers) the stupidest people on the planet live.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Shouldn't that be:
"Thank you sir, may I have another?"?
Actually HHH and Steph are engaged and have been dating for some time. Granted it occured in the storylines at about the same time. That doesn't make untrue as it's been well known in the industry for some time now. These kinds of things do happen. Look at Chris Benoit and Woman, booked as couple ended up getting married. Even the storyline wedding of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth back in the 80's had some truth, as they were already married when the storyline played out. Paul and Stephanie got engaged last Valentines day and even have a date announced for the wedding.
Funny. You are a god among insects.
Freedom: "I won't!"
Hannibal Lecter, played by Brian Cox in 'Manhunter' and Anthony Hopkins later. (Quality left to others--but certainly, the later movies have done well.)
El Mariachi, played by Carlos Gallardo in 'El Mariachi' and Antionio Banderas in 'Desperado'. I'm much more partial to Desperado.
Also, upcoming, we have Michael Gambon taking over for the much-missed Richard Harris as Dumbledore in the third Harry Potter movie, which would have to try very hard to be bad. (Provided one likes Harry Potter in the first place, granted.)
So... it's not always such a big deal.
Anyone ever see Donnie Darko??? That's about all you need to say about Jake Gyllenhaal.
I, for one, would have loved to see Gyllenhaal be Spiderman and beat the crap out of that demonic bunny rabbit that tormented him all during Donnie Darko. Hey, that sadistic rabbit would make a more evil-looking villian that the Green Goblin did!
GMD
watch this
That's a joke only Xena fans will get...
Ah.... I see you are in search of intelligent life on the Internet. Too bad there isn't any here. Good luck.
Yeah, right.
You never watch WWE, do you. Otherwise you woudl have known about the storyline and how it turned out.
And as for believeing the various rumours on the web about them - blimey, if you believe even half of the rumours about what WWE and its cast / crew are up to at any given time, then you are an even bigger idiot than you thought I was!
People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
But before Tobey can come back to play Spiderman (which is what everyone would prefer when attitudes aren't flying) he's now going to have to pass a physical and consider a paycut.
Yeah, I heard that he may have to take several million instead of his usual way too many millions.
Geez. I liked it too. But it is a movie.
Tobey can come back to play Spiderman (which is what everyone would prefer when attitudes aren't flying) he's now going to have to pass a physical and consider a paycut.
Cmon people. A "paycut" is what people take at a factory to avoid losing their house and make child support payments.
This just changes his status from "exceedingly rich" to only "incredibly wealthy." Poor guy.
A paycut is what they offer the lighting grips.
Take your signature away, please, no, not John Farnham, and not that song...Christmas 1986, sister's new boombox, compilation tape with "You're the Voice" on it, played at least 27 times...never, ever, refer to that song in public again or my reincarnations will hunt down yours for all eternity... :)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
I had people telling me I look like Peter Parker for months after the first movie was released. I guess that's my once-in-a-lifetime celebrity link gone for good.
'The city' is the standard reference for San Francisco, anywhere in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley.
How about an excerpt from Ben Harper's With My Own Two Hands"?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Seabiscuit is a Universal film.
Also, Meyer cofounded Tobey's new agency.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?