Spider-Man (2002 film)

Spider-Man is a 2002 film based on the eponymous Marvel comic starring Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe. It tells the story of Peter Parker's first year as Spider Man. This movie was released in theaters on May 3, 2002 in United States.


 * Written by David Koepp. Directed by Sam Raimi.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Dialogue

 * [first lines]
 * Peter: Who am I? You sure you want to know? The story of my life is not for the faint of heart. If somebody said it was a happy little tale, if somebody told you I was just an average ordinary guy, not a care in the world, somebody lied. But let me assure you: This, like any story worth telling, is all about a girl. That girl. The girl next door. Mary Jane Watson. The woman I've loved since before I even liked girls. [referring to Flash Thompson sitting next to her] I'd like to say that's me sitting next to her. [referring to an overweight kid in front of them messily eating a jelly doughnut] Aw, heck, I'd even take him. [he and the other kids see a distressed nerdy boy in thick glasses running along the bus, yelling for the driver to stop the bus] That's me.


 * Harry: [to driver in Rolls Royce] Uh, you know, Charles, can we drive around the corner, please?
 * Norman: [sitting next to Harry] Why? The entrance is right there.
 * Harry: Dad, these are public school kids, I'm not showing up for a field trip in the Rolls.
 * Norman: What, you want me to just trade in my car for a Jetta just because you flunked out of every private school I ever sent you to?
 * Harry: It wasn't for me.
 * Norman: Of course it was. Don't ever be ashamed of who you are.
 * Harry: I'm not ashamed of who I am, it's just that...
 * Norman: Just what, Harry?
 * Harry: Forget it.


 * Ben: Oh, wait a minute, Peter, we, uh, we need to talk.
 * Peter: Well, we can talk later.
 * Ben: Well, we can talk now... [turns off the music] if you'll let me.
 * Peter: What do we have to talk about? Why now?
 * Ben: Because we haven't talked at all in so long, your Aunt May and I don't even know who you are anymore. You shirk your chores, you-you have all those weird experiments in-in-in-in your room, you start fights at school. I don't know who--
 * Peter: I didn't start that fight, I told you that.
 * Ben: Yeah, well, you sure as Hell finished it.
 * Peter: What was I supposed to do, run away?
 * Ben: No. No, you're not supposed to run away, but... Pete, look, you're changing, I know. I went through exactly the same thing at your age.
 * Peter: No, not exactly.
 * Ben: Peter, these are the years when a man changes into the man he's going to be for the rest of his life. Just be careful who you change into. This guy, Flash Thompson, he probably deserved what happened. But just because you can beat him up, doesn't give you the right to. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility.
 * Peter: [utterly confused] Are you afraid that I'm gonna turn into some kind of criminal? Quit worrying about me, okay? Something's different, I'll figure it out. Stop lecturing me, please.
 * Ben: I don't mean to lecture, and I don't mean to preach. And I know I'm not your father.
 * Peter: [annoyed; snaps] Then stop pretending to be.


 * [Peter Parker taking the stairs to the wrestling arena. Watches Bone Saw McGraw fighting the soldier man.]
 * Wrestling Referee: One! Two! Three! That's it!
 * Bone Saw McGraw: Who's the man?
 * Crowd: Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw! Bone Saw!
 * Ring Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen! Give it up for Bone Saw McGraw! For $3000, is there no one here man enough to stay in the ring for three minutes with this titan of testosterone? [Parker is ready with his disguise.] Who? I know who. The Flying Dutchman.
 * [The crowd boos, Peter goes to the Check-in station.]
 * Check-In Girl: Next. There's no featherweight division here small fry. Next.
 * Spider-Man: No, no. Sign me up.
 * Check-In Girl: Okay. You understand the NYWL is not responsible for any injury you may and probably will sustain while participating in said event and you are indeed participating of your own free will?
 * Spider-Man: Yes.
 * Check-In Girl: Down the hall to the ramp. May God be with you. Next.
 * [Bone Saw McGraw throws The Flying Dutchman to the ground.]
 * Bone Saw McGraw: Told you! Told you!
 * Wrestling Referee: WINNER!!
 * Bone Saw McGraw: Next victim!
 * Ring Announcer: Are you ready for more?
 * Bone Saw McGraw: [Gives the microphone.] Bone Saw is ready!
 * Ring Announcer: Will the next victim please enter the arena at this time? If he can withstand just three minutes in the cage with Bone Saw McGraw the sum of $3000 will be paid to... [turn off microphone] What's your name, kid?
 * Spider-Man: The Human Spider.
 * Ring Announcer: The Human Spider? That's it. That's the best you got?
 * Spider-Man: Yeah.
 * Ring Announcer: Oh, that sucks. [turn off microphone] The sum of $3000 will be paid to the terrifying.... The deadly.... The amazing.... Spider-Man!
 * [Peter Parker wears the Spider-Man outfit and gloves. Then the crowd boos.]
 * Spider-Man: My name's The Human Spider!
 * Security Guard: I don't care, get out there.
 * Spider-Man: No, he got my name wrong.
 * Security Guard: Get out there, you moron!
 * [The crowd continues boos.]
 * Bone Saw's Bodyguard #1: Bone Saw will eat you up and spit you out, little man.
 * Bone Saw's Bodyguard #2: I hope you brought your mommy.
 * Bone Saw's Bodyguard #3: We'll break you! You'll need someone to cry to.
 * [The crowd throws the popcorn to Spider-Man]
 * Bone Saw's Bodyguard #4: I'm gonna rip all eight of your feeble legs off one by one!
 * The Flying Dutchman: Oh, my God! Oh, my legs! Oh, God. I can't feel my legs.
 * Crowd: [Chanting] KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!
 * [Spider-Man enters the ring. The cage starts to come down.]
 * Crowd: [Chanting] CAGE! CAGE! CAGE! CAGE! CAGE!
 * Spider-Man: Hello? Guys?
 * Ring Announcer: Will the guards please lock the cage doors at this time?
 * [The guard lock the doors.]
 * Spider-Man: Hey listen! This is some kind of mistake. I didn't sign up for a cage match! Unlock the thing! Take the chain off!
 * Bone Saw McGraw: [To Spider-Man] Hey, freak show! You're going nowhere. I got you for three minutes. Three minutes of playtime.
 * [Then bell starts, Bone Saw running and Spider-Man jumps up.]
 * Bone Saw McGraw: What are you doing up there?
 * Spider-Man: Staying away from you. That's a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?
 * [Bone Saw jumps up and Spider-Man jumps down, using the Web-Slinger to avoid Bone Saw McGraw.]
 * Bone Saw's Bodyguard #2: Finish him off!
 * [Bone Saw grabs the chair and hits Spider-Man and again, as he get up, Bone Saw hits again, and again.]
 * Bone Saw's Bodyguards: Smash him!
 * [Bone Saw throws Spider-Man to the cage and again.]
 * Bone Saw's Bodyguards: Hit him! HARDER!!
 * [Bone Saw grabs the whip and about to kill Spider-Man.]
 * Bone Saw's Bodyguard #4: Kick his spider ass! Hit him!
 * [Spider-Man kicks him, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. and Bone Saw is about to kill Spider-Man and he throws Bone Saw into the ground and he pins Bone Saw McGraw.]
 * Wrestling Referee: One! Two! Three! That's it! That's it! WINNER!!
 * Ring Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the new champion, SPIDER-MAN!!!
 * Crowd: [Chanting] Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Spider-Man!
 * [Spider-Man is the winner of the tournament.]


 * [Peter sees a large group of people gathered around, with some cops restraining them]
 * Male cop: Sir, you need to get back.
 * Male pedestrian #1: I can't see. What happened?
 * Male pedestrian #2: Old dude, man.
 * Male cop: Come on, folks. Keep moving, please. Keep moving. Let's go!
 * Male pedestrian #3: What happened?
 * Male pedestrian #4: Someone got hurt.
 * Peter: [Pushing through the crowd] Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me.
 * Female cop: Stay back. Stay back!
 * Peter: [Sees that the injured person is Ben; panicked] That’s my uncle! [Pushes through] What happened?
 * Female cop: Carjacker. He's been shot. But we just called the paramedics, they're on their way.
 * Peter: [Trying to stay calm] Uncle Ben? Uncle Ben? Uncle Ben?
 * Ben: [Weakly, gasps] P-peter? [Smiles]
 * Peter: [Voice breaking] I'm here, Uncle Ben. [Holds Uncle Ben’s hand]
 *  Ben: Peter.... [He dies. Peter starts crying]
 * Male cop: They got the shooter. He's headed South on Fifth Avenue. We got three cars in pursuit. All right, folks. Come on, move back.
 * [Peter walks away with anger on his face, determined to confront Ben’s killer]

--
 * Carjacker: Come on, man, give me a chance!
 * Spider-Man: What about my uncle!!? Did you give him a chance!!? 'DID YOU!!?'


 * Peter: I missed him a lot today.
 * May Parker: I know. I miss him too, but... he was there.
 * Peter: I can't help thinking about... the last thing I said to him. He tried to tell me something important, and I threw it in his face.
 * May: You loved him. And he loved you. He never doubted the man you'd grow into; how you were meant for great things. I have no doubt in my mind that you won't disappoint him.


 * Peter Parker/Spider-Man: [saves Mary Jane] Well, beats taking the subway. Don't mind us, she just needs to use the elevator.
 * Mary Jane Watson: Wait. Who are you?
 * Peter/Spider-Man: You know who I am.
 * Mary Jane "M.J." Watson: I do?
 * Spider-Man: Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!


 * [Norman pours whiskey in a glass cup, and is about to drink, but abruptly stops when he hears an evil laughter echoing around him]
 * Norman: Somebody there?
 * Green Goblin: Somebody.
 * Norman: Who said that?
 * Green Goblin: Don't play the innocent with me. You've known all along.
 * Norman: Where are you?
 * Green Goblin: Follow the cold shiver running down your spine. [Norman nervously searches around his collection of masks in source of the voice] I'm right here.
 * Norman: [turns around toward mirror, looking at his reflection] I don't understand.
 * Green Goblin: Did you think it was coincidence? So many good things all happening for you, all for you... Norman?
 * Norman: [drinks his whiskey, and tosses his glass, with a shatter] What do you want?
 * Green Goblin: To say what you won't, to do what you can't, to remove those in your way.
 * Norman: [looking at the newspaper] The board members... [shocked] You've killed them.
 * Green Goblin: We killed them.
 * Norman: [confused and nervous] We?
 * Green Goblin: Remember your little accident in the laboratory?
 * Norman: [realizing] The performance enhancers...
 * Green Goblin: Bingo. Me. Your greatest creation. Bringing you what you've always wanted: Power beyond your wildest dreams, and it's only the beginning. There's only one who could stop us. Or... imagine if he joined us. [snickers evilly]


 * J. Jonah Jameson: Spider-Man. And the Green Goblin. The "Green Goblin." You like that?
 * Peter: Mr. Jameson--
 * Jameson: Made it up myself. These weirdos all got to have a name now.
 * Peter: Mr. Jameson, Spider-Man--
 * Jameson: [picks up the phone] Hoffman?
 * Hoffman: Yeah?
 * Jameson: [sees Hoffman in the office, and hangs up the phone.] Call the patent office, copyright the name "Green Goblin". I want a quarter every time somebody says it.
 * Hoffman: How about "Green Meanie"? [Jameson makes a "get out" hand gesture, and Hoffman obliges]
 * Peter: Spider-Man wasn't attacking the city, he was trying to save it. That's slander.
 * Jameson: It is not. I resent that. Slander is spoken. In print, it's libel.
 * Peter Parker: You don't trust anybody, that's your problem.
 * Jameson: I trust my barber. What are you, his lawyer? Get outta here. [throws his cigar out the window] Let him sue me, get rich like a normal person. That's what made this country-- [his cigar is thrown back in the window, lands in from of him, and the Green Goblin bursts through the The Daily Bugle window]
 * Green Goblin: [grabbing Jameson by the throat] Jameson, you slime! Who's the photographer who takes the pictures of Spider-Man?!
 * Jameson: [choking] I don't know who he is, his stuff comes in the mail!
 * Green Goblin: You're lying!
 * Jameson: [almost suffocates] I swear...
 * Green Goblin: He's the one who can take me to him!
 * Jameson: I don't know who he is!
 * Green Goblin: [preparing to punch Jameson] You are useless, you--
 * Spider-Man: [appears upside-down outside the window] Set him down, tough guy.
 * Green Goblin: [drops Jameson and turns around on the glider] Speak of the Devil!
 * Jameson: Spider-Man! I knew you two were in this together! I--
 * Spider-Man: [uses his web to seal Jameson's mouth shut] Hey, kiddo, let Mom and Dad talk for a minute, will ya?
 * Green Goblin: [uses sleep gas] Sleep!


 * [Spider-Man regains conscious after being knocked out by the Green Goblin]
 * Green Goblin: Wake up, little spider, wake up. No, you're not dead... yet. Just paralyzed, temporarily. You're an amazing creature, Spider-Man. You and I are not so different.
 * Spider-Man: [weakly] I'm not like you. You're a murderer.
 * Green Goblin: Well, to each his own. I chose my path, you chose the way of the hero, and they found you amusing for a while, the people of this city, but the one thing they love more than a hero... is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying. In spite of everything you've done for them, eventually, they will hate you. Why bother?
 * Spider-Man: Because it's right.
 * Green Goblin: [taps Spider-Man on the head] Here's the real truth. There are 8,000,000 people in this city, and those teeming masses exist for the sole purpose of lifting the few exceptional people onto their shoulders. You, me, we're exceptional. I could squash you like a bug right now, but I'm offering you a choice. Join me. Imagine what we could accomplish together, what we could create... or we could destroy, cause the deaths of countless innocents in selfish battle, again and again and again, until we're both dead! Is that what you want? [jumps onto his glider] Think about it, hero!


 * Mary Jane: You're amazing.
 * Spider-Man: Some people don't think so.
 * M.J.: But you are.
 * Spider-Man: Nice to have a fan.


 * Green Goblin: Spider-Man is all but invincible, but Parker? We can destroy him.
 * Norman: [Pleadingly] I can't....
 * Green Goblin: Betrayal must not be countenanced! Parker must be educated.
 * Norman: [Gives in] What do I do?
 * Green Goblin: Instruct him in the matters of loss and pain. Make him suffer, make him wish he were dead.
 * Norman: [Crawls towards the mask] Yes...
 * Green Goblin: And then grant his wish.
 * Norman: But how?
 * Green Goblin: The cunning warrior attacks neither body nor mind.
 * Norman: [Desperately] 'TELL ME HOW!!'
 * Green Goblin: (Snarling) The heart, Osborn! First, we attack his heart.


 * May: (Praying) Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us-- [the Green Goblin bursts through the window, laughing maniacally; screams in horror] Deliver us--!
 * Green Goblin: Finish it! FINISH IT!
 * May: ---from evil! (Passes out)


 * [Peter rushes down the hospital hallway and bursts into the room where Aunt May is being treated, as May cries and moans in anguish from the ordeal,]
 * Doctor: Two milligrams IV.
 * Nurse: Get the BP.
 * Peter: Aunt May? Is she gonna be okay? What happened?
 * Nurse: Yes, she's going to be okay. Look, you're gonna have to leave right now.
 * [The nurse hauls Peter out of the room]
 * Peter: What happened?!
 * May: Those eyes! Those horrible yellow eyes!
 * [The door closes on Peter]
 * Peter: [gasps; realizing] He knows who I am.


 * M.J.: Has he mentioned me?
 * Peter: Yeah.
 * M.J.: What'd he say?
 * Peter: Uh, I said--- he asked me what I thought about you.
 * M.J.: And what did you say?
 * Peter: I said, uh, "Spider-Man," I said, uh, "The great thing about MJ is... when you look in her eyes and she's looking back in yours...everything...feels...not quite normal." Because you feel stronger and weaker at the same time. You feel excited and at the same time, terrified. The truth is... you don't know what you feel except you know what kind of man you want to be. It's as if you've reached the unreachable and you weren't ready for it."
 * M.J.: You said that?
 * Peter: Well, something like that.


 * Peter: Can I do anything for you?
 * May: You do too much: College, a job, all this time with me, you're not Superman, you know.


 * [A bunch of commuters throw things at the Goblin to save Spider-Man, Mary Jane and a tram full of kids]
 * Commuter 1: Come on up here, tough guy! I got a little somethin' for ya!
 * Woman: Yeah, we're gonna kick your frickin' ass!
 * Commuter 1: Leave Spider-Man alone! You're gonna pick on a guy trying to save a bunch of kids?!
 * Commuter 2: Oh, yeah, I got something for your ass! You mess with Spidey, you mess with New York!
 * Commuter 1: You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!

<hr width="50%"/>
 * [As the Green Goblin throws Spider-Man through the building, Spider-Man swings through the window, and crashes to the wall. A pumpkin bomb is thrown in front of Spider-Man's face; it explodes, and blows Spider-Man through the brick wall, and knocking him to the ground. The Goblin hops off his glider.]
 * Green Goblin: Misery, misery, misery, that's what you've chosen. I offered you friendship, and you spat in my face. [the Goblin beats Spider-Man up, until he kicks Spider-Man to the wall. Just as Spider-Man is about to shoot his web, the Goblin stops him.] You've spun your last web, Spider-Man. Had you not been so selfish, your little girlfriend's death would have been quick and painless, but now that you've really pissed me off, [sinisterly] I'm gonna finish her, nice and slow. [Spider-Man gets furious.] M.J. and I? [pulls out his trident] We're gonna have a hell of a time. [the Goblin lunges his trident to stab Spider-Man, but Spider-Man stops it, and the Green Goblin flies backwards to another brick wall. Spider-Man crushes the Goblin with it. The Goblin gets up, and Spider-Man beats him up] Peter, stop! Stop! It's me. [takes off his mask, revealing Norman Osborn]
 * Peter: [shocked yet confused] Mr. Osborn?
 * Norman: Peter, thank God for you.
 * Peter: [lost for words] You killed those people on that balcony...
 * Norman: [genuinely scared of his Goblin persona] The Goblin killed, I had nothing to do with it! Don't-Don't let him take me again. I beg you, protect me!
 * Peter: You tried to kill Aunt May, you tried to kill Mary Jane.
 * Norman: But not you. I've tried to stop it, but I couldn't stop it. I would never hurt you. [As Norman speaks, his Goblin persona presses a button on his suit, and his glider rises behind Peter.] I knew from the beginning. If anything ever happened to me, i-it was you that I could count on. You, Peter Parker, would save me, and so you have. Thank God for you. [Norman stands up] Give me your hand. Believe in me, as I believed in you. I've been like a father to you. Be a son to me now.
 * Peter: I have a father. His name was Ben Parker.
 * Green Goblin:  Godspeed, Spider-Man.
 * [warned by his spider sense, Peter flips just as the Green Goblin's glider was about to impale him.]
 * Green Goblin: (Mildly surprised) Oh. [Gets impaled by his own glider, and groans in pain and blood loss]
 * Norman: [Last words; weakly] Peter? Don't tell Harry. [Norman collapses and dies, and Peter lowers his head down.]

<hr width="50%"/>
 * Peter: Everything. I mean, there's so much to tell.
 * M.J.: Yeah, there's so much to tell.
 * Peter: I want you to know, that I will always be there for you; I will always be there to take care of you. I promise you that. I will always be your friend.
 * M.J.: (Crying, smiling) Only a friend, Peter Parker?
 * Peter: That's all I have to give....
 * [last lines]
 * Peter: Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility." This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-Man.

About Spider-Man (2002 film)

 * “You mess with Spidey, you mess with New York!” More than any other superhero, Spider-Man is New York. He's the kid from Queens, the blue-collar nerd who got bitten by a radioactive spider and became the world's most famous teenage crime fighter. In Sam Raimi's 2002 film, a random man in the crowd hollers the above line as a group of New Yorkers protect Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) from his arch nemesis The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). It's a sincere moment, unburdened by the self-reflective seriousness found in the genre's contemporary efforts. Ironically for a film often cited as kickstarting the modern superhero movie trend, Raimi's Spider-Man is a bland superhero movie by today's standards. It lacks a world-ruling plot, a big CGI finale and it doesn't trade off 9/11 imagery. It is simply a story about a guy, the girl he loves and the city he shields from harm. It wasn't Raimi's intention to make a cinematic dissertation on the different types of heroism. Nor for that matter was he attempting to make a generic superhero movie. He set out to make a Spider-Man movie, and making a great Spider-Man movie requires making a great New York movie. As such, Raimi's version of New York is a place where fantasy and reality meet. There is no doubt that Spider-Man is a fantasy, as Peter reacts to his overnight transformation with a goofy grin because he's developed shredded abs. He and the rest of New York don't freak out at the idea of a guy swinging between buildings. In this city and the world Raimi creates within it, that seems perfectly normal. The director injects realism into the story by having his characters work mundane jobs to meet mundane ends like paying rent. They lead regular lives, and we are given hints of their everyday activities. In this film, New York is more than a setting, as Raimi gives his supporting characters lives outside of Spider-Man and The Green Goblin's ideological conflict.
 * Henry Bevan, Little White Lies: Truth and Movies, "Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man is a great New York movie: The director’s 2002 franchise opener is a tribute to this iconic city and the people who live in it.", (5 Jul 2017).


 * When Spider-Man was proposed to me originally it was like, ‘Really, you’re going to make a movie from a comic book?’” Dafo said. “It was like I was slumming it, you know? I didn’t see it that way, but some people were like, ‘Really?’
 * Willem Dafoe, "Watch: Hugh Jackman and Willem Dafoe Talk the Evolution and Endurance of Superhero Cinema" by Haleigh Foutch, Collider, (November 29, 2017).


 * Imagine "Superman" with a Clark Kent more charismatic than the Man of Steel, and you'll understand how "Spider-Man" goes wrong. Tobey Maguireis pitch-perfect as the socially retarded Peter Parker, but when he becomes Spider-Man, the film turns to action sequences that zip along like perfunctory cartoons. Not even during Spidey's first experimental outings do we feel that flesh and blood are contending with gravity. Spidey soars too quickly through the skies of Manhattan; he's as convincing as Mighty Mouse.
 * Remember the first time you saw the characters defy gravity in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"? They transcended gravity, but they didn't dismiss it: They seemed to possess weight, dimension and presence. Spider-Man as he leaps across the rooftops is landing too lightly, rebounding too much like a bouncing ball. He looks like a video game figure, not like a person having an amazing experience.
 * The other super-being in the movie is the Green Goblin, who surfs the skies in jet-shoes. He, too, looks like a drawing being moved quickly around a frame, instead of like a character who has mastered a daring form of locomotion. He's handicapped, too, by his face, which looks like a high-tech action figure with a mouth that doesn't move.
 * Peter Parker was crucial in the evolution of Marvel comics because he was fallible and had recognizable human traits. He was a nerd, a loner, socially inept, insecure, a poor kid being raised by relatives. Maguire gets all of that just right, and I enjoyed the way Dunst is able to modulate her gradually increasing interest in this loser who begins to seem attractive to her. I also liked the complexity of the villain, who in his Dr. Jekyll manifestation is brilliant tycoon Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) and in his Mr. Hyde persona is a cackling psychopath.
 * Roger Ebert, "Spider-Man Movie Review", Rogerebert.com, (May 3, 2002).


 * 9/11 was undeniably a paradigm shift. Its effects would ripple throughout the next decade and continues to impact the world today. The superhero industry's response to the unjust tragedy was felt immediately. Those who went to the movies to escape the ubiquitous news coverage on Sept. 11, 2001 would have seen a trailer for “Spider-Man,” which would be released in the following May. The trailer, which featured Spider-Man trapping a helicopter of bank robbers in a web strung up between the Twin Towers, was quickly pulled out of circulation along with posters featuring the towers reflected in his eyes. The nation, still reeling from the horrors of 9/11, flooded the theaters the following year, hitting a record high for U.S. admissions—1.64 billion moviegoers—in 2002, according to the 2006 U.S. Theatrical Market Statistics. Spider-Man raked in the highest domestic growth of 2002, beating well-established franchises “Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars” (“All Time Worldwide Opening”). The nation clearly hungered for a figure who could save the country—or, in this case, at least defend New York.
 * Cassandra Hsiao, "Post-9/11 world: What caused the rise of superhero movies", HS Insider, Los Angeles Times(June 16, 2016).


 * Q: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?
 * A: Yeah. The kissing scene where I'm hanging upside down in the rain and Kirsten peels down my mask to kiss me on the mouth. It comes off as sexy, romantic, and sweet and you see the character within the superhero as he gets vulnerable with somebody.
 * Tobey Maguire, "Tobey Maguire Spiderman Interview", by Alec Cawthorne, BBC, (2002/05/10).


 * Movies hadn't been doing the sort of opening-weekend business that's fairly common – even expected – today. The first Harry Potter came out about six months before us and it was this phenomenon from Day one. It was so wild because it was a new thing at that moment – and I'm not saying that hasn't happened in movie history, but at the time that was a big jump. and then that happened with us. People didn't anticipate [2002's Spider- Man] to be like that. Leading up to it you start to get reactions and people tell you, you know, what the tracking is and what range your opening weekend box office is likely to be. but for me it was kind of unexpected. So much shifted in my life the weekend the movie came out. it was shocking.
 * Tobey Maguire, "The Amazing Andrew Garfield" VMan, May 9, 2012; as quoted in "Spider-Man': Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire talk", Entertainment Weekly, Darren Franich, (May 9, 2012).


 * I worked closely with David Koepp who based his scenario on that of James Cameron. I especially wanted to develop what I like in Spider-Man, that is to say the character of Peter Parker. I really did not care about Spidey, I wanted a movie about Peter Parker. (Laughs) It's interesting because he looks like us, he does not have a lot of money, he grew up in a working class environment, he can not fit in, he has problems at school ... His egoism and irresponsibility contribute to his uncle's death and he does not know how to live with it. But when he realizes that he must live to become the responsible person his uncle wanted him to become, he takes the mask. And that's what I'm interested in Spidey. For me, he becomes a hero by becoming responsible, not by knocking out some bad guys. (He thinks) I feel still invested with great responsibilities. Parents will take their children to see the movie and whether it is good or bad, these kids will point the screen and say, "I want to be like Spider-Man . " I know that there will be this admiration and I had to put on the screen a character who deserves this admiration.
 * Initially, I wanted to build a very light camera, from 2 to 3 kg, loaded with a minute of film, mounted on a system of cranes and pulleys, with mini engines. She could have flown over the streets of Manhattan, drifting over passersby and reaching a speed of 60 km / h. But production was certain that we would lose control and kill people! So we tried lots of other things that did not work, like stuntmen hanging from cables, but they had neither the grace nor the acrobatic agility of Spidey. Then John Dykstra, the head of visual effects, proposed a virtual Spidey. I did not like this idea, I did not think I could convince the public with a virtual human, it would not be real enough. But at the point where we were, we tried. And it works. But because Spidey is wearing a suit. If it had been necessary to create skin or virtual eyes, nobody would have believed it.
 * I stay true to the spirit of Spider-Man . Its creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, wanted Peter Parker to be like us. I can identify with a simple high school student not a genius capable of inventing this mechanism and this canvas. I wanted to tell the story of an ordinary boy who becomes an extraordinary being, not that of an extraordinary boy who becomes an extraordinary hero.
 * Sam Raimi (as translated from French by Google), "Sam Raimi Appele A Regner Interview", Ciné Live - N ° 58 - (June 2002).

Cast

 * Tobey Maguire – Peter Parker/Spider Man: May and Ben's nephew
 * Willem Dafoe – Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: Harry's dad
 * Kirsten Dunst – Mary Jane Watson
 * James Franco – Harry Osborn: Norman's son
 * Cliff Robertson – Ben Parker: May's husband and Peter's uncle
 * Rosemary Harris – May Parker: Peter's aunt and Ben's wife
 * J. K. Simmons – J. Jonah Jameson
 * Joe Manganiello – Eugene "Flash" Thompson
 * Bill Nunn – Joseph "Robbie" Robertson
 * Elizabeth Banks – Betty Brant