Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man 3
Directed by	Sam Raimi
Written by	Alvin Sargent (screenwriter) Stan Lee (comic book) Steve Ditko (comic book)
Produced by	Avi Arad Laura Ziskin
Starring	Tobey Maguire Kirsten Dunst Topher Grace James Franco Thomas Haden Church Elizabeth Banks J.K. Simmons
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures (Sony)
Release dates	May 4, 2007
Language	English

Spider-Man 3 is the third movie in the Spider-Man series and it is planned for a release on May 4, 2007. The movie will be directed by Sam Raimi. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, J.K. Simmons, Dylan Baker, and James Franco are the confirmed returning cast members from the previous two Spider-Man movies.

Columbia Pictures officially announced that the main filming for Spider-Man 3 will start on January 2, 2006, however certain preliminary test photography is said to begin as early as September 2005.

Filming began November 5, 2005. [1]

New actors

Thomas Haden Church, who starred in the movie Sideways, and Topher Grace, known for his lead role in the sitcom That '70s Show and his co-starring role in In Good Company are two new actors being cast, possibly as villains in the new film.

Thomas Haden Church will play Sandman, and Topher Grace is rumored to play Venom.

Official announcements

File:ChurchSandman.jpg

Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko in Spider-Man 3

• Sony Pictures has released an official gallery for the villain candidates on the movie website. The gallery's frontpage says:

"There has been a lot of speculation about who the villains will be in the upcoming SPIDER MAN 3. We're not going to spoil your fun but here are some of the candidates."

The site then goes on to list: Carnage, Chameleon, Doctor Octopus, Electro, Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, Hydro-Man, Kraven The Hunter, Jackal, Lizard, Mysterio, Rhino, Sandman, Scorpion, Venom and Vulture.

• On November 5, 2005 Thomas Haden Church has been officially cast as the villain Sandman along with the first image from Spider-Man 3.

• Although yet to be officialy announced the IMDB credits Topher Grace as playing Venom on their Spider-Man 3 page. The site has labled it as such ever since Kirsten Dunst's "revelation", so it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Possible villains, characters and storylines

Topher Grace and Thomas Haden Church

Raimi has been vague about Grace's role, stating only that Topher Grace will play "a complex role" which will contrast with the comedic, wholesome, or good-natured roles he's most known for playing. That is one of the reasons why many believe that he will be playing Eddie Brock, better known as Venom. (see paragraph 4)

"Spider-Man will face double the trouble in our next film and I couldn't be more excited about the direction we are taking Peter Parker and the franchise," said Raimi. "Topher Grace is an extraordinarily talented actor and will be perfect for the complexities of the role we are developing."

Sam Raimi also let slip that one or both villains would involve massive CGI.

At a recent press conference[2], Kirsten Dunst, the lead female actress who plays Mary Jane Watson in the franchise, claimed Thomas Haden Church will be playing Sandman, and Topher Grace will be playing Venom. She also claimed that there would be "two and half bad guys", and that one of them would be "resurrected", which suggests either Doctor Octopus or, more likely, the Green Goblin (in some form) would return for the third film. Sony has recently released a picture of Church on the official movie website as Sandman, visually confirming his role in the film, but Sony has yet to release an official statement corroborating or denying Dunst's claim of Grace's role as Venom. Dunst admitted that she had not read the script at the time of the press conference. In the past, she has also "confirmed" villains appearing in Spider-Man 2. Of these villains (Doctor Octopus and The Lizard) only Doctor Octopus appeared, though the lizard was slated for the movie, he was removed (unless one counts the cameo of not-yet-The-Lizard, Dr. Curt Connors), thus the veracity of her claims are still under some dispute. Recently Grace has been sporting blond hair which has been officially confirmed as his new look for Spider-Man 3. The villain in the Spider-Man comics known as Venom has blonde hair, leading many fans to suspect that Venom is involved in the sequel as well.

James Franco

James Franco's character, Harry Osborn, is expected to be the second Green Goblin or possibly the Hobgoblin in order to avoid the appearance of repeating villains. Harry Osborn becomes the Green Goblin in most comic book adaptations which he is featured, although he was the Hobgoblin in one Ultimate Spider-Man adaptation. The first Green Goblin, played by Willem Dafoe, was the villain in the first movie and was also the father of Franco's character. Director Sam Raimi has stated that this movie will stray the most from the comic books and has hinted at the possibility that Franco may not become a supervillain at all.

Dylan Baker

The Lizard was once considered the most likely villain due the appearance in Spider-Man 2 of Dr. Curt Connors, played by Dylan Baker, who becomes The Lizard in the Spider-Man comics. However, Baker was not immediately signed for the third film while other actors were sought and signed first, which might indicate that the filling the role of Connors/The Lizard is not imperative. There is also concern that another sympathetic "mad scientist" villain in the third movie might seem repetitive after both the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus.. However, Avi Arad, CEO of Marvel Comics, confirmed in June 2005 that Baker is signed to this movie.

Others

Sam Raimi did happen to let slip, in an interview with Wizard, that there will be more than one villain. It's also possible that Norman Osborn, the first Green Goblin, could return for future movies. Although Osborn seemed to die in the first movie, the comic version of the Goblin survived the same "death" that the film version suffered. Dunst's claim that one of the villains in the third film would be "resurrected" lends support to the idea that Norman/Green Goblin could return. Futhermore, when Willem Dafoe was interviewed between the first two films' releases by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, Stewart asked Dafoe if he would come back to the Spider-Man franchise. Dafoe neither confirmed nor denied this idea, which has led some to believe he'll return.

Raimi admitted that Black Cat was removed from early drafts of Spider-Man 2 script. He had expressed some interest in using her character, but he has not confirmed if she will finally appear in this sequel. The actress Chloë Sevigny has claimed that she tried out for a new role as a "blond buxom" for this movie, which many fans assume to be the Black Cat or possibly Gwen Stacy, Parker's first true love in the comics. There is speculation she made these claims to draw attention to herself, as other actresses have done in the past. Columbia Pictures has officially neither acknowledged nor denied Sevigny's claim.

Cameos

• The Amazing Spider-Man TV star Nicholas Hammond is probably portraying a cameo role in the third movie.
• Stan Lee & Bruce Campbell will most likely have, as in the previous films, quick cameos.

Movie score

Composer Danny Elfman has confirmed that he will not be back for the third installment of Spider-Man due to difficulties with director Sam Raimi [3], and instead he will be working on the movie Charlotte's Web. The film will instead be scored by Christopher Young, [4], however Elfman's theme will still be adapted for the third film, as Sam Raimi owns the rights to it.

External links

• Official site for the Spider-Man Movies
• Spider-Man 3 at IMDb
• Template:Shh
• Spider-Man Crawl Space: All Spidey, All The Time