Sam Raimi, director of the Toby Maguire led Spider-Man, has revealed that he originally didn’t want Stan Lee to cameo in the film.
With Stan Lee’s recent passing, many people who had worked with him in the past have been sharing stories and memories. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man was a huge moment for Marvel on the big screen and many people remember Stan Lee’s cameo.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Raimi, however, has revealed that at first, he wasn’t all that interested in having Lee appear in the film: “I got the job for Spider-Man in 1999. And [Marvel head] Avi Arad said, ‘I want you to put Stan in the movie.’ And I was like, ‘No. I know Stan, and he can’t act. And Avi was, ‘I want him in the movie. We did it for X-Men, we’re doing it here.’ Now imagine you’re a minor director in England doing Macbeth and you’re told, ‘Put the writer in the play.’ It sounds absurd. ‘Fine, you want Shakespeare in the play, I’ll put Shakespeare in the play.’ Now it’s one of my favorite parts in the movie.”
In recent years, Stan Lee cameos haven’t even been up for debate, they have become an essential part of Marvel movies for fans around the world, but it’s interesting to see how different things once were.
SEE ALSO: Stan Lee had already shot his Captain Marvel and Avengers 4 cameos
