A couple of weeks back Sam Raimi admitted he was yet to watch last year’s superhero reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, as he “didn’t want to go to his girlfriend’s wedding.” Well, it seems that the original Spider-Man trilogy director has since had a change of heart, with Raimi telling HeyUGuys that he’s finally caught up with the film. So what did he make of Marc Webb’s take on Marvel’s wall-crawler?
“It was very hard for me to see the new Spider-Man movie, I felt so attached to it, I couldn’t see Spider-Man with another director; it’s like my love, and I didn’t want to walk in on my love with someone else. It was just like that. Then I got over myself last week and said, ‘just see the damn thing’. And I did, and I loved it. I actually felt free. I thought, ‘why am I carrying around this baggage?’ Of course the next Spider-Man story should be told, and [Marc Webb] did a wonderful job telling that. I loved the movie, and I’m looking forward like a fan to the next instalment. I love the comic book, and now I don’t feel bound, and I’m really glad somebody’s remaking it again.”
Meanwhile, Raimi’s latest film Oz the Great and Powerful was released in cinemas today, and with the fantasy adventure looking like it’s going to enjoy a bumper opening weekend at the box office, Disney is already planning a follow-up. However, it looks like the studio will have to find another director to helm the sequel, with Raimi going on to indicate that he isn’t really harboring a burning ambition to extend his stay in Oz:
“I don’t really have a plan to direct the sequel. I’ve put into the picture one or two loose ends in case another director wants to make the picture. if Disney made a lot of money and the audience really wanted to see one then they would make one, but I was attracted to it because of the story of the growth of this human being, and I don’t think the second one would have the thing I would need to get me interested, but I couldn’t speak about what would take place in it.”
Originally published March 8, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
