For a Xmas gift, I received 'The Spider-Man Chronicles', which is a book about the making of the Spider-Man 3 movie. It's a richly detailed tome complete with photos and illustrations and it gives you behind-the-scenes info from script to screen.
One thing I didn't know was that the Vulture was the first choice to be Sandman's partner in crime. Ben Kingsley even read for the part. Of course, the script changed and the Vulture was shelved for Venom.
Here's my take on what Kingsley might have looked like as Spidey's adversary.
4 comments:
Ben Kingsley as the Vulture? I wish! Too bad Raimi was pressured into using Venom.
Great drawing! I totally want to get a Sinister Six theme going down the road.
Actually, Raimi felt that Venom had a better connection with Spidey. He liked the parallels that this villain brought to the table. Both were photographers for the Bugle and had a link with Gwen Stacy.
He felt that their crossing paths overshadowed what the Vulture contributed to the story. And so, the Vulture was replaced.
I read an interview with Raimi, he wanted to use one of the classic villains but the producer Avi Arad had to convince him to use Venom. Arad said the classic villains are what Raimi and the older generation grew up with, but the modern audiences were more connected to Venom. Raimi gave in, afraid he'd alienate moviegoers for what had become this huge blockbuster franchise.
If you ask me he should have listened to his gut, but then again I'm one of those "older" moviegoers
I wonder if that interview was conducted before or after the book I'm reading was published. The author, Grant Curtis, gave the impression that everyone willingly agreed that Venom was the best choice.
Classic villain or not, Venom just wasn't a strong adversary, in the sense that he was just a glorified thug. The Green Goblin and Doc Ock were more interesting because they were more cerebral villains.
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