PLUME: What was the one scene that epitomized your experience of seeing arguably your most famous creation on the big screen?
LEE: To me, mostly, the scenes of Peter Parker with the girl and with his family, because – to me – that’s what makes the thing believable. As in the X-Men, I thought the characterization was the best thing. I think that Tobey Maguire, who plays Peter Parker, did such a good job of portraying a shy, intelligent guy who’s somewhat inhibited and can’t tell the girl how he really feels about her. If you took all of the superhero stuff away, I thought it was still an interesting character study with interesting characters. Then, when you overlay the character of Spider-Man and all of the special effects, then it became a delight to the eye and the imagination.
PLUME: And now, honestly… You thoughts on organic webshooters?
LEE: Jim Cameron – who had written an original treatment for it long ago – and, apparently, Sam Raimi, both felt it made a better movie. They very well might be right. Maybe it would have been hard for an audience to accept that a guy could just make those things themselves. I would have had them be handmade webshooters. The way I would have done it is… but again, a movie is a very difficult thing to do when there’s so little time. They had to cut out most of my little cameo in it because the movie ran long. But what I would have done, if I could have, was have him – since before he became Spider-Man he was a science student – I would have had his project be that he was trying to develop a substance that could be shot out of an instrument and it would stick to walls for some reason… for whatever reason he wanted to do that. But he just wasn’t able to do it – all of his experiments failed. Then, when he was bitten by the spider, he instinctively knew how to do it – what chemicals to put together. So I would have done it that way, and then it would have been perfectly true to the comic book origin. But that would have taken more explaining and extra scenes and, again, maybe it still wouldn’t have been believable.
PLUME: Of course, people can believe a man gets spider powers, but they can’t believe a man can be smart…
LEE: Oh, I don’t know. The point is, everybody sees things differently, and his is the was Sam Raimi saw it – and it certainly worked out well. I don’t think anyone was questioning… Maybe some purists who know the comics might feel, “Oh, they didn’t do it the way it was in the comics”, but the average person watching it would have no problem with the webs coming out of his hands that way.
PLUME: It’s the “David Banner Syndrome” of Hollywood changing things…
LEE: The funny thing is with Bruce Banner (being changed to David Banner in the Hulk TV show), I agreed to a lot of the changes. Like when Ken Johnson, the director and writer, said he didn’t want the Hulk to talk. I had the Hulk saying things like “Hulk Smash!” and “Me Hulk! Me Angry!” – or whatever the hell stupid thing I had – and I realized Ken was right. It would have sounded very corn for him to talk that way in an adult television series, and by him not talking at all, we overcame the corniness of that kind of language. I mean, I don’t mind if people change things – a movie can’t be the same as a comic. A TV show isn’t always the same as a move. Every form of the media has its own rules, and to make changes to accommodate it to whatever the medium is makes sense.
PLUME: There’s something that I had heard many months ago, as production was ramping up on Spider-Man, that I wanted to ask you about in regards to whether it was accurate or not. I had heard that Marvel’s Avi Arad had tried to dissuade Sam Raimi from involving you in any way with the Spider-Man production because he was jealous of all of the attention you got during X-Men’s release, in regards to press exposure and so on…
LEE: I have no idea… if it’s true, I don’t know about it. He certainly didn’t call me and say, “I’m trying to keep you away.” Avi and I have been very friendly – I’ve had no problems with him. In fact, I don’t think the things I’m doing could be done without his approval. I’m going tomorrow to play a little bit role in the Daredevil movie, and then next week I’ve got a little walk-on or something in the Hulk movie, and I appeared in the Spider-Man movie – for a moment. And every time I meet Avi, he’s very friendly. This is the first I’ve heard of that.
PLUME: Well, I had wanted to ask you whether it was true or not…
LEE: Anything is true. I never would have thought that my partner would have turned out to be a scoundrel, so nothing surprises me. All I can tell you is that I have no knowledge of it.
PLUME: Of the upcoming films – Daredevil is in the works, Hulk is in the works, Fantastic Four is in the works – which is the one that you’re looking forward to the most?
LEE: Believe it or not, every one of them. I mean, I can’t wait to see the Hulk… I can’t wait to see Daredevil… The Fantastic Four – it’ll be amazing to see how they do that… I think the Silver Surfer is in the works… The Sub-Mariner is… Iron Man… It’s like, every one of them! I think Marvel will end up being the biggest company in showbiz.
PLUME: It’s certainly taken them awhile to get there.
LEE: Yeah, well, there were a lot of things that had to be worked out first. Avi and his partner, Isaac Perlmutter, have really done a wonderful job. They rose like the phoenix from the ashes of bankruptcy, and now they’ve got all these movies going, and they’re all with top directors, top actors, top producers, big budgets… It’s really wonderful.
PLUME: And when are we going to see an expanded follow-up to Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels on DVD?
LEE: The minute they ask me!
PLUME: I’ll have to call up Creative Light and talk to them about it…
LEE: By all means! I loved doing that. I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but when I was a teenager, I was an actor. They had something called the WPA Federal Theater, and it was a government sponsored agency because there was a depression in those days and actors were badly hit – they were making no money. So they started this government sponsored theater group for actors, and I joined – and Orson Welles was a member, also. He stayed on, and he became *Orson Welles* – I left because I had to make money, and they didn’t pay enough. I could make more writing. But I’ve always loved acting. To me, acting is the easiest way to make money without working – if you can stand the boredom of waiting between scenes. So any chance I get to do a DVD or do a lecture – or even talking to you now… it’s better than writing… It’s like I’m acting, having a conversation with someone – and I’m hoping that I’m not making a fool of myself.
10 QUESTIONS
1. What is your favorite piece of music?
Any Broadway show score by Lerner and Lowe.2. What is your favorite film?
Any old film starring Errol Flynn.3. What is your favorite TV program, past or current?
All In The Family.4. What do you feel has been your most important professional accomplishment to date?
Answering this questionnaire! But seriously, being instrumental in creating Marvel Comics.5. Which project do you feel didn’t live up to what you envisioned?
My former internet company, Stan Lee Media.6. What is your favorite book?
The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam7. If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?
Insisting that business people be teamed with creative people at the head of studios.8. Who – or what – would you say has had the biggest influence on your career?
My wife, Joan.9. What is your next project?
Presently I’m working on three feature movies and three television series.10. What is the one project that you’ve always wanted to do, but have yet to be able to?
The life of Harry Stonehill (and the fact that you don’t know who he is indicates how much the story needs to be told).And if you’re interested in reading my most recent interview with Stan Lee, CLICK HERE.
If you enjoyed this interview, please take a moment to DONATE.
You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.
Comments: None
Leave a Reply |