Spider-Man: The Impressive 156 Takes Scene From Tobey Maguire
The mantle of Spider-Man has fallen upon the shoulders of quite a few actors over the years, the latest being Tom Holland.
It started with Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man in the Sam Raimi directed trilogy, and gave the audiences some really memorable moments to enjoy. But there was one such moment that came as a surprise.
The 156 Takes Scene:
In 2002’s Spider-Man, the cafeteria scene with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, was thought by most to be done by CGI. But apparently, we were all wrong. It took Maguire a lot of time, and a lot of takes, but he nailed that scene all on his own.
Parker had recently gotten his new superpowers, and found out he didn’t need his glasses anymore. He was sitting in the cafeteria, eating lunch when Mary Jane, who was walking past him, slipped.
In a way to help his classmate and secret crush, Maguire’s Peter Parker manages to achieve an almost impossible feat for a mere human. But as we can now acknowledge, apparently it is possible for someone who isn’t a superhero to achieve this, even if it took the actor 156 takes to do it.
In a moment of absolute awesomeness, Maguire’s Parker manages to hold Dunst’s Mary Jane from falling on to the ground with one hand and catches all the food that went up in the air with his other. He not only managed to save her from slipping on some spilled juice, but also kept her sandwich, apple, milk, AND jello intact.
Sometimes we wonder, if Maguire really did get bit by a radioactive spider!
The DVD Commentary:
In the DVD commentary of the movie, John Dykstra, the head of the VFX team for the movie back then, shared the tid bit about Maguire’s stunt. He said there was no CGI done for that particular scene, but it was really all Maguire himself.
“This gag when he catches all this stuff, he actually did that… take 156!” Dykstra said in the video.
Kirsten Dunst herself confirmed this, saying they used a glue to stick Tobey’s hand to the tray so it is easier for him to catch all the items – “No CGI, that’s all Tobey, they put sticky glue stuff to stick his hand to the tray.”
156 takes to nail a single scene is a lot, but to know that the actor did it himself, makes the scene so much more amazing to watch. Do you think Andrew Garfield or Tom Holland could do the same? Marvel might have some ideas.
The Spider-Verse Future:
The previous two avatars of Spider-Man played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are now confirmed to be joining the next instalment of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man world. We are guessing it would have something to do with the multiverse, as even Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange is also a part of the movie.
As much as we loved Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse, we can only hope to see all three Spider-Man’s on screen together, this time in a live action movie.
