Thought the reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise was unnecessary? Well, don’t worry, the Green Goblin thinks it was too!
In an interview with Total Film promoting the upcoming video game Beyond: Two Souls, actor Willem Dafoe, who played the role of Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s trilogy of Spider-Man films, was asked what he thought of 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Claiming he had not seen the film, Dafoe nevertheless picked apart the logistics of rebooting the franchise so soon after its last instalment, saying that it looked as if it was “the same story” and that Sony’s decision was “a cynical approach to making money”. He went on to cite the purity of Raimi’s trilogy, saying that its “genuine innocence” had become harder to capture when it had gained “some kind of attention and a certain level of success”. Dafoe then stated that he had no interest in seeing The Amazing Spider-Man or any subsequent films in the series, and felt indifferent to actor Chris Cooper playing his former role of Osborn in the upcoming 2014 sequel.
Well, it had to happen eventually. The announcement in early 2010 of Sony rebooting Spider-Man came as an absolute shock to me, and it was only a matter of time until I had to see someone from the previous incarnation of the film franchise give their take on it. While I didn’t mind Marc Webb’s retelling of Peter Parker’s origin story, I wasn’t quite enamoured with it either, and Dafoe’s thoughts pretty much echo my problems with the reboot from a marketing standpoint. Even though I thought the series needed an overhaul anyway, I feel it’s justified for people like Dafoe or anyone who worked on the Raimi trilogy to vent their annoyances, as their hard work seemed to be discarded too soon in order to put a fresh image out for everyone’s favourite web-slinger. In the meantime, however, maybe they should look back on the reaction to Spider-Man 3 and see why exactly the idea of a reboot was thrown out there.
Via Total Film
What do you guys think? Do you agree with Dafoe, or do you think he’s being a curmudgeon? Should crew members of past incarnations of franchises have the right to criticize the current one? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
