[ Part IV: SPIDER-MAN EXTREME: AMAZING ACTION WITHOUT GETTING KILLED ] ^ [ The attention to detail is the reason that I think the film succeeds, how much time did you spend on those little details? ] ^ Every minute of screen time multiplied by 100. It all starts with the costumes. I would never hear of them being less than what they were in the books. Spidey’s HAD to be in pieces: mask, boots, gloves, belt, pants, top. ^ The moves had to look like the “Marvel Way.” The props had to look just like they were drawn. The Daily Bugle had to have a bugle in the logo…the list goes on and on.
[ Of course you know that Marvel owns Spider-Man, so what’s your goal with this film? ] ^ The goal has always been to attract some attention of the current forces in charge of producing the Marvel-sanctioned movie. All I ever wanted was a shot. I feel like I know how to put Spidey on the screen. I’ve spent countless brain cells designing cool shots and effects based on some of the great artists to draw the books over the years.
[ Do you have any idea if Sam Raimi has seen the movie? ] ^ No idea. He probably, like James Cameron, still doesn’t even know I’m alive. I did have the opportunity to show the tape to someone at Marvel Entertainment and they keep telling me they’re going to show it to him, but it’s been months and still no word.
[ It’s amazing to me that you pulled off this incredible action on a shoe-string. But you could also have been killed wearing a Spider-Man costume. I’ve never even met a filmmaker willing to DIE for his movie! I really want to know what your thinking was when you were pulling off these incredible action scenes? ] ^ I love action. I love to be in motion. Even when relaxing, I like to move. I own chairs that hang and swing and have spent 16 years sleeping in a water bed. The fact that I recreationally do a lot of high adrenaline stuff makes it a little easier perhaps to understand that when I put those tights on to do a stunt, I approach it very business like. I may be the guy doing the stunt, but I’m telling myself what I need to see as the director as I do it. So, in regard to stunt work, it’s always been a simple matter of what I need to see to tell the story. Believe me, though the ones I pulled off were cool enough, I have always been very disappointed that I could not achieve more.
[ The Spidey acting is very acrobatic and realistic… ] ^ Stunt-wise, I knew it was going to take a lot more than the costume to make Spidey come to life. Once I felt like I had the moves down I then had to incorporate them in the air, on the rope, and along side the walls. ^ The moment I realized I needed to shoot new Spidey action I understood how much bolder it had to be than previously accomplished in my other videos. I knew that it wasn’t even going to be worth doing unless I got a shot of the Amazing Spider-Man swinging around a building in broad daylight, and I immediately got very anxious to get to that point. ^ My particular favorite is the swing under the bridge in the opening scene. As a comic book fan I absolutely dig that shot, and as the stuntman I am the most proud of that because for that fleeting moment in the air, I WAS Spider-Man! It had it all — the pose, the arc, the one arm change over and the picture perfect landing. Man, that one felt good! ^ I grew up climbing everything in sight and jumping around on anything that could hold me. I think that my friends and family are all so accustomed to my antics and adventures that they barely blink when they see or hear of yet another stunt. I can’t speak for any of the girls that I dated during the different productions except to say that I always got a “Be careful” from just about everyone! Eric Supensky acted more like a girlfriend than anybody as far as looking out for my safety! There was a drop from the ceiling of a warehouse once, were all I was concerned with was looking like the exact McFarlane pose. As I’m about to get into position to let go, Eric yells for me to stop and orders a few others to help scramble for as many moving blankets they can find to pad the pathetic landing mat I had! ^ But then there was the time in the other warehouse when I forgot to replace the mat from the previous take and landed head first onto some metal shelving brackets on a concrete floor. That was the scariest one ever. That was a hospital trip and a month in a neck brace. The down time gave me a chance to dream up more stunts instead of thinking about better safety resources.
[ Was there anything that you wish you could have done better? ] ^ The one Spidey stunt I would have lent some more time to planning if I had to do it all again would be the car roof shots. I would have worn gloves made of something other than cotton and bolted some kind of cleat onto the car top. As it was I just gripped the trim and yelled at them to go faster and not take the turn too sharply….!
Read The Real Spider-Man Part V: SEE THE VIDEO! PLUS SPIDER-MAN STUNTS PHOTO GALLERY! Watch this incredible video now on the web!
