Sam Raimi Admits to Messing Up with SPIDER-MAN 3, Calls It "Awful"
Last month I watched Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 for the first time since it was released in theaters. The movie just left such a bad taste in my mouth, I was in not rush to see it again. I have to say, though, after the next time I saw it it wasn't really as bad as I remember. In fact, the first half of the movie was pretty damn awesome. There were some really fun elements, and it wasn't until Peter Parker went all emo that the movie started to lose me. It really could have been a much better film than what it turned out to be, and Raimi knows it.
In a recent interview with the Nerdist podcast, Raimi had a long discussion about everything that went wrong with Spider-Man 3. He points out many of the mistakes that he made with it, but he seemed to have a pretty good sense of humor about it.
The Spider-Man 3 discussion starts around the 1:04 mark, and Raimi begins by saying,
"Working in that big budget arena, with so much at stake, with much beloved characters that Stan Lee created, people really hold them so dear to them that you don't want to mess up and I messed up with that third Spider-Man. People hated me for years. They still hate me for it.
"... It's a movie that just didn't work very well. I tried to make it work, but I didn't really believe in all the characters, and so that can't be hidden from people who loved Spider-Man. If the director doesn't love something, it's wrong of them to make it when so many other people love it."
Even though the movie wasn't the best it could have been, I wasn't one of the guys that hated on Raimi. That guy has been and always will be one of my favorite filmmakers. He just makes really fun flicks. As for the characters he didn't believe in, I assume he's talking about Venom, who was added at the studio's request. It sounds to me like Raimi pretty much checked out of the third film, as he went into it not loving what he was getting himself into.
The director then talks about topping the second Spider-Man film, which was amazing, explaining:
"I think [raising the stakes] was the thinking going into it, and I think that's what doomed us. I should've just stuck with the characters and the relationships and progressed them to the next step and not tried to top the bar. I think that was my mistake."
I do respect the fact that Raimi is owning up to his role in the issues the film has. The thing is, you learn from your mistakes and move forward. If a person doesn't admit that he made a mistake, how are they supposed to change and do better? He went on to humorously admit that the movie was awful in the following exchange with Chris Hardwick:
Raimi: Directors don't like to talk about their bad films.
Hardwick: I don't think that 'bad' is the right word.
Raimi: Awful.
The whole interview is worth listening to, so you should check it out if you get a chance. I especially enjoyed the part where he talks about what Bruce Campbell was like when he was younger.
What do you think about Raimi's statements about his mistakes with Spider-Man 3?