Topher Grace Defends Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 3
Along with Blade and Bryan Singer's X-Men, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was among the first major comic book movies of the modern era, and it was a terrific example of the now-formulaic origin story done correctly. A couple of years later, he returned for a sequel, and I'd still put the excellent Spider-Man 2 pretty high on the list of best comic book movies ever made. Things took a downward turn, however, with Raimi's Spider-Man 3, which experienced some well-publicized studio interference (add Venom!) and distracting story choices (hey there, emo Peter Parker) that audiences just couldn't get past.
While promoting his new movie Truth, actor Topher Grace — who played the character of Eddie Brock/Venom in Spider-Man 3 — defended the film, citing Raimi's directorial skills and the movie's financial success:
I know the movie did well for Sony, but I also know a lot of people weren't happy with it. I think Sam is so talented. I remember one time I was on ninth unit. (Laughs.) Ninth unit? It's like he's running a small country. This summer, there was a movie like that where people are just slamming a big studio movie. I would love to see anyone who's slamming one of those movies try to fit in Sam Raimi's position. He was like the president of a small country — by the way, it had the gross national income of a small country, too. I have huge respect for him. I think, on a whole, he did such a fantastic job [on that trilogy].
Nice not-too-thinly-veiled Fantastic Four reference in there. Extolling Raimi's organization is one thing, but I don't know how much validity I can put in Grace talking about how much money the film made at the box office. We all know that financial success doesn't always coincide with creative success (ahem, Transformers franchise), so bringing up how much money something made won't ever be a deciding factor for me about whether or not a movie is any good; it'll just be a factor in whether or not that director is considered bankable enough to make another movie. Luckily, Raimi's still going strong: he directed the pilot for Ash vs. Evil Dead, which arrives on Starz this Halloween night.