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15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The Amazing Spider-Man

15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The Amazing Spider-Man

15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The Amazing Spider-Man
Danielle de Wolfe
20 August 2014

After Tobey Maguire slinged his way to a hefty box office total with the original trilogy, we were dubious about another actor stepping into the role of Peter Parker. But The Amazing Spider-Man, Marc Webb's quick-footed reboot gave us much to enjoy, not least an arguably more charming lead...

Here are 15 things you might not know about the film...

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is available to buy on Blu-Ray and DVD on September 1

CHECK OUT AN 8-BIT REMAKE OF THE FILM HERE

(Images: AllStar & Rex)

1.

Michael Papajohn, who you may remember as Uncle Ben's killer in the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film, has a small role as the limo driver of Dr. Ratha, played by Irrfan Khan.


2.

Paul Feig, director of Bridesmaids and The Heat, was asked by director Marc Webb to spend a bit of time working on some of the high school scenes in the film. When it comes to a convincing portrait of teenage life, Feig's your man. He also created Freaks and Geeks.


3.

Other actors considered for the role of Peter Parker included Aaron Johnson, Logan Lerman and Jamie Bell. Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson even screen tested for the part, which you can see here.


4.

It was the first Hollywood movie to be filmed with the RED Epic camera. Since then, The Hobbit and Prometheus have also utilised the same technology.


5.

During the initial casting process, Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, went to Twitter to encourage followers to tweet #donald4spiderman. As a nod to this, there's a picture of him visible in Peter's bedroom.


6.

In the original script, Curt Connors, aka The Lizard, had a family and his wife was set to be played by Annie Parisse, best known for Law & Order and The Following.


7.

When Andrew Garfield first tried on the Spider-Man costume, it reduced him to tears. He still hasn't elaborated why, but we've decided it's either because of the grandiosity of the character and due to the suit being too tight.


8.

Originally proposed to be the first in a new trilogy, the number of films was increased from three to four half way through post-production of its sequel. The number of films has increased even more, with three projected spin-offs in the works, bring the total number of Amazing projects to seven.


9.

The film was released on the 50th Anniversary of Spider-Man's first comic book appearance created by Stan Lee - in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962.


10.

In order to make the fight scenes and spidey's web-slinging more realistic, director Marc Webb insisted on more stunt men and less CGI. The stuntmen would be attached to rigs on the streets of Harlem, which in turn would be hundreds of feet long.


11.

Rhys Ifans's Lizard was originally meant to be joined on screen by two other villains. The first, Big Wheel - a character only talked about in the franchises earliest stages, was left out completely. The second was to be Proto-Goblin. Although neither appear in the film, Dr. Rajit Ratha, the character poised to become Proto-Goblin, does.


12.

A host of young actresses were considered for the part of Gwen Stacy. Mia Wasikowska, Anna Kendrick, Ophelia Lovibond and Lindsay Lohan were all at one time or another considered for the role which ultimately went to Emma Stone.


13.

The film deals with specific plot elements taken from the first seven issues of the Spider-Man comic. These included the origins of his powers at Oscorp as well as a battle between Spidey and a villain at his high school.


14.

Marc Webb stated at Comic Con that Andrew Garfield "became obsessed" with Spider-Man and Peter Parker's movement after the character is bitten by the spider. Webb said that "[Andrew] would spend hours developing poses and postures and even getting his knuckles and elbows to move in a certain position".


15.

Real-life couple Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone originally met during her screen test for the movie. Garfield said "It was like I woke up when she came in… It was like diving into whitewater rapids and having no desire to hang onto the side. Throughout shooting, it was wild and exciting."