The Amazing Spider-Man/Trivia

A list of trivia from The Amazing Spider-Man.

• When first wearing the Spider-Man costume Andrew Garfield admitted to shedding tears.
• In this film Spider-Man uses artificial devices to shoot webs, inspired from the original comics where he possessed similar devices for his webbing (only later would he gain the superhuman ability to shoot webs). Marc Webb explained the web-shooters were a creative decision to showcase Peter's intellect: "We wanted to emphasize that these are things that Peter Parker made and that he is special himself even if he feels like he's an outsider."
• Andrew Garfield requested that the song "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) be played when filming the otherwise silent scene in which Peter goes into the web harvesting room with the spiders..
• On selecting Andrew Garfield to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man, director Marc Webb said, "Though his name may be new to many, those who know this young actor's work understand his extraordinary talents. He has a rare combination of intelligence, wit, and humanity. Mark my words, you will love Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker."
• After Denis Leary was cast, his friend Jeff Garlin, a Spider-Man fan, said "I knew you would get the part." To which Leary replied "Why? Because I'm such a great actor?" Garlin then said, "no, because you look just like Captain Stacy."
• To prepare for his role as Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield studied the movements of spiders and tried to incorporate them as much as he could: "Parker is a boy/spider in terms of how he moves, and not just in the suit."
• Before filming, Rhys Ifans researched his role by meeting several real handicapped people (who have missing limbs). He also spent one month performing his daily activities using only his left hand - it includes tying a tie. There script has small snippet written where Connors ties a tie but it was not filmed as it was too time consuming.
• There are several aspects of this film's interpretation of Spider-Man that resemble the comic book Spiderman much closer than the Sam Rami films' Spider-Man. Obviously, his abilities differ from the first series regarding web slinging. The concept of Parker building devices for shooting webs was the original concept in the comic books. Spider-Man also does much more taunting and smack-talk with his opponents than in previous films. In the Marvel Universe while Deadpool is known as the "Merc with the Mouth", to Spiderman's villains he held the same reputation. Most of Spider-Man's villains shared the same hatred of his talking so much junk.
• All four Spider-Man films have filmed on the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot. Ironically symbolic of the series itself, portions of the back lot burned down on June 1, 2008, meaning that first three used the old back lot while this reboot uses the new back lot.
• Before Andrew Garfield was announced for the lead part, Taylor Lautner, Josh Hutcherson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Logan Lerman, Robert Pattinson, Jamie Bell, Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Angarano, Michael Cera, Alden Ehrenreich, Zac Efron, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Xavier Samuel, Jim Sturgess, Liam Aiken and Anton Yelchin were also considered to play the lead role.
• The filmmakers cite Steve Ditko's early work on 'Spider-Man' and Brian Bendis's 'Ultimate Spider-Man' comic, and Batman Begins (2005) as an influence on the film.
• The pop culturally misquoted line by Ben Parker "With great power comes great responsibility", prominent in the Sam Raimi movies, is not once uttered in this film. The voice-mail left by Ben alludes to this, but never directly quotes it. This is actually more in keeping with Amazing Fantasy #15, the first telling of the story, where it was merely a text box that said "With great power, there must also come great responsibility" in Amazing Fantasy #15. Marvel Comics' universe has been frequently revised and rebooted, giving us the more famous version of the line.
• The first of two movies in 2012 to feature a character performed by Irrfan Khan speaking of another character who happens to be named Richard Parker. The second is I zoi tou Pi (2012).
• It was a creative decision by the filmmakers to have most of the stunts performed practically on rigs by actors/stuntmen, rather than extensively use CGI animation. Marc Webb explained they wanted to make the film more physical and thus more realistic. While filming in New York the crew built a whole rig hundreds of feet long over Riverside Drive in Harlem, and Andy Armstrong built a car rig with a series of wires to help with VFX which required an incredible wealth of acrobatics.
• This is the first "Spider-Man" film to not feature Spider-Man's perennial love interest Mary Jane Watson (in Sam Raimi's three films played by Kirsten Dunst). Instead, Peter Parker's original girlfriend Gwen Stacy appears (who had been played by Bryce Dallas Howard in Spider-Man 3 (2007)).
• During one scene in Peter's bedroom, a photo of actor/comedian Donald Glover, is visible. In 2010, when the movie was first announced and initial casting for the role of Spider-Man was underway, Glover used Twitter to somewhat jokingly campaign for an audition.
• According to costume designer Kym Barrett, the Spider-Man costume was specially designed to resemble an acrobat costume: "We wanted a design that would make the body longer and more lithe, someone incredibly agile; the legs of the spider-symbol on the chest were used to emphasize that."
• The film noticeably borrows a few story elements from the first seven issues of the Ultimate Spider-Man series. A few examples are that not only was Spider-Man's mutation connected to OsCorp like in the comics, but also Spider-Man battled the villain in his school after the villain discovered his secret identity.
• Denis Leary's first live action theatrical film appearance since Bad Boy (2002) and The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002). In the intervening 10 years he had only been in television and cartoons.
• The first film to use RED's Epic series digital cameras. Originally, Hobbit: Ena anapanteho taxidi (2012) was going to be the first feature to use it but a delay at the start of the production instead gave this film the distinction. However, when shooting began in December 2010, the camera model was still in its prototype stages so an engineer from RED had to be on standby throughout the shoot for immediate technical assistance and support.
• This film marks the first time Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) becomes The Lizard on film. Although Curt Connors appeared in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), played by Dylan Baker, the character never became the Lizard despite some strong hints, and was set to become the Lizard in some script treatments which were never green lighted.
• Ashley Greene, Mia Wasikowska, Scout Taylor-Compton Teresa Palmer, Amber Heard, Dianna Agron, Brooklyn Decker, Imogen Poots, Lindsay Lohan, Emma Roberts, Emily Browning, Lily Collins, Anna Kendrick, Ophelia Lovibond, Sara Paxton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Georgina Haig, Hilary Duff and Dominique McElligott were considered for the role of Gwen Stacy, but were beaten out by Emma Stone. It is interesting to note that one of the other names--Mary Elizabeth Winstead--had played Gwen Grayson (named for Gwen Stacy) in the superhero spoof Sky High (2005).
• During filming, the sleeve that Rhys Ifans wore so his right arm could be removed in post-production was referred to as "Kermit" because its green color resembled Kermit the Frog, the famous Muppet.
• Originally there was suppose to be two other villains with The Lizard in the film Proto-Goblin, and Big Wheel (both old comic book villains). But they were both cut (Big Wheel was just an idea before being cut) because the movie would have been too long, there would have been too many origins, and there would have been too many fight scenes. Irrfan Khan plays Dr. Rajit Ratha, the character who would have been the Proto-Goblin.
• In a deleted scene (shown on the DVD), Rhys Ifans interacts with his character's son Billy, played by Miles Elliot.
• Michael Fassbender was originally considered for the role of Dr Curt Connors; he eventually went on to play Magneto in X-Men: First Class (2011). His Inglourious Basterds(2009) co-star Christoph Waltz was later rumored to be attached to the part.
• This marks the second time that Martin Sheen and Cliff Robertson have shared a part: Uncle Ben Parker whom Robertson played in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) films. They previously played John F. Kennedy in Kennedy (1983) and PT 109 (1963), respectively.
• Irrfan Khan got the role of Dr Ratha on the basis of his performance in the drama series In Treatment (2008).
• John Slattery, Sam Elliott and R. Lee Ermey were rumored for the role of J. Jonah Jameson. However, this character, a legendary part of Spider-Man's mythos, does not appear in this film.
• Denis Leary's portrayal as Captain Stacy in the film is based on the version from the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics where Captain Stacy was portrayed as a younger character, when compared to the version from the mainstream Spider-Man comics and Spider-Man 3 (2007) (as portrayed by James Cromwell) who was a much older character.
• The penultimate film produced by Laura Ziskin who died June 12, 2011. Her final film was Lee Daniels' O butler (2013).
• Andrew Garfield was announced for the lead role in early July 2010.
• Cameo
  • Michael Papajohn: the Carjacker from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) series appears as Dr. Ratha's driver Alfred. Papajohn is the only actor to appear in both live-action versions of Spider-Man's origin.
  • Stan Lee: The man in the library unaware of the events going on behind him.
• Tia Texada: the woman on the subway whose black shirt is accidentally torn off by Peter, revealing her pink bra.
• The Daily Bugle newspaper office (and all associated characters) do not appear in this film, a first for the Spider-Man feature film franchise. However, there is a shot of the newspaper's front page offering a reward for proof of the Lizard's existence following his rampage on the bridge. The Daily Bugle logo can also be seen later in the film in the bottom corner of a newscast featuring the Lizard.
• The first live-action Spider-Man motion picture where a main villain's fate is to be captured and put in prison for his crimes, rather than to escape or to be killed.
• Marc Webb describes the theme of the movie as "the missing piece within all of us: Peter has no parents, and he fills that void with Spider-Man. Curt is not as strong as Spider-Man on the inside, but he wants to get back his arm and fill that void, and essentially he becomes a big bully."
• In this film Captain George Stacy is strongly opposed to Spider-Man's activities, (although he does admit that he was wrong at the end), and Gwen Stacy is both aware and supportive of Peter Parker's role as Spider-Man. This is in stark contrast to the mainstream comics, where George Stacy was a strong supporter of Spider-Man, and confessed on his death bed that he was aware of Peter's identity, while Gwen Stacy blamed Spider-Man for her father's death, and as such Peter never informed her of his identity (After comic book continuity was rebooted, Gwen did eventually learn and accept Spider-Man's secret identity in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" series).