Sam Raimi Talks 'SpiderMan 2' Back Joke

[Monday, June 21st, 2004]
Director Sam Raimi says he's added a joke that refers to the back problem Tobey Maguire was experiencing before production began on SpiderMan 2. "Yes, there's a joke in the picture where Tobey [as Peter Parker] is trying to get his powers back," Raimi told Sci-Fi Wire. "He jumps through the air and says, 'I'm back! I'm back!' But he doesn't really have his powers completely back, and he falls, hurts his back, and then he says, 'My back! My back!'"

Raimi says his brother Ivan wrote the joke before shooting started. "After writing it, we said, 'Oh, my God. Maybe we shouldn't do that, because of the problems with Tobey's back.' And then we said, 'No, it'll be really funny if we did do that. It'd be fun for the people who do know about that problem, and because it was thought up independently, it might be fun for people who don't.' I hope it's fun. And it's the funniest thing: the publicist said to me, 'You know, that's supposed to be a joke, that moment,' ... [and,] 'Don't worry. ...We were in the audience [at an early screening], and when that thing with Tobey's back happened [and] he hit the car, nobody said a word.' Oh, that's great. Great."

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