Spider-Man Script Review Online

I’ve now gotten my hands on his first draft (dated November 5, 1999) and I’m happy to say that I was right when I posited that it was the studio heads and director Sam Raimi, not Koepp, who were the creators of that awful story and ludicrous direction.

In this draft Koepp does what he was paid for: He fleshes out James TITANIC Cameron’s scriptment. For anyone who hasn’t read it (it’s been available on-line for a long time now) it followed the geeky Peter Parker as he longed for the beautiful Mary Jane, later became Spider-Man after being bit by a mutant spider, and battled a criminal known as Carlton Strand (who was able to shoot lightning from his fingertips).

The first thirty pages of Koepp’s initial effort are nearly identical to the second draft’s. And that’s where it ends. They veer off into totally different territory. In this first draft there is no Harry Osborn and his maniac father or a Doc Ock who shows up at every opportune time. There’s no ridiculous love triangle between the young kids. No biblical child-murder. No sloppy action scenes with "pumpkin bombs."

Koepp gives us Cameron’s scriptment and ups the ante. Carlton Strand is still around (as is his sidekick Boyd, who is a "sandman") -- only now he’s named Max Dillon. Koepp re-creates Cameron’s electrifying (pun intended) scene where Strand/Dillon becomes the lightning-man that he is. He’s running from the cops out in the desert. He happens upon a massive conceptual art piece known as "The Lightning Field." Huge structures, like skyscrapers, dot a field in perfect rows. They are made to attract lightning. And, wouldn’t you know it, one is brewing. While Strand/Dillon is caught inside, the lightning-poles ignite and lightning arcs from one to another in a beautiful display of God’s ultimate power. Strand/Dillon is electrified -- raw juice pumping through his veins -- and he is miraculously able to walk away. With a special ability: he can feed on, and summon up, lightning. There is a drawback: he cannot touch anyone. Even his girlfriend, Cordelia (who survives unchanged in the Koepp script), has to wear a wetsuit when Strand/Dillon gets the urge. (His dilemma is similar to a certain young X-Woman, no?)