What Could Have Been: James Cameron's Spider-Man

in the world of Cinema few names command as much reverence as James Cameron I'm the king of the world renowned for his iconic films from the Relentless Terminator to the terrifying aliens and the Monumental Titanic to the groundbreaking Avatar however Cameron's filmography at one point almost saw Spider-Man as part of that list and what's more it would have starred Leo DiCaprio as the web Slinger himself so let's dive in and take a look at what could have been James Cameron's Spider-Man in the early 90s James Cameron and his then wife Catherine Bigelow Academy award-winning director of The Hurt Locker we're in talks with caracal pictures about making an X-Men movie that Bigelow would direct and Cameron would produce during one such meeting that included Stan Lee and Chris Claremont the legendary X-Men comic book writer the subject quickly turned from X-Men to Spider-Man thanks to Stan Lee so we're chatting and at one point Stan looks at Cameron and says I hear you like Spider-Man Cameron's eyes lit up and they start talking and talking and talking in about 20 minutes later all the light storm guys and I are looking at each other and we all know the X-Men deal has just evaporated before if it wasn't already clear Cameron was a massive Spider-Man fan and the prospect of directing a film about the web Slinger was too good to pass up when I was a kid I mean Spider-Man was the coolest to me there was all the other superheroes and there was Spider-Man Cameron would begin by writing a scriptment part screenplay part narrative story outline Strang from the traditional tropes of mythical cities like Gotham City or Metropolis Cameron envisioned a world that mirrored the rawness and realism of gritty New York [Music] Cameron also wanted this gritty realism reflected in the characters so in his movie everyone swears including Spider-Man himself you'll get your rent when you fix this damn door also when writing Peter Parker he thought of what a real teenager would do if given these incredible Powers if you can do anything you want and nobody can stop you and you're 17 years old old you better have a pretty good value system or you better find one and since this is an origin story The First Act of Cameron's film hits many of the same beats as the Ramey version except for a few key differences like there being no Harry Osborne also the laboratory his class attends on a field trip makes Genetically Enhanced fruit flies not spiders and after one escapes it's caught in a spider's web and eaten this causes the mutagen from the fly to then pass to the spider which then passes to Peter after it bites him as Peter takes a picture for the school paper when Peter gets home he heads straight to his room and passes out before plunging into a psychotropic state barraged by hallucinations of spiders again this is very similar to the Ramey version except when Peter wakes up he finds himself 80 feet in the air Atop A transmission tower in his underwear with no recollection for how he got there after returning home he goes through a similar ordeal again and after waking up the following morning he finds the bed sheets are stuck to him as he lists them he notices a sticky white mask completely covering his body gluing him to his bed in what is a very obvious metaphor for a wet dream and just like the Remy films and Cameron's version Peter's webbing is organic too Cameron felt that it was implausible that a teenager would create web shooters that the DARPA Labs would take 20 years to create so instead Peter builds fake web shooters that do nothing but hide his biological wrists in a rats so it looks like the webbing is shooting out of the wristbands she's Parker you are a freak and he does this so people don't think he's a freak of nature so you like make your own web fluid in your body I'd rather not talk about this no I don't mean to are you teasing me no no no no no he's not teasing you it's just it we can't do that so naturally we're curious as to how your web situation works but that happens later right now Peter is freaking out and runs out of the house in a panic however in another nod to puberty it's not long before Peter realizes that his body is changing for the better as he discovers that he's capable of Performing incredible Feats of Strength and Agility over the next few days he hones his skills and one night he leaps across rooftops as he starts to trip on the power of being able to come and go like a wraith without ever being seen and we know this because in Cameron's version we get to hear Peter's thoughts as voiceover which act in place of the thought bubble word balloons found in a comic strip and while this would have been really cool to see on film we'd eventually get to see it in Sin City I'm staring at a goddess she's telling me she wants me that night Peter swings his way to Mary Jane's house where he drops down from the roof and watches her undress through her bedroom window he's a Peeping Tom it's around this point of the story that Peter figures there must be a way for him to make some money with these new abilities so he makes a costume and starts busking on the street before upgrading to performing at upscale parties and it's at one of these parties that a booking agent discovers him and puts him on late night TV where he becomes a cult favorite and public phenomenon one day Uncle Ben drives Peter to his agent's office so he can pick up his TV money but the sleazy agent tells him he's broke and he can't pay him what follows is basically the same story beat we've seen a million times with the agent getting robbed Peter neglecting to stop the robber then finding Uncle Ben shot outside before going after the killer except in this version Peter apprehends him and then gets into a scuffle with the cops who arrive on the scene and want to take Peter into the station for questioning that night a local TV station run by J Jonah Jameson runs a story on the evening news that two cops were assault by the mysterious character known as Spider-Man after Uncle Ben's death Peter takes a page out of Batman's book and begins to go after criminals with a Vengeance becoming a one-man anti-crime wave he even intervenes and webs up two cops using excessive force on a suspect which makes Spider-Man a wanted criminal it's here where the film begins to heavily deviate from Remy's film with the introduction of the primary villain Carlton strand AKA Electro but this version of Electro is very different from the one we know in the comics this one has used his electrical powers to manipulate computer Bank transfers and the stock market to make himself a billionaire and in what must be a leftover from Cameron scrapped X-Men film Elektra wants Spider-Man to join him and Sandman who is the other super Electro has found that acts as is heavy strand believes that the next step in human evolution each created by a fluke of Technology after having seen Spider-Man perform on TV Electro invites Spider-Man to his opulent Mansion to seduce him into joining his master race then the question is will you join my brotherhood and fight but Spider-Man refuses resulting in a brawl vs Electro and Sandman that Spider-Man is narrowly able to escape frustrated Electro begins a campaign to win back Spider-man and buys a TV station from Jay Jonah Jameson giving him an unlimited budget to bash Spider-Man Electro's goal is to make the world such a hostile place for Spider-Man that Spidey will be driven back to him and see him as the only one who understands what it is to be different from the herd meanwhile at school Mary Jane has decided to team with Peter in Biology class in the hopes of getting an A so she can get the car her parents promised her which is contingent on her grades Peter wants to do the project on spiders much to Mary Jane's disgust but Peter just wants to learn more about them because he wants to learn more about himself as a pair work on the project together she starts to like him making her boyfriend flash jealous after school Peter Witnesses flash get into a heated argument with MJ before flash slaps her across the face later dressed as Spider-Man Peter avenges her and slaps flash around before destroying his beloved Porsche Spider-Man also saves Mary Jane from a group of attackers in the film much like in the Remy version afterwards the two kiss which begins Mary Jane's infatuation with them later Spider-Man takes her up to the Brooklyn Bridge where he uses his webbing to pin her hands down although he tells her it's just symbolic and she can break free at any time after performing a mating dance for her reminiscent of a spider the two proceed to make love it's important to note that MJ doesn't know this is Peter it's just some guy in a mask who she's having sex with while tied to the Brooklyn Bridge eventually Electro learns of their relationship and kidnaps MJ framing Spider-Man for her disappearance Spider-Man tracks them to the Top of the World Trade Center which would have been where the climax to raymie Spider-Man film had taken place too if not for 9 11. once there Electro lets MJ go telling Spidey she was just a lure to get a one-on-one with him as he tries to seduce Spider-Man yet again into joining him and what he says actually resonates with Peter that is until he tries to bribe him with millions of dollars leading to Spider-Man re-buffing his offer once more Electro then takes MJ and forcibly kisses her electrocuting her to death before shocking her back to life at this point Peter goes berserk fights them off and then gets MJ to a stairwell at the other Tower it's at this point that she tells him that she loves him to which Spider-Man replies cool then Spider-Man goes to battle against Electro and Sandman in a final battle that Cameron describes as a real barn burner eventually Spider-Man pulls Sandman into the direction of one of Electro's bolts turning him into glass before Spidey and Electro fall off the top of the World Trade Center in a spectacular shot that sees a panicking Electro fire electricity in every direction hoping to stop his fall Peter eventually saves him before revealing his identity to him as a mere teenager much to Electro's Amusement than he dies as Peter takes the money Electro tried to bribe him with and Reigns it down over the city back at school Peter and MJ get an A on their project which leads MJ to excitedly kiss Peter in celebration as she pulls out of the kiss she realizes that he's Spider-Man a fight with a jealous flash ensues Before Peter and MJ go their separate ways to different colleges as you can see there's a lot of elements from Cameron's script that eventually would find their way into the Ramey film but there's a lot of differences too the biggest is the tone of the script there's tons of swearing sex and other adult situations that probably would have earned this an R rating which is not really what you want from a tentpole superhero film but Cameron viewed the story of Spider-Man as a metaphor for puberty and thus wrote it for more mature audiences the cast list however was pretty interesting for Jay Jonah Jameson Cameron wanted R Lee Ermey which in my opinion would have been perfect Maggie Smith who basically played the token old lady in every early 90s movie was eyed for Aunt May and Cameron regulars Lance Henriksen and Michael Bean would have played Electro and Sandman respectively with Robin Lively I'd for MJ and popping in for a quick Cameo would have been Arnold Schwarzenegger as doc Dr Otto Octavius in order to set him up as the villain for the sequel so what stopped Cameron's Spider-Man film from getting made well first we have to go back to the 80s when a man by the name of menahem Golan who at the time was co-owner of Canon films famous for producing low budget schlock purchased the film rights to Spider-Man over the next several years golden would try and fail several times to bring the web crawler to the big screen within this unsuspecting City History's Greatest experiment creates tomorrow's greatest superhero Spider-Man the movie a live-action spectacular directed by Joe Zito based on the characters created by Stan Lee eventually Carroll Coe The Studio behind Cameron's Terminator 2 and Aliens acquired the film rights from Golan for Cameron on one condition that is role in spotting the property's potential early in keeping the project alive be recognized via a producer credit karelco easily agreed however what they neglected to realized was when negotiating Cameron's deal they just reused his Terminator 2 contract word for word which gave Cameron approval over every credit on the picture and you guessed it he refused to give goal in his due golden would realize this once publicity for the project began to trickle out as his name would always be absent and never mentioned in connection with the picture finally golden sued Kuroko which was followed by other lawsuits by Studios who claim they owned the rights to the character thus beginning a tangled web of litigation that would put the project on hold I want to do Spider-Man but the but the rights are all messed up why are the rights messed up Marvel owns them it's one of these bankruptcy things you know you got all these companies that Acquire the rights and they go into bankruptcy then they owe money to everybody and the rights have value Cameron would go on to make True Lies with Fox then try and get Fox to buy the rights to Spider-Man but Fox didn't want to get down in the mud of this legal mess even after completing Titanic Cameron was still eager to make Spider-Man I would kill to see a good Spider-Man movie I love Spider-Man yeah I wrote the script I'm ready to go yeah it's it it rules you would do that next absolutely I would do in a heartbeat and while perhaps it was a good thing the film wasn't made in the early to mid 90s due to limitations and visual effects technology at the time considering how Cameron pushed the boundaries of visual effects with his groundbreaking Avatar in 2009 it's interesting to wonder how Cameron might have propelled CGI forward if he had taken on Spider-Man after his Monumental success with Titanic calling Spider-Man the greatest film he never made this experience ended up being an important lesson for Cameron as it pushed him to focus more on creating original Works rather than trying to adapt existing IPS crediting its failure with the kick he needed to just go do his own stuff thus giving us avatar thanks for watching everybody and don't forget to like And subscribe to bullets and Blockbusters for more great content [Music]

Channel: Bullets & Blockbusters

Views: 418,149

Keywords: spiderman

Id: oitadO3qAyc

Length: 13min 27sec (807 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 13 2023