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CNN Live Today
Moviegoers Around Country Caught Up in Web of Excitement
Aired May 03, 2002 - 11:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Spidey. Moviegoers around the country are caught up in a web of excitement from today's debut of Spiderman. The crimefighting capers of the Marvel comic book hero could be the first blockbuster of the season.
CNN.com movie reviewer Paul Clinton profiles the star of Spiderman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOBEY MAGUIRE, ACTOR: This is my gift.
KIRSTEN DUNST, ACTRESS: Wow!
MAGUIRE: It is my curse.
DUNST: Who are you?
MAGUIRE: Who am I? I'm Spiderman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON (on camera): That's going to be on your resume. It's going to be on everything for the rest of your life, Spiderman. Are you ready for that? Ready or not, it's coming.
MAGUIRE: Yeah, it's coming. I don't know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGUIRE: For me, the choice to live an ordinary life is no longer an option.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON (voice-over): Twenty-six-year-old Toby Maguire is on the cusp of superstardom with the dual roll of Peter Parker-turned Spiderman. In some ways born to be the high schooler turned superhero. When growing up, Maguire moved around a lot and was always the new kid in school.
(on camera): Did that help you in playing Peter Parker in terms of being the outsider.
MAGUIRE: I suppose it did. It is hard for me to speculate on, like, what aspects of my life lent itself to my work.
CLINTON (voice-over): That life was less than idyllic early on. His parents, who split up when Maguire was very young, didn't have a lot of money.
MAGUIRE: At times, I would be embarrassed by like rolling up in the $400 beat up orange truck or getting groceries with food stamps, and I would like, you know, be dropped off a block from school or run out of the store before they used the food stamps. As an adult looking back on it, I realized there was really nothing to complain about.
CLINTON (voice-over): His mother encouraged him to go into acting. And one of his first film rolls was in "This Boy's Life" with his friend Leonardo DiCaprio. He lost out on playing the lead when...
MAGUIRE: I just crumbled when I read with De Niro. I couldn't take it.
CLINTON: His auditioning skills obviously improved. Major rolls followed in "The Ice Storm," "Pleasantville," "The Cider House Rules" and now "Spiderman."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do too much. You're not Superman, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MAGUIRE: I think that there is a little bit of some complexities to this character that are similar it other films that I'm drawn to. But this is obviously something unlike I've never done, which was part of the draw for me.
CLINTON: Maguire is well aware this role may change his life forever.
MAGUIRE: I would have moments with my friends sometimes when my friends would turn to me and, you know, go wow, you're Spiderman, that's pretty cool.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: It is cool. But is he good? Paul Clinton joins us live from our L.A. bureau this morning.
Paul, good morning.
CLINTON: Good morning, Daryn. How are you?
KAGAN: I'm good. The question is, how is Spiderman? You saw the movie. CLINTON: It is great. Toby is wonderful as Spiderman. But more important, he is wonderful as Peter Parker, because he is the outsider, like we said in the interview, and he fits it like a spandex glove.
The whole idea with Spiderman is that he's an everyday, ordinary, average high school student, but is suddenly given these powers, and that apparently what makes him so relatable to all these people throughout the years. It's been in existence for 40 years now. And it's only now coming to life because there has been so much litigation, so many legal problems over the rights to the different, various Marvel cartoon characters, so we're just now getting it, and I think it's just in time. Because any time earlier, the special effects would not have been possible to make this the movie it is.
KAGAN: True. And so the special effects one of the stars, you would say?
CLINTON: It is, but I mean, they don't stand out so much as they overtake the movie, which special effects have a tendency to do. You really can't -- it's seamless. You can sit back and nitpick and go this and that, but overall, it's really seamless. I mean, he going through the skyscrapers, which is all animated computer stuff. You really can't tell when he comes and jumps and he's real.
KAGAN: And we're seeing quite a few clips here of Mrs. Dunst as well. What about the chemistry between them.
CLINTON: There is definitely chemistry there. There is one scene called the "upside down kiss" that was really a very hot little kiss between the two of them. They were rumored to be together while the movie was being made. They no longer are together, and they really don't like it talk about their private life.
KAGAN: Such is love in Hollywood. Just quickly, Leon is thinking about taking the kids. Is it a kids movie? Sometimes these are a little too adult.
CLINTON: Well, it is PG-13. It depends on the maturity level or Leon's kids. There is violence, but it is cartoon violence. There is no really bad language, and no sex. There is a couple of kisses. But it is somewhat violent. It depends on the individual child.
KAGAN: All right.
CLINTON: I got show you something, Daryn. It's my favorite super -- Spiderman toy.
HARRIS: No, he didn't.
CLINTON: You know how I am. I have to. I like all of the toys, you know.
KAGAN: Is that your web coming out of there? What is that?
CLINTON: That's the web, yes. HARRIS: That was coming out of your arm, right.
CLINTON: That was coming right out of the palm.
When I went to the store, I just had to have this one. I mean, this is great.
KAGAN: Thanks for playing, Paula. Good to see you.
CLINTON: Thank you.
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