Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Foxx appeared at Comic Con Experience this weekend to discuss stepping back into their roles as Spidey’s arch-nemeses The Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Electro. The actors, who all perished in some form or another at the end of their respective Sony franchise installments will all feature in the new MCU film, bridging the different series for the first time.
According to Dafoe, “You know, when I heard it, I thought, ‘Well, that’s pretty nutty, I got speared pretty good in the first film,’ but I thought, ‘Okay, they can figure out a way to bring me back’. I liked the idea that I was returning to something that was the same but different. it’s a return to something I did before with that kind of history, but there’s a spin on it, and that appealed to me.”
Molina joked that “For me, it’s just about the money.” He went on to add in seriousness that “Oddly enough, Willem and I were kind of joshing the other day about how [it’s been] 20 years since his first Green Goblin and 17 years since my first time as Doc Ock, and these are the longest options that a studio has ever exercised on actors. You know it’s like we’ve been waiting, but the material, the pitch, was excellent. I, to be honest, when when the idea was first suggested I my first thought was, ‘Hang on, I’m 17 years older. I’ve got chins; I’ve got wrinkles. What are they going to do?’ Then, of course, I suddenly realized, wait a minute, they’ve got the technology, this isn’t going to be a problem. But it’s been very nice to come back to something that, as you know, is familiar but at the same time completely new. The technology has moved on phenomenally since in the last couple of decades, you know, and so it’s kind of still exciting.”
Dafoe and Molina also discussed the upgrades in technology that have, among other things, made actually suiting up much easier, with Dafoe contrasting his initial costume fitting, which lasted over eight hours, with the far easier to use scanning technology in use today.
Foxx noted his relief that the role did not require him to be painted blue in this version and also commented on working with producer Amy Powell. “I was excited knowing Amy for years, man, and knowing what she’s done with this franchise, and she was explaining to me that it’s gonna be hot, and I didn’t have to be blue, and things like that as far as my character is concerned, so you’re gonna be a little more hip, and that I get a chance to hang out with these incredible thespians. To walk on set and to see these guys, I literally bowed to them, and we’ve been having a ball. I’m happy we got a brand new start, a brand new look,”
Electro’s new look is more industrial in appearance and the lightning generated by the character is not the arcing blue of the former version but a color that more resembles the energy utilized by the character in his original appearances in the first volume of the comic book series,
Spider-Man: No Way Home will be released in theaters on December 17th.