Sam Raimi Originally Didn’t Want Stan Lee To Have A Cameo In ‘Spider-Man’

The Hollywood Reporter has shared Sam Raimi’s tribute to the late Stan Lee, in which the filmmaker reveals that he originally didn’t want the Marvel Comics legend to have a cameo appearance in Spider-Man.

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man is widely regarded as one of the best comic book adaptations of all-time and the film features one of Stan Lee’s earliest cameos in a Marvel-based feature film. However, Raimi revealed why he initially objected to including Stan Lee in the film and how he feels about the cameo now:

“I got the job for Spider-Man in 1999. And [Marvel head] Avi Arad said, ‘I want you to put Stan in the movie.’ And I was like, ‘No. I know Stan, and he can’t act.’ And Avi was, ‘I want him in the movie. We did it for X-Men, we’re doing it here.’ Now imagine you’re a minor director in England doing Macbeth and you’re told, ‘Put the writer in the play.’ It sounds absurd. ‘Fine, you want Shakespeare in the play, I’ll put Shakespeare in the play.’ Now it’s one of my favorite parts in the movie.”

Sam Raimi also recalled collaborating with Stan Lee on a Thor film that was ultimately rejected by Fox:

He took me out to lunch and said we should work together. I said I’d like to make a movie about Thor. We worked together writing treatments and took it to Fox and pitched it. And they said, ‘Absolutely no. Comic books don’t make good movies.’ This was in 1991.”

In 1961, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby launched Marvel as it is known today with The Fantastic Four and went on to create some of the most beloved heroes and villains in comic book history, including Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers. Today, Lee’s Marvel characters are the subjects of some of the most successful and acclaimed comic books films, most of which feature cameo appearances by the legend himself.

Stan Lee is survived by his daughter J.C.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter