by Paul Fischer

Tobey Maguire's serious and detailed work in The Cider House Rules and Wonderboys and Pleasantville left many people shaking their heads after the announcement of his casting in Spider-Man. On the big screen, the transformation from photo snapping high school nerd Peter Parker to the web-spinning superhero Spider-Man is such that we couldn't imagine anyone else in the role.

The decision for the 27-year old actor to don the Spider-Man gear and bring the comic book icon to life was the chance, he explains, "to work with [director] Sam Raimi, who was the perfect choice for this film. He's great to be around, encouraging as far as me contributing ideas." For Maguire, "Spider-Man was as much a character piece as anything I had previously done. I really loved the character. [He] was just interesting to me with complicated relationships and a tough journey." Asked what set Parker/Spider-Man apart from other superheroes and their alter-egos, Maguire says "the popular answer to that question is that he's not a multimillionaire or an alien." He wouldn't disclose what the 'unpopular' answer would be. "I don't think in terms of comparisons. I really don't have much to compare it with anyhow. I never read comic books or watched them on television. I was certainly aware of the characters and probably pretended I was them."

Maguire has never been associated with the event movies like Spider-Man, yet he dismisses the pressure of doing a blockbuster and the onslaught of super-stardom that could follow. "You know, I'm just going to take it as it comes," he nonchalantly responds. He didn't feel the need to get advice from friend Leonardo Di Caprio whose life changed after Titanic. "I was there, so I saw how he dealt with it. I'm not going to even think about it. There's no reason to get nervous about it. It was obviously something I thought about in making the decision to do it. After that I pretty much haven't thought about it, because it doesn't make sense to get worked up over something that hasn't happened."

The need for Maguire to perform his Spider-Man action sequences in full costume, head-to-toe spandex and mask, required him to "act in a very different way. You use a very different kind of body language as the character. Sam and I talked a lot about keeping the audience with the character even though you can't see his expression." His action scenes "[were] mostly fun, though it was a bit monotonous. It takes too long to shoot tiny portions of the film but, in other ways, it was exciting because I didn't know what it was going to look like. I just had to put my faith in to everybody who was making the film."