Spider-CGI?

[RadRx]

Hey, guys:

Although I had told myself I would not see this film, I ended up seeing Spider-Man 2 due to insomnia this weekend.

I know everyone made a huge deal about how ripped Toby got for the first film.

Is it me, or does the webslinger look too computer animated in this film. I ask this for a couple of reasons: 1) the differences in shoulder/hip ratio is extremely pronounced between the Peter Parker (Toby) and Spider-Man (presumed CGI) and 2) for crying out loud, how tight can that costume be to show the abs in fight scenes but not in the elevator scene?

For my money, CGI is like pre-recorded tracks at concerts, the producers should not attempt to carry off the performer as having accomplished everything being presented.

[buffdoc]

Yeah the vast majority of Spiderman shots are CGI. The Toby guy definitively was not in same shape as in the first film. He was buff in the original but here in real life shots in the sequel he looked rather thin. There was only one shirtless shot and he wasn't as big nor ripped compared to scenes in the original movie. But the actor had some major back injury so he really couldn't train like he did for the first film. And it certainly didn't impact the money that this flicked collected.

[Phlex]

I think that, back injury aside, TM was less motivated this time around. He'd gotten the job, and he'd already proven that he could look the way he needed to (and then drop a bunch of weight for Seabiscuit). Fortunately, Peter Parker (and Spiderman) don't _have_ to look all that muscular.

Christopher Reeve was similarly less 'buff' in Superman IV, which he directed. He'd already done the training for the first films, and had said in interviews that he didn't like it at all. He was at least ten or fifteen pounds lighter in the later film, it seemed.

Will Smith, on the other hand (and his wife), really seems to have liked his buff look for Ali, and has generally looked very good in his later films; and the wardrobe department is helping to show it off.

[vlad]

yeah, phlex is right on, Toby, after finishing Spider Man 1, had to drop tons of weight, mostly muscle sadly, to be a jockey in seabiscuit, then had to put as much on as possible again for SM2. I suppose he did as well as he could in the limited time he had...most of you know at this point how slow a process building muscle can be. Hopefully he'll be a bit naturally bigger for the inevitable spider man 3.

[ethernet_jock]

does anyone else miss the "old days" when actors were just great actors and they didn't have to get anorexic or insanely steroidal just to do a film (not that TM did steroids, I know that he did not.... more of the Vin Diesel effect is what I mean by that)?

I mean... what happened to when you could see Tom Hanks do 3 completely different movies in a span of 2 years, perform VERY WELL in all of them and pass off perfectly as fitting the character without doing this shit to his body? Does anyone else think that Hanks is one of the best modern-day actors to ever grace the screen or am I just insane? :P

Anyhow... my $0.02... I feel sorry for Toby. He's just trying to get rich acting and the industry is tossing his body around.... some day it'll hurt him if it hasn't already. Plus, he's kinda cute.

[AngryLeek]

I agree that Tom Hanks is a diverse, talented actor, but don't forget that he too dropped how much weight to play in Philadelpia as the dying, AIDS-afflicted lawyer.

So far as using CGI for Spider-man, I know we could tell whenever it switched to CGI, but I left the movie feeling like they were improving in getting a realistic look to their animations. I welcome the use to help complete the illusion of watching a day in the life of Spider-Man; I mean, how could an actor pull off spidey's moves to meet expectations? Still, as a scifi fan, I'm probably very trained to suspend my disbelief to enjoy a crazy story.

There was one scene in the beginning where Spidey rescues 2 children who ran into the street & sets them down on the sidewalk. I wondered if it was a stunt duoble b/c this Spider-Man looked much more broad-shouldered & built in costume than I believed Tobey was looking.

[Notbigenuff]

Originally Posted by AngryLeek

... I wondered if it was a stunt duoble b/c this Spider-Man looked much more broad-shouldered & built in costume than I believed Tobey was looking.

Actually, from an interview or something that I read about the first Spiderman movie, the costume is well padded to add musculature. It seems that even with Toby's working out (at least for the first flick) that neither he nor the stuntmen looked quite right in the costume without some additional padding. Especially in the upper chest and shoulder area. I imagine this held true for the back as well.

[Jim USA]

I saw an interview with the costume designer and he said he made the Spider-man 2 costume with more shadows built in to highlight muscle areas.