What the Hell Happened to Tobey Maguire?

Tobey Maguire is best-known as the first movie Spider-man.  But before he donned the blue and red tights, Maguire was a promising actor who seemed destined for a long career.  During the 90’s, Maguire built a reputation as a talented actor in a string of independent movies.  After he crossed over into the mainstream, Maguire continued supplementing his super hero duties with high profile dramatic roles.  But after he hung up his Spidey-suit, Maguire practically disappeared from the big screen.

What the hell happened?

Tobey Maguire - childhood picture
Tobey Maguire – childhood picture

Maguire came from a broken home.  His parents divorced when he was two years old and he was bounced from one relative to another.  As a youngster, Maguire wanted to be a chef.  In sixth grade, Maguire planned to enroll in a home economics class to learn how to cook.  His mother offered him $100 to sign up for a drama class instead.  Maguire grew tired of constantly changing schools.  He dropped out during his freshman year of high school to pursue acting instead.  After he became a successful actor, Maguire went back and got his GED.

Tobey Maguire - The Wizard - 1989
Tobey Maguire – The Wizard – 1989

Maguire made his movie debut in the 1989 Nintendo movie, The Wizard.  Fred Savage and Christian Slater played brothers whose younger sibling is a video game savant.  They take him cross country to compete in a video game championship.  Maguire played one of the lackeys of the movie’s preteen villain.  He had a non-speaking role and was not credited.  Maguire is pictured above sporting a pink t-shirt and a mullet.

Tobey Maguire - Atari commercial - 1990
Tobey Maguire – Atari commercial – 1990

Maguire began paying his dues with commercials like this one in which he plays Atari in the bathroom.

Tobey Maguire - Tales from the Whoop: Hot Rod Brown Class Clown - 1990
Tobey Maguire – Tales From the Whoop: Hot Rod Brown Class Clown – 1990

In 1990, Maguire appeared in a Nickelodeon TV movie produced by Whoopi Goldberg.  Goldberg played a guardian angel who helps out a rambunctious student in Tales From the Whoop: Hot Rod Brown Class Clown.

Tobey Maguire - Roseanne - 1991
Tobey Maguire – Roseanne – 1991

In 1991, Maguire made appearances on several TV shows.  He popped up in episodes of Blossom and Jake and the Fatman.  He played a high school kid in an episode of Roseanne whose friend comes between Becky and Darlene.

Tobey Maguire - Eerie, Indiana - 1991
Tobey Maguire – Eerie, Indiana – 1991

In an episode of the supernatural TV show, Eerie, Indiana, Maguire played a ghost from the late 1920’s who needs help delivering a letter to his childhood sweetheart.

Tobey Maguire - Great Scott! - 1992
Tobey Maguire – Great Scott! – 1992

In 1992, Maguire starred in the short-lived sitcom, Great Scott!  He played a high school student with an active imagination.  The show would frequently cutaway to fantasy sequences as his character daydreamed.

Thirteen episodes of Great Scott! were filmed, but only six were aired.

Maguire - Wild and Crazy Kids
Tobey Maguire – Wild and Crazy Kids – 1992

Maguire showed up riding an elephant in an episode of the Nickelodeon game show, Wild & Crazy Kids.

Maguire - This Boys Life
Tobey Maguire – This Boy’s Life – 1993

Maguire made his official movie debut with his first credited role in the 1993 drama, This Boy’s Life.

The movie is based on the memoir of the same name by author Tobias Wolff.  Leonardo DiCaprio starred as a boy in the 1950’s whose mother (played by Ellen Barkin) flee an abusive boyfriend and try to set up a new life in Seattle.  There, she meets a mechanic played by Robert De Niro.  De Niro seems to be a good man, but after he marries Barkin he is revealed to be an abusive step-father.

Maguire auditioned for the role of the lead child but didn’t get the part.  When DiCaprio was cast, he lobbied director Michael Caton-Jones to cast Maguire as his friend in the movie.  The two actors formed a friendship after meeting at an audition for the TV show Parenthood as children.  According to DiCaprio:

After I met Tobey at an audition, I felt like I wanted this guy to be my friend.  I remember driving back from school and he was doing `Hot Rod Brown Class Clown‘ with Whoopi Goldberg outside Hollywood High. It was a high school. And I jumped out of my car in the middle of the scene, as they were shooting, practically. I was like, `Tobey! Tobey! Tobey! Give me your number.’ He was like, `Yeah, who are you again?’

Maguire and DiCaprio
Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio – childhood friends

We both came from similar upbringings.  We had humble beginnings, let’s put it that way. We both were these young, very enthusiastic, ambitious young men that really wanted to get our foot in the door.

Maguire - Revenge of the Red Baron
Tobey Maguire – Revenge of the Red Baron – 1994

In 1994, Maguire appeared in a Roger Corman-produced family comedy titled Revenge of the Red Baron.

Mickey Rooney starred as a senile World War I flying ace who shot down the Red Baron.  Maguire and his parents played by Cliff De Young and Laraine Newman, take Rooney into their home.  One day when Maguire and Rooney are playing with a remote-control air plane, the plane turns on them.  It is being piloted by a puppet-sized red baron who wants to kill them all.

Despite having basically the same premise as the Child’s Play horror franchise, Revenge of the Red Baron was ostensibly a family-friendly comedy.  It went straight to video.

Tobey Maguire - Walker, Texas Ranger - 1994
Tobey Maguire – Walker, Texas Ranger – 1994

Maguire made several TV appearances throughout 1994.  In the TV movie, Spoils of War (also known as In Spite of Love) Maguire played an orphan trying to find his parents.  He also had a supporting role in the medical drama, A Child’s Cry for Help which starred Pam Dawber.  In an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger, Maguire played a kid from a broken home who gets in trouble with some drug dealers.

Maguire - SFW
Tobey Maguire – S.F.W. – 1994

On the big screen, Maguire had a small role in the slacker comedy, S.F.W.

Future electronic cigarettes spokesperson (or vapist if you will), Stephen “My Last Name Really Is Dorff” Dorff, starred as a Gen X idiot who becomes a celebrity when he is taken hostage.  Reese “I pretend like this movie never happened” Witherspoon co-starred as his girlfriend.  Maguire played a slacker in awe of Dorff extreme not giving of shits.  S.F.W. was rejected by everyone including the generation it was meant to appeal to leaving Dorff to shill for fake smokes.

Liv Tyler and Renee Zellweger - Empire Records - 1995
Liv Tyler and Renee Zellweger – Empire Records – 1995

Maguire filmed one or more scenes for the 1995 comedy, Empire Records.  Liv Tyler, Renee Zellweger, Robin Tunney and Ethan Embry played employees at an indie record store who have to save their store from being sold to a big corporate music company.  Maguire was struggling with a drinking problem during the filming of Empire Records.  He left the project halfway through and asked to have his scenes removed from the movie.  Director Allan Moyle obliged.

Soon after, Maguire started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.  Maguire has admitted to being a recovering alcoholic.  He credits his sobriety with the AA program:

It’s just all practical.  There are no holes in the program. It’s so, so simple. I come in, I ask for help. It has totally changed my life.

After those comments about AA ran in an interview in Playboy, Maguire bristled.  In a follow-up interview in the Chicago Sun-Times, Maguire claimed the comments were not meant for publication:

I didn’t expect that to be in the article. That was off the record with the journalist, and the journalist betrayed me.  I don’t think it’s a secret that I’ve been sober since I was 19. It’s in half of the articles done about me. Now, it’s like this has become some big revelation, even though it’s been out there for years.

Following his recovery, Maguire reassessed his career.  Tired of losing out on parts to his friend, he decided to only pursue roles where he wouldn’t be competing against DiCaprio.

Maguire - Seduced by Madness
Tobey Maguire – Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story – 1996

In 1996, while Maguire’s best bud was starring in director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, Maguire was still paying his dues on TV.  He played one of Anne Margret’s abused step-children in the TV mini-series, Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story.  Here’s a scene in which Margret accuses Maguire of stealing peanut butter.

Maguire - Tracy Takes On
Tobey Maguire – Tracey Takes On… – 1996

Maguire also appeared in an episode of Tracey Ullman’s sketch comedy show, Tracey Takes On… on HBO.  Each episode would address a specific topic.  The episode Maguire was on was all about family.  He appears in a bizarre student film.

Tobey Maguire - The Duke of Groove - 1996
Tobey Maguire – The Duke of Groove – 1996

Maguire capped off 1996 by appearing in Griffin Dunne’s TV short film, The Duke of Groove.  Maguire played a teenager whose mother (played by Kate Capshaw) takes him to a wild party hosted by Kiefer Sutherland.  That’s never a good idea.  Why not just take him to Charlie Sheen’s house while you’re at it?!  While Maguire is at the party, he makes time with a beautiful girl played by Uma Thurman.  

I’m going to have to have a talk with my mom.  Apparently, she took me to all the wrong parties when I was growing up.

Tobey Maguire - The Ice Storm - 1997
Tobey Maguire – The Ice Storm – 1997

In 1997, Maguire returned to the big screen with a supporting role in Ang Lee’s domestic drama, The Ice Storm.

Kevin Kline and Joan Allen starred as a married couple who find themselves drifting apart in the suburbs of Connecticut in the early 1970’s.  Kline is struggling with alcoholism and having an affair with a neighbor played by Sigourney Weaver.  Maguire played their sixteen-year-old son who was home for the holidays.  Christina Ricci played his troubled younger sister.  Elijah Wood and Katie Holmes (in her movie debut) also had supporting roles.

The movie was based on a 1994 novel of the same name by Rick Moody.  Moody was very pleased with Lee’s adaptation and is said to have sobbed during the closing credits.

Most critics liked The Ice Storm.  Gene Siskel picked it as the best film of the year.  But despite endorsements from critics, The Ice Storm performed poorly at the box office.  It received a very limited release in just three theaters during its opening weekend and never played in more 230 theaters during its short run.  As Lee and the young actors became more well-known, The Ice Storm has found an audience on home video.

Maguire - Deconstructing Harry - 1997
Tobey Maguire – Deconstructing Harry – 1997

Maguire also had a small role in Woody Allen’s 1997 comedy, Deconstructing Harry.  Allen starred in this one playing a writer with some very Woody Allen-esque tendencies.

Everyone wants to be in a Woody Allen movie at some point in their career.  Despite being one of Allen’s weaker efforts, Deconstructing Harry featured an all-star cast that included Demi Moore, Kirstie Alley, Billy Crystal, Elisabeth Shue, Stanley Tucci, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Robin Williams.

Deconstructing Harry is generally regarded as one of Allen’s lesser works.  But it allowed a lot of actors to cross “Woody Allen movie” off their bucket list.

Tobey Maguire - Joyride - 1997
Tobey Maguire – Joyride – 1997

Finally, Maguire starred in the indie thriller, Joyride.

Maguire, who was in his early 20s at the time, played a teenager who steals a car for kicks.  What he doesn’t realize is that the owner of the car is a beautiful assassin.  Benicio Del Toro plays a cop investigating a series of hits that leads him to the car and Maguire.

Maguire has described his relationship with best bud DiCaprio as “competitive”.  1997 was a heck of a year to be in competition with DiCaprio.  It was the year of Titanic and “Leomania”.  Meanwhile, Maguire had worked with two talented directors in movies few people even knew existed.

David Blaine, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire
David Blaine, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire

As DiCaprio’s star ascended, he became the center of a group of child actors who knew each other from auditions.  As DiCaprio’s best friend, Maguire was a founding member of the group the tabloids started referring to as the “pussy posse” based on their hard-partying ways.  As children, the group had been highly competitive.  But by the time Leomania hit the mainstream, DiCaprio was the clear leader of the group.

The core group consisted of DiCaprio and Maguire, Lukas Haas, Kevin Connolly and David Blaine.  The larger group included the likes of Ethan Suplee, Jay R. Ferguson, Scott Bloom and R.D. Robb.  Actresses Amber Benson and Sara Gilbert were also affiliated with the boys.  One actor who was friendly with the group explained the impact of Leomania on the social dynamic:

The Titanic stuff has caused this big identity crisis. Some of them have completely lost their careers,” the young actor says. “All they do now is hang out with Leo. If Leo wants to go to Paris, it’s let’s go to Paris. Las Vegas? No problem.  The people closest to him have Leomania worse than anyone.

The group was especially well-known for acting up in New York.  A publicist described the city as “DiCaprio’s Disneyland”.  The young actors were given carte blanche to party however and wherever they wanted.  In 1998, they group made headlines when a fight broke out with Elizabeth Berkley’s boyfriend.

Tobey Maguire - Don's Plum
Tobey Maguire – Don’s Plum

In 1995, prior to DiCaprio hitting it big in Titanic, the members of his so-called “pussy posse” made a largely improvised black-and-white movie called Don’s Plum.  It was directed by their fried, R.D. Robb and starred DiCaprio, Maguire, Kevin Connolly, Amber Benson, Scott Bloom, Jenny Lewis, Heather McComb and Jeremy Sisto.  The group of young actors who liked to hang out together played a group of young people who hang out together and talk about sex and drugs a lot.

Problems arose when Robb started shopping the movie around for a theatrical release following Titanic.  Supposedly, Maguire was worried that his vulgar improve in the movie would hurt his reputation just as his career was picking up steam.  He asked DiCaprio to pull some strings.  Reportedly, DiCaprio used his clout to have the movie killed at Miramax.

Don’s Plum coproducer David Stutman filed a lawsuit against Maguire and DiCaprio for illegally blocking the movie in 1998.  In 1999, an agreement was reached which allowed Don’s Plum to play outside of the US and Canada.  It opened in Europe in 2001 and has become available in bootleg form and on-line ever since.

Tobey Maguire - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - 1997
Tobey Maguire – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – 1998

In 1998, Maguire had a small role in Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s 1971 novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro played stand-ins for Thompson and his friend.  They go on a road trip in search of the American dream, but mostly they do a lot of drugs and hallucinate some really weird stuff that only Terry Gilliam could adequately film.  Maguire played a hitchhiker who gets picked up by the duo but then becomes terrified and flees.

During Maguire’s short time on screen, his hair changes noticeably.  The scene in which Maguire’s hitchhiker panics was shot moths after the scene in which he was initially picked up.  According to Gilliam, it would have cost an additional $15,000 to have a clause added to Maguire’s contract to require him to shave his head.  But since the movie was already over-budget, they opted to put him in a bald cap instead.  Then they spent more than the initial $15,000.00 removing the seams of the bald cap in post-production.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a divisive movie when it was released.  Critical reaction was mixed and it flopped at the box office.  But it has since become a cult movie.

Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon – Pleasantville – 1998
Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon – Pleasantville – 1998

Later that year, Maguire scored his first lead role in a mainstream Hollywood movie with the comedy-drama, Pleasantville.

Maguire played an awkward young man who was obsessed with an old black and white sit-com along the lines of Leave it To Beaver or Father Knows Best.  Reese Witherspoon played his promiscuous sister.  The two fight over what to watch on TV.  Maguire wants to watch a Pleasantville marathon and Witherspoon wants to watch a concert on MTV.  In the struggle, the remote control gets broken.  Then a mysterious TV repairman played by sitcom legend Don Knotts shows up and gifts Maguire with a special remote.  When he uses it, he and his sister are transported into the world of the 1950’s sit-com.

The citizens of Pleasantville include some pretty terrific character actors.  The sit-com parents are played by William H. Macy and Joan Allen.  J.T. Walsh in his movie appearance, played the town mayor.  And Jeff Daniels played the owner of the soda fountain.  Pleasantville looks like your run-of-the-mill high concept comedy.  But it ends up going to some pretty dark places before the inevitable happy ending.

Reviews were mostly positive.  Unfortunately, the computer effects pushed the budget up to $60 million.  So even though Pleasantville managed a first-place finish at the box office, it only recouped about two-thirds of its budget.

Tobey Maguire - Ride with the Devil - 1999
Tobey Maguire – Ride with the Devil – 1999

In 1999, Maguire reunited with Ang Lee for the Civil War drama, Ride With the Devil.

Skeet Ulrich co-starred as a man whose father was killed by Union soldiers.  Maguire played Ulrich’s friend who follows him when he joins the Bushwhackers, an informal group that fought for the South.  When the group takes refuge on the property of a sympathetic family, Ulrich becomes romantically involved with a young widow played by world-renowned poet and yodeler, Jewel.  Maguire ends up befriending a freed slave played by Jeffrey Wright which causes him to question the righteousness of the Confederacy.

Reviews were mixed.  Several influential critics complained that the movie was boring.  Roger Ebert compared it to a history class while Entertainment Weekly called it “unengaging”.  Ride With the Devil never received a wide release.  It played in at most 60 theaters and peaked at 50th at the box office.  It grossed just over $600,000 with a $38 million dollar budget!

Tobey Maguire - The Cider House Rules - 1999
Tobey Maguire – The Cider House Rules – 1999

Later that year, Maguire starred opposite Michael Caine and Charlize Theron in director Lasse Hallström’s adaptation of John Irving’s novel, The Cider House Rules.

Maguire played an orphan who is raised by the doctor who runs the orphanage.  Caine played the doctor who takes on Maguire’s character as an apprentice.  He intends for Maguire to take over the orphanage, but with no formal medical training Maguire doesn’t feel qualified to do so.  Instead, he runs off to an apple orchard with a young couple played by Theron and Paul Rudd.  When Rudd’s character goes off to fight in World War II, Theron and Maguire have an affair.

Irving wrote the screenplay adapted from his own novel and won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.  The Cider House Rules was nominated for seven awards and took home two.  In addition to Irving, Caine won for Best Supporting Actor.  Reviews were mostly positive, but there were a few notable holdouts.  Roger Ebert, for example, felt like the story lacked focus.

Reportedly, Maguire and Theron didn’t get along on the set.  Off the record, several sources described Maguire as being “unpleasant” towards Theron to the extent that the studio had to tell Maguire to be more civil.  Maguire has said that he likes Theron but added ,”Making a movie isn’t always completely harmonious.”

Miramax gave The Cider House Rules a limited release in December of 1999.  Once it had built some positive word of mouth, the movie opened wider in January.  During its long run, The Cider House Rules topped out in 6th place at the box office.  Ultimately, it performed well enough to be considered a modest hit.

Maguire - Wonder Boys - 2000
Maguire – Wonder Boys – 2000

Maguire had a supporting role in Curtis Hanson’s follow-up to LA Confidential, the comedy-drama Wonder Boys.

Michael Douglas starred as a novelist who teaches creative writing at a university in Pittsburgh.  He’s dealing with a massive case of writer’s block after the success of his first novel.  He’s also having an affair with the wife of the university chancellor played by Frances McDormand.  Katie Holmes played a young student who rents a room from Douglas and Maguire played her friend, a talented writer.  Robert Downey Jr. appeared as Douglas’ editor who takes an interest in Maguire.

Following LA Confidential, Hanson was looking for his next project.  He received a tip from actress Elizabeth McGovern that he should get in touch with writer-director Steve Kloves about his script for Wonder Boys.  Kloves had previously written and directed The Fabulous Baker Boys and Flesh and Bone and had intended to direct Wonder Boys as well.  Wonder Boys was Kloves’ first attempt at adapting a novel (he would later go on to write the Harry Potter adaptations).  When Hanson expressed an interest in directing Wonder Boys, Kloves stepped aside.

Douglas took a substantial pay cut in order to get Wonder Boys made.  Downey was still dealing with substance abuse problems at the time and had to convince Hanson that he could be counted on to behave professionally.  Hanson was convinced and Downey stayed on his best behavior during the four-and-a-half-month shoot.  But he violated parole as soon as he returned to Los Angeles.

Despite mostly positive reviews, Wonder Boys flopped at the box office.  It opened in seventh place behind The Tigger Movie which had been in theaters for three weeks.  Many critics blamed Paramount’s marketing campaign which focused heavily on Douglas to the exclusion of the ensemble cast.  Hanson lobbied successfully to have Wonder Boys rereleased in theaters later that fall with a different marketing campaign featuring Maguire, Holmes, Downey and McDormand.  Ultimately, the rerelease didn’t help.  It ended up grossing less than half of its production costs.

Tobey Maguire - Saturday Night Live - 2001
Tobey Maguire – Saturday Night Live – 2001

In 2001, Maguire hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live.  The opening sketch was a satire of The Cider House Rules with the not-ready-for-prime-time players as orphans and Lorne Michaels as their care-taker.  

Cats and Dogs - 2001
Cats & Dogs – 2001

On the big screen, Maguire had a good news/bad news situation going on.  The good news was that Cats & Dogs was the biggest hit of his movie career.  The bad news was that he didn’t appear on screen.  Elizabeth Perkins and Jeff Goldblum were the live-action stars.  Maguire, Sean Hayes, Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Charlton Heston and John Lovitz all provided voices for warring pets.

Critics were mixed on Cats & Dogs, but audiences propelled it to a first place finish.  Seven years later, a sequel was released with several of the voice actors reprising their roles.  Maguire opted out of the sequel and was replaced by Neil Patrick Harris.

Up to this point in his career, Maguire had worked with some talented directors; Ang Lee, Woody Allen, Terry Gilliam, Lasse Hallström and Curtis Hanson to name a few.  But he hadn’t really starred in a hit movie.  That was about to change.

Tobey Maguire and Kisten Dunst - Spider-man - 2002
Tobey Maguire and Kisten Dunst – Spider-man – 2002

In 2002, Maguire was cast as Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s take on the Marvel superhero, Spider-man.

Maguire played the high school nerd who is bitten by a radioactive spider and learns that with great power comes great responsibility.  Kirsten Dunst played his high school sweetheart, Mary Jane.  Willem Dafoe played the villainous Green Goblin and James Franco played his son who also happens to be Maguire’s best friend.  The first movie tells the character’s origin story well enough that there was no need to ever film it again (or so we all thought at the time.)

In the modern movie landscape which is dominated by Marvel superheroes, a Spider-man movie seems like a no brainer.  But Spider-man spent decades in development.  In the mid-80’s the character was optioned by Cannon Films who were known for their low-budget action movies.  The original treatment was more like a horror movie than a super hero.  The script went through several revisions but ultimately the project fell through due to the studio’s financial problems.

The project was then set up at Carolco Pictures where director James Cameron became involved.  Despite claims that Cameron had written a complete script for Spider-man, he had really written a 47-page outline he called a “scriptment”.  There is some confusion regarding what was included in Cameron’s scriptment and what was included in previous drafts of the script.  When the movie was set up at Canon, Dr. Octopus was the villain and he sported the catch phrase “okey-dokey”.  But Cameron replaced Dr. Octopus with Electro and the Sandman in his treatment.

In the 90’s the deal with Cameron fell apart during a protracted legal battle.  Ultimately, the battle for the rights came down to MGM vs. Columbia.  John Calley, the former chief executive at MGM moved over to Columbia.  Since he was familiar with MGM, he knew exactly how to make them back off Spider-man.  He threatened to make a James Bond movie at Columbia with producer Kevin McClory as had been done in the 80’s with Never Say Never Again.  The Bond pictures were MGM’s only reliable franchise at the time and they didn’t want to deal with a rival Bond series.  So a deal was struck giving Columbia the rights to Spider-man while MGM retained exclusive rights to Bond.

Tobey Maguire - Spider-man - 2002
Tobey Maguire – Spider-man – 2002

Several actors were considered for the lead role including Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Furlong.  The studio favored teen heartthrob Freddie Prinze Jr, but Raimi refused to cast him.  He joked that Prinze “won’t even be allowed to buy a ticket to see this film.”  Josh Hartnett has claimed to have turned down the role of Peter Parker as well as Superman and Batman.

Raimi was interested in casting Maguire based on his performance as an orphan in The Cider House Rules.  According to Maguire, he had never read a Spider-man comic book prior to accepting the part.  The studio was initially reluctant about casting Maguire as a super hero.  He spent some time buffing up before he did his screen tests.  Once he was cast, Maguire spent five months getting in superhero shape.  Dunst was cast as Mary Jane just before filming.  She became interested in the part after Maguire had been cast because she felt he would give the movie more of an indie feel.

Maguire and Franco didn’t initially get along.  According to Franco, he was jealous of Maguire.  Franco had tested for the role of Peter Parker but Maguire was chosen instead.  He said he felt like Raimi gave Maguire more attention and “love”.  Additionally, Franco admitted that he had a crush on co-star Dunst who was secretly involved with Maguire during filming.  Franco’s frustration took the form of teasing.  He repeatedly joked about Maguire’s “frog-like” features on the set.  Maguire wasn’t amused.  According to Franco, “Tobey was mad at me for a while. By the second film, we were cool.”

Raimi claimed he was unaware that his stars were dating:

I’m so dumb, because I met with them for dinner one night during the shooting to talk about the next day’s scenes. And I go, ‘Okay, well, that’s it for the meeting.’ And then I ask Kirsten, ‘Can I drive you home?’ And they look at each other and she goes, ‘No, no, I’m going to play a game of Touch 10 with Tobey.’ I don’t know, it was some game. I thought, ‘That’s weird. She’s got to work tomorrow.’

The critics liked Spider-man a lot.  Reviews were almost universally positive and it was a hit at the box office.  Spider-man opened in first place and set a record for the biggest opening day ever.  It was also the highest-grossing movie of the year.  The romantic elements allowed the movie to cross over to audiences who weren’t necessarily the target audience for a superhero movie.  The success of Spider-man didn’t just launch a franchise.  It gave a huge shot in the arm to the entire superhero genre.

The 25th Hour
The 25th Hour

Later that year, Maguire served as a producer on the Spike Lee drama, the 25th Hour.  Maguire had originally purchased the rights to the novel the movie was based on with the intention of starring in an adaptation himself.  But when he chose to make Spider-man instead, Maguire stepped aside and Edward Norton took on the lead role.  The movie turned out to be a modest hit.

Tobey Maguire - Seasbiscuit - 2003
Tobey Maguire – Seasbiscuit – 2003

The first rule of playing a super hero is that in between super hero movies, you have to do something else in order to avoid being typecast.  Towards that end, Maguire produced and starred in the horse racing drama, Seabiscuit.

The movie is based on the true story of the Depression-era race horse who became an unlikely champion and the three men who were associated with those victories.  Maguire played a jockey who is blind in one eye.  Jeff Bridges co-starred as Seabiscuit’s owner and Chris Cooper played the horse trainer.  Elizabeth Banks and William H. Macy co-starred.

While Maguire was filming Seabiscuit, he met future-wife and daughter of the studio head, Jennifer Meyer.  Obviously, their relationship was life-changing for Maguire.  But beyond that, it would also help to shape his movie career.

Seabiscuit reunited Maguire with Macy and director Gary Ross who had also directed Pleasantville.  Reviews were mostly positive and Seabiscuit was nominated for seven Academy Awards.  It opened in fifth place at the box office behind Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, but it ended up grossing over $100 million dollars.

Tobey Maguire - Spider-man 2 - 2004
Tobey Maguire – Spider-man 2 – 2004

Just two years after the original Spider-man, it was time for a sequel.  Maguire, Dunst, Franco and Raimi all returned for Spider-man 2.

Having told the origin story in the first movie, the sequel is able to spend a little more time on the villainous Doctor Octopus.  As played by Alfred Molina, Dr. Octavius is a good scientist who is pushed into villainy by an experiment gone wrong.  Meanwhile, Maguire’s Peter Parker is wrestling with what it means to be Spider-man and Mary Jane is engaged to another man.

Maguire almost didn’t return for the sequel.  In fact, for a short time he was fired and replaced with Jake Gyllenhaal.  This stemmed from a back injury Maguire suffered while filming Seabiscuit.  But it may have also been part of a negotiating ploy that backfired.  While the actor denies it was ever about money, there were rumors that Maguire was upset that Spider-man producer, Laura Ziskin, earned more money on the first movie than he did.  Supposedly, he was looking for a big payday on the sequel.

Trouble started before Spider-man 2 had even begun filming.  Raimi asked that Maguire come in for computer scans necessary for the special effects.  But Maguire was busy filming Seabiscuit and didn’t show up.  Raimi felt like Maguire was putting the horse-racing movie above the big-budget sequel.  “I wanted our movie to be the most important thing in his life,” he said.

According to Maguire, he later regretted blowing off the scans once he realized how important they were:

I was working on Seabiscuit six days a week, 14 or 15 hours a day, and then it was, ‘Do I want to go in on the seventh day for an eight-hour cyberscan?’ … If I had understood the great importance of it for Sam, then I probably would have kicked myself … and done it anyway.

Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst - Spider-man 2 - 2004
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst – Spider-man 2 – 2004

Then came Maguire’s back problems.  According to the actor, “I was going … ‘They’re going to have to make some accommodation for me’.”  But the studio felt Maguire was easily replaceable.  So they dumped him in favor of Gyllenhaal.  Maguire was stunned:

I never understood that we were at that point.  There was a period where I didn’t know what I could do to work it out.  I felt a little bit at a loss.

Help came in the form of Maguire’s then-girlfriend, Jennifer Meyer.  Meyer’s father was Ronald Meyer, the CEO of Universal.  Meyer started making phone calls.  First, he convinced Maguire that he was making a career-ending mistake.  He warned Maguire that he was on the road to be the next Michael Keaton.  He called Hollywood attorney Burt Fields and was worried to find that Fields had already been hired by Columbia.  So Meyer tried to make nice with Columbia Chairman Amy Pascal.

Eventually, Meyer was able to get Maguire his job back.  But first, Maguire had to subject himself to a series of tests to prove to the studio that his back was up to the rigors of filming the sequel.  Reportedly, Columbia inserted clauses into Maguire’s contract that would penalize him should he be physically unable to complete the movie.  Maguire was also required to apologize to Raimi for his behavior during pre-production.  The actor was contrite:

I’m just glad it worked out.  I’m glad I got to look these people in the face and say, ‘I’m really sorry. I’m going to do whatever it takes.’… I feel like I learned a lesson.  The movie is the most important thing.

Critics liked Spider-man 2 even better than the first film with many calling it the best superhero movie ever made.  The sequel broke the record for the biggest opening weekend ever that was set by the first film.  It ended up grossing a little less than the first Spider-man but was still a massive hit.

Tobey Maguire - The Good German - 2006
Tobey Maguire – The Good German – 2006

In 2006, Maguire had a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh’s black-and-white film noir, The Good German.

George Clooney starred as a military journalist sent to Berlin just after the fighting stopped in Europe after World War II.  Maguire played the driver who has been assigned to him.  He also happens to be involved with Clooney’s ex-girlfriend played by Cate Blanchett.  Soon, Clooney goes from covering post-war negotiations to investigating a murder.

Soderbergh decided to shoot The Good German using old Hollywood techniques that would have been used during the time period in which the movie was set.  The use of old-fashioned sound equipment forced the actors to speak loudly and enunciate carefully.  Despite the technical restrictions, Soderbergh did allow for violence, nudity and language that would never have been allowed in 1945.

Critics complained that The Good German was an exercise in technique over story.  Amid mostly negative reviews, The Good German was given a limited release.

Tobey Maguire - competitive poker
Tobey Maguire – competitive poker player

In 2004, Maguire took up competitive poker.  He has been tutored by professional poker player Daniel Negreanu and has competed in several tournaments in which he finished in the money.  According to professional poker player Phil Hellmuth, Maguire has won over $10 million dollars playing poker in Hollywood.  In 2007, Maguire played in the World Series of Poker.  He was eliminated on the fourth day of the tournament and placed 292nd.  His prize money totaled $39,445.00.

So-called “Poker princess” Molly Bloom write about Maguire and his high-stakes Hollywood gambling in her 2014 memoir.  Bloom was an LA waitress when she began hosting poker matches at the Viper Room club.  She ran into legal trouble for demanding a share of the pot instead of tips.  Following an FBI investigation into her dealings, Bloom was sentenced to one year’s probation and a fine of $1,000.  Her memoir has been optioned to be made into a movie.  I mention all of that to establish Bloom’s credibility.  She has a vested interest in making sure her stories are juicy.

According to Bloom, Maguire was “the best player, and the absolute worst loser.”  She describes Maguire as being temperamental and cheap.  According to Bloom, Maguire would only play if he could use his $17,000 Shuffle Master machine.  One day when Bloom returned the machine to Maguire along with his winnings, he suggested that he should be charging the other players for the use of his machine.

I laughed. Surely he was joking. He couldn’t possibly be serious about charging rent for a machine he insisted that we use, from the guys whose money he was taking every week. But he was as serious as death, and I quickly stopped laughing. ‘O.K.,’ I squeaked. ‘Um, how much?’ ‘Two hundred dollars.’ I smiled to conceal my surprise. ‘I’m sure that will be fine. No problem,’ I said.

Bloom recounts a story in which Maguire tried to humiliate her.  She claims he held up a $1,000 poker chip and demanded that she “bark like a seal who wants a fish” in order to earn it.  Bloom says she tried to laugh off the ridiculous offer, but Maguire wouldn’t let up:

I’m not kidding. What’s wrong? You’re too rich now? You won’t bark for a thousand dollars? Wowwww. . . you must be really rich. . . . C’mon,’ he said, holding the chip above my head. ‘BARK.’ ‘No,’ I said quietly. ‘No?’ he asked. ‘Tobey,’ I said, ‘I’m not going to bark like a seal. Keep your chip.  He gave me an icy look, dropped the chip on the table, and tried to laugh it off, but he was visibly angry. When he left, the room was buzzing.

According to Bloom, her relationship with Maguire continued to deteriorate.  Maguire brought up how much money she was making with greater frequency.  Eventually, he suggested restructuring the game so that her earnings would be capped.

The only reason this game was still running was that I had searched far and wide to recruit new blood and maintain relationships so that Tobey could take their money. Now he had the balls to suggest that I figure out a way to cap my own salary.

Tobey Maguire - Spider-man 3 - 2007
Tobey Maguire – Spider-man 3 – 2007

The release date for Spider-man 3 was announced before Spider-man 2 even opened.  This time, there was no doubt Maguire would be back.

In this one, Peter faces off against Thomas Hayden Church as the shape-shifting Sandman who it is revealed is actually responsible for killing his Uncle Ben.  He also finds a black Spider-man suit that brings out his dark side.  He ends up struggling against his desire to avenge his uncle.  Meanwhile, Harry finds out that Peter is responsible for the death of his father.  He sets about getting revenge as well.  Topher Grace was brought on board to play the popular villain, Venom and Bryce Dallas Howard was cast as love interest Gwen Stacy.

Raimi had been vocally opposed to using Venom for years.  He said he objected to the character’s “lack of humanity”.  He had wanted to use Sandman and another old school Spider-man villain for the sequel.  Rumors swirled that Ben Kingsley was in negotiations to play the Vulture.  But producer Avi Arad convinced Raimi that fans wanted to see Venom.

As characters continued to be added to the script, there was talk of splitting the story into two movies.  According to the screenwriter, the idea was nixed when no one could come up with a satisfactory climax.  The fact that none of the regulars were signed to make a fourth movie was probably also a consideration.

Following the critical and commercial success of the first two Spider-man films, expectations for the final movie in the trilogy were high.  Unfortunately, Spider-man 3 was not nearly as well-received as the first two movies.  Critics complained that the script was over-stuffed with characters and subplots.  Fans were upset to see their favorite character turned into some kind of hipster doofus.  Under the influence of an alien symbiote, Peter got in touch with his musical side:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPN1BvR02Xo]

But Raimi’s Spider-musical wasn’t done yet.  He followed up his 70’s strut with a dance scene at a jazz club:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRPoiTHMuzc&feature=fvwp]

Raimi himself eventually admitted that Spider-man 3 “just didn’t work very well.”  He took full blame for the movie’s short-comings:

I messed up plenty with the third Spider-Man, so people hated me for years — they still hate me for it.

Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst - Spider-man 3 - 2007
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst – Spider-man 3 – 2007

Despite negative reviews and angry fans, Spider-man 3 broke the record set by Spider-man 2 for the biggest opening weekend of all time.  That record was eventually broken by The Dark Knight in 2008 and has since been topped several times.  Bad word of mouth made Spider-man 3 the least successful of the three Spider-man movies starring Maguire.  But it was still a big enough hit to warrant another sequel.

The studio had been considering rebooting the Spider-man franchise, but they approached Raimi about making one final movie.  The proposed Spider-man 4 was given a release date of summer 2011.  Raimi kicked around ideas which reportedly included John Malkovich as the Vulture, Dylan Baker’s character finally becoming the Lizard and Anne Hathaway as Felcia Hardy who may or may not have been the Black Cat.

Once again, Raimi was up against a tight deadline and couldn’t come to an agreement with the studio over what a new Spider-man movie should be.  So rather than repeat what happened on Spider-man 3, Raimi walked away:

It really was the most amicable and undramatic of breakups: It was simply that we had a deadline and I couldn’t get the story to work on a level that I wanted it to work. I was very unhappy with Spider-Man 3, and I wanted to make Spider-Man 4 to end on a very high note, the best Spider-Man of them all. But I couldn’t get the script together in time, due to my own failings, and I said to Sony, “I don’t want to make a movie that is less than great, so I think we shouldn’t make this picture. Go ahead with your reboot, which you’ve been planning anyway.”

That’s ultimately what Sony decided to do.  In 2012, the series was rebooted with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.  And then in 2014, a sequel followed.  Sony had plans to turn the Spider-man franchise into something like Marvel’s Avengers series.  But the box office failure of Amazing Spider-man 2 put an end to those plans.  Rumors actually circulated that Raimi and Maguire might return to the series.  Instead, Sony reached a deal with Marvel to jointly reboot the character again.

Tobey Maguire and wife Jennifer Meyer
Tobey Maguire and wife Jennifer Meyer

Maguire had been dating Jennifer Meyer since they met while Maguire was filming Seabiscuit in 2003.  In 2004, Meyer’s father was instrumental in keeping Maguire’s career on course after he nearly got himself fired from the Spider-man series.  In 2006, Maguire and Meyer got engaged.  Later that year, Meyer gave birth to the couple’s first child.  In 2007, following all of Maguire’s promotional requirements for Spider-man 3, they tied the knot in a ceremony in Hawaii.  Two years later, they would have a second child.  Maguire was a family man now and that was going to inform his career choices going forward.

Tobey Maguire - Tropic Thunder - 2008
Tobey Maguire – Tropic Thunder – 2008

In 2008, Maguire had a very funny cameo appearance in the action-comedy, Tropic Thunder.  The movie starts off with a series of fake trailers which introduce the characters and tell us what types of movies they are known for.  Ben Stiller’s character stars in a mindless action movie sequel.  Jack Black’s character is in a Nutty Professor-ish low-brow comedy.  And Robert Downey Jr’s character is in an art house movie about two gay monks.  Maguire plays the Gyllenhaal to Downey’s Ledger in the obvious Brokeback Mountain satire.

Tobery Maguire - Brothers - 2009
Tobey Maguire – Brothers – 2009

In 2009, Maguire co-starred opposite his would-be replacement, Jake Gyllenhaal in the thriller, Brothers.

Maguire played a war hero who is about to be sent on his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan.  Before he leaves, he welcomes home his brother played by Gyllenhaal.  Gyllenhaal has just been released from prison after robbing a bank.  Word comes back that Maguire’s helicopter was shot down and all the marines on board are presumed dead, but in reality he has been taken prisoner.  Believing her husband to be dead, his wife, played by Natalie Portman, begins a relationship with her brother-in-law.  Things get complicated when Maguire returns from war alive, but scarred by his experiences.

Originally, Maguire wanted to play the screw-up and Gyllenhaal was going to play the war hero.  But director Jim Sheridan did not find Maguire convincing as a bank robber, so the two actors switched roles.  The switch-up worked well enough to score Maguire a Golden Globe nomination.  Maguire said the nomination was a pleasant surprise:

I had no expectation about getting a nomination, but I was watching nonetheless. My wife and my son got really excited. I was sort of surprised — I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ And I couldn’t hear the latter part of my name.

Critics were divided on Brothers.  Many dismissed it as a cliche-ridden soap opera.  Others felt that the performances overcame the material enough to recommend the movie.  This split is reflected in the movie’s score at Rotten Tomatoes.  Currently, Brothers holds a decent 63% approval rating at the site.  But if you narrow the results to “top critics” the approval rating plummets to 39%.

Brothers was a disappointment at the box office.  It opened in third place behind The Blind Side and The Twilight Saga: New Moon both of which had been in theaters for three weeks by that point.  It ended up barely recouping its production budget in the US.

Country Strong - 2010
Country Strong – 2010

In 2010, Maguire served as a producer on the country music drama, Country Strong.  The screenplay was written by Maguire’s nanny.  Shana Feste was caring for Maguire’s daughter while she developed her script.  Maguire asked to see her work in progress and agreed to co-produce the movie.  Feste also directed the movie which starred Gweneth Paltrow as an alcoholic country music singer.

Country Strong was panned by critics and flopped at the box office.  But it represented a shift in Maguire’s career.  Going forward, he would be more active as a producer than as an actor.

Tobey Maguire - The Details - 2011
Tobey Maguire – The Details – 2011

In 2011, Maguire starred in the comedy-drama, The Details.

Maguire played a man obsessed with adding a room to his house to accommodate a larger family.  His marriage isn’t as strong as it appears to be.  He and his wife, played by Elizabeth Banks, have grown distant.  Maguire reunites with an old friend played by Kerry Washington which leads to an affair.  He also ends up cheating on his wife with his crazy next door neighbor played by Laura Linney.  Ray Liotta appears and Washington’s husband.

Maguire and Banks had worked together previously.  She played the minor role of Betty Brant in all three Spider-man movies and also appeared in Seabiscuit.  The Details received negative reviews and received a limited theatrical release.

Nicolas Cage - Seeking Justice - 2011
Nicolas Cage – Seeking Justice – 2011

Later that year, Maguire produced the thriller Seeking Justice.  Nicolas Cage and January Jones starred as a married couple who seek out help from a group of vigilantes after Jones is assaulted.  Guy Pearce played a shadowy figure who offers to help them get revenge for a price.  Seeking Justice was panned by critics, Cage was nominated for his umpteenth Golden Raspberry Award and the movie was given a limited engagement in theaters.

Rock of Ages - 2012
Rock of Ages – 2012

Maguire’s next production was the big screen adaptation of the 80’s musical, Rock of Ages.  The star-heavy cast included Tom Cruise, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Alec Baldwin.  Unfortunately the big budget musical was a miss with critics and audiences.

Tobey Maguire replaced on Life of Pi - 2012
Tobey Maguire replaced on Life of Pi – 2012

Maguire was slated to reunite with Ang Lee for a small part in the director’s 2012 adaptation of the novel, Life of Pi.  Originally, Lee had cast Maguire in the role of the writer in the film’s framing sequences.  But the director later changed his mind:

To be consistent with the other casting choices made for the film, I decided to go with an entirely international cast.  I very much admire Tobey and look forward to working with him again in the future.

Tobey Maguire - Labor Day - 2013
Tobey Maguire – Labor Day – 2013

In 2013, Maguire returned to the big screen in a wide release for the first time in four years.  But it was only for a cameo appearance in Jason Reitman’s melodrama, Labor Day.  Kate Winslet starred as a single mom who has a relationship with a convict played by Josh Brolin.  Maguire appears towards the end of the movie as Winslet’s grown son.  Reviews were negative and Labor Day flopped at the box office.

Tobey Maguire - The Great Gatsby - 2013
Tobey Maguire – The Great Gatsby – 2013

Later that year, Maguire co-starred opposite longtime best friend and rival, Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby.

DiCaprio starred as Gatsby, the mysterious nouveau riche millionaire who throws amazing parties at which he is rarely seen.  Carey Mulligan played Daisy, the object of Gatsby’s obsession.  Maguire played the novel’s narrator, Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor and friend.

Maguire has said he couldn’t imagine appearing in Gatsby without DiCaprio.  DiCaprio agreed that their real-life relationship helped the movie:

Venturing into a film of this magnitude and trying to adapt such a respected, celebrated novel like ‘The Great Gatsby’ wouldn’t have been easy if I didn’t have a trusted ally like Tobey.  I don’t know if I would’ve as easily dove into this experience if it weren’t for him.

Reviews for Luhrmann’s Gatsby were mixed.  Many critics complained that it was all style and no substance.  It opened in second place at the box office behind Iron Man 3 which was in the second week of its release.  Despite the second-place finish, Gatsby represented DiCaprio’s second-highest opening weekend.  It grossed over $140 million in the US which sounds pretty good until you consider that the movie cost over $100 million to make.  Fortunately, it fared better overseas where it eventually turned a profit.

Tobey Maguire - The Spoils of Babylon - 2014
Tobey Maguire – The Spoils of Babylon – 2014

In 2014, Maguire starred in and co-produced the comedy mini-series, The Spoils of Babylon.  Will Ferrell played pompous author Eric Jonrosh in a framing device for each episode.  The conceit was that he had adapted his own novel into a 22-hour mini-series and that what we are watching is a truncated version of that epic.

Maguire starred as an orphan who is adopted by a millionaire played by Tim Robbins.  Kristen Wiig played his adopted sister to whom he is attracted.  Jessica Alba, Val Kilmer, Haley Joel Osment and Michael Sheen all made appearances.  The goofy mini-series was successful enough to inspire a sequel, The Spoils Before Dying.  But Maguire did not return.

Good People - 2014
Good People – 2014

Maguire also served as a produceron the 2014 crime thriller, Good People.  Kate Hudson, Tom Wilkinson and Maguire’s Spider-man co-star, James Franco, starred.  Good People was released through video on demand.

Tobey MAguire - Pawn Sacrifice - 2014
Tobey Maguire – Pawn Sacrifice – 2014

Maguire co-produced and starred in Edwards Zwick’s biopic, Pawn Sacrifice.

Maguire played legendary chess prodigy Bobby Fisher who faces off against the Russian chess champion at the height of the Cold War.  Liev Schreiber played Maguire’s opponent.

Pawn Sacrifice debuted to mostly positive reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014.  It’s scheduled to receive a limited release in the US later this year.  As a producer, Maguire also has a few other projects in the pipeline like the science-fiction drama Z for Zachariah.

So, what the hell happened?

How did Maguire go from playing Spider-man to relative obscurity in just a few years?  In this case, I think the actor’s low profile was largely by choice.  Following three Spider-man films, Maguire married his longtime girlfriend Jennifer Meyer.  Maguire, who has always been exceptionally private even when promoting a movie, decided to concentrate on raising a family rather than being a movie star.

Having collected big paychecks for his three super hero outing, Maguire was in a position not to have to work.  Marrying the daughter of a studio chief certainly didn’t hurt his financial stability.  That gives Maguire the freedom to work when he chooses and to pick projects that may not be commercial.  It also allows the private actor to shift from working in front of the camera to working behind the scenes as a producer.

Something you have to remember is that being a movie star isn’t just about making movies.  Probably half of the job is actually promoting the movies you make.  That means touring the world and suffering through press junkets where you are asked the same questions over and over again.  Being a movie producer means Maguire doesn’t have to run that gauntlet anymore.

These days, Maguire is no longer in the white hot spotlight.  But he’s still actively producing movies and occasionally stepping in front of the camera when it suits him.

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daffystardust
Editor
8 years ago

Every time you mentioned how few screens one of his films played on and I realized I’d actually seen it in the theater, I appreciated the market I live in a little more. The fact that Franco thought he should be playing Peter Parker is good evidence that he knew very little about the character. I am in the camp that blames Venom for the failure of Spider-Man 3. There absolutely were other problems with the film, but Venom was so obviously shoehorned in. That is not a story that should be attempted just three movies in. Never mind that… Read more »

daffystardust
Editor
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Oh, Kraven can definitely be very campy if you want to play him that way. I’m guessing Raimi could have figured a way to split the difference with the character, making him appropriately cartoony without making him impossible to take seriously. You are definitely right about Venom needing more than one film to make sense. That’s something I should have included in my comments, but since I never cared for Venom in the first place I didn’t bother. 🙂 The suggestion of doing a 2-film story could have supported that (or any number of better stories). SM3 was such a… Read more »

RB
RB
8 years ago
Reply to  daffystardust

Sometimes turning 50 just makes you into a puffy version of your younger self no matter what. Or maybe sometimes it’s a wizened, weathered version of your younger self. The only constant is that you still feel what it’s like to have the dreams of a 20 year old, but you have to put that aside and be 50.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

What happened to Tobey Maguire’s career? (forums.icine): Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:24 am Post subject: I’d compare him to Matt Damon perhaps, an actor who is five years older, but similar in that neither are particularly gifted actors from a technical standpoint, but each relied on a likable boyishness well into his 30s. The difference is that Damon has managed to adapt to truly adult roles, not by changing his persona so much as by adding layers to it. It feels like he’s really grown, and you get the sense that he wants to challenge himself. That hasn’t happened… Read more »

Carl
Carl
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I don’t “blame Venom” specifically. A movie with Venom as the central villain could be a great movie (so long as you aren’t in the camp that just hates Venom no matter what). The biggest problem to me is that too much was left in. So if you must put Venom in then remove Sandman, or better yet the whole Green Goblin 2 storyline. Any one of those three stories could have been fine on their own. Three in one was the real problem. One that the studio didn’t learn as exactly the same thing happened in Amazing Spider Man… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Carl

9 Terrible Movies That Ruined Promising Careers: http://www.eatsleeplivefilm.com/9-terrible-movies-that-ruined-promising-careers/8/ Spider-Man 3 – Sam Raimi And Tobey Maguire Before my friends and family read this and tell me off for being a hypocrite, I must just say: I loved Spider-Man 3, I re-watched it over and over and I felt like crying when James Franco’s Goblin died. Nevertheless, I can appreciate why so many people call it a terrible film, so I had to fit it into this list. Sam Raimi made some very hated stylistic decisions on Spider-Man 3, including emo Peter Parker, some dodgy dancing, fighting three villains at once… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Carl

10 Most Disappointing Movie Sequels Of The Last Decade http://whatculture.com/film/10-most-disappointing-movie-sequels-of-the-last-decade.php/11 Spider-Man 3 Could any other movie take this spot? Sam Raimi’s finale to his Spider-Man saga is one of the biggest disasters in comic book movie history, just edging out Batman & Robin and Superman 3 in terms of overall quality. The first two Spider-Man films remain two of the best to come out of the comic book movie resurgence. But as every web-slinging, skyscraper-crawling hero knows, it can be a long way too fall when you’ve set the bar so high. Alas, Spidey takes a tremendous tumble in the… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Spider-Man 3 Commentary Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1kjglhTHAE
Superhero Rewind: Spider-Man 3 Review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImML7anYPSQ
(Podcast Special) Spider-Man 3 Commentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwiPZoiM7xg

admin
Admin
admin
8 years ago

I actually like all the “Spider-man” films; though I prefer the initial trilogy, I like the darker tone of the amazing series (I also like Emma Stone, so that helps that along). You know, like 1997’s “Spawn”, I don’t like it when loose ends aren’t tied up, and one only gets origin stories (though I love origin stories. But Only?).

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Cinematic Excrement: Episode 56 – Spider-Man 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gafsrrSElA

CallicoJacks
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I don’t blame Venom either. Sure, Sony pushed hard for Venom. But no one forced Raimi to make Sandman Uncle Ben’s killer, or to do that goofy emo dance routine.

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
8 years ago
Reply to  CallicoJacks

Jacks, you had me at “goofy emo dance routine.” I agree totally, you can tell that it wasn’t in Raimi’s heart to do a Venom story, I think he really is an old-school Spidey fan and wanted to focus on those 60’s and 70’s era villains, but there’s more wrong with the film than just Venom’s part in it. Matter of fact, I was watching Bruce Campbell’s cameo in Spider-Man 3 on Youtube recently, the scene where Toby goes to a fancy French restaurant and is greeted by Bruce Campbell, here playing a smarmy french greeter (“Ahhhh, romance. I am… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  CallicoJacks
Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

What Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 got right: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/spider-man/36257/what-sam-raimi-s-spider-man-2-got-right Spider-Man 2, Sam Raimi’s sophomore Spidey outing, is one of the best superhero films ever. Here’s why… Contains spoilers for Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. These days, it’s hard to talk about Spider-Man movies without conversation soon turning to the disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and speculation surrounding Sony’s new collaboration with Marvel Studios, and whether it might finally enable the superb cinematic representation that the webslinger deserves. However, this writer would argue that we’ve already had a near-perfect Spidey film – Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. Thanks to… Read more »

Paul S
8 years ago

Another great article, I was surprised while reading that I’ve only ever seen one of Tobey’s films and that was the much maligned Ride With the Devil. I thought that film was a gem, and if it’s good enough for The Criterion Collection it’s good enough for me.

Ross Nolan
Ross Nolan
8 years ago

Great article lebeau. I can’t even begin to imagine Jake Gyllenhaal playing Peter Parker, the man radiates a streak of smarm. Sometimes he has been able to play that into very good performances (ie. ‘Brokeback Mountain’ or ‘Nightcrawler’) but he’d be incapable of projecting the vunerability Peter has. Though I am a DC fan so take that with a grain of salt. I’m actually surprised how late it took Tobey Maguire to break through. I suppose I misremembered the success of ‘The Ice Storm’ or ‘Pleasantville’, the latter of which was the first film I saw him in. Always been… Read more »

admin
Admin
admin
8 years ago

I was familiar with Tobey Maguire from those films in the late 1990’s (I particularly liked “The Ice Storm” and “Wonder Boys”). I thought he was a money choice for peter Parker as well. It seems like he has the type of career he wants, so that’s pretty cool. Outstanding write-up.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  admin

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecinefiles/permalink/10153326454990795/?comment_id=10153327524180795&offset=0&total_comments=6&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%22%7D
He did a funny miniseries called The Spoils of Babylon in 2013. Just cause someone isn’t in blockbusters all the time doesn’t mean their career is over. These articles are not necessary, just take the 10 minutes it takes to Google what the person is up to nowadays! A lot of actors are doing interesting smaller films or TV shows that are fairly unknown just because there are so many of them.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

The responses that I’ve received all seemed to add up to “Tobey Maguire is still around doing good work, it’s just that you aren’t looking hard enough!” I think that the whole point of the article is to pinpoint what exactly could’ve “gone wrong” w/ his career. In other words, how can quickly he go from headlining a major blockbuster franchise like “Spider-Man” to relative obscurity and irrelevance in a short matter of time.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

What Happened to Tobey Maguire? Where is Tobey Maguire Today? http://gazettereview.com/2015/06/what-happened-to-tobey-maguire-where-is-tobey-maguire-today/ It was 2002. Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-man himself, hit theaters. The movie was an instant classic; critics raved over the screenplay and acting. Maguire had become a star. He reprised his role for the next two movies in the Spider-Man series, only to see his fame increase. However, once it seemed like he couldn’t get any more famous, his stock started to plateau. In 2012, when Sony rebooted the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man, a younger actor – Andrew Garfield – replaced him, and five years removed… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  admin

Derailed Film Stars: Retracing Tobey Maguire: http://www.twcc.com/articles/2015/03/08/d/derailed-film-stars-retracing-tobey-maguire With the recent news — thanks to the Sony hacking scandal — Andrew Garfield seems to be out of the picture for any future installments of The Amazing Spider-Man film franchise (as well as a possible crossover into the other Marvel universe in Captain America: Civil War), many wonder what Garfield’s predecessor as the web-slinger is up to. After all, Tobey Maguire was already a fairly well-known actor before he ever stepped into the superhero tights. But Maguire hasn’t gone out of his way to do a whole lot of roles since hanging… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  admin

I hope that I’m not repeating myself but it’s quite apparent now that Tobey Maguire’s career kind of fizzled post-Spider-Man because he got a bad reputation for just being a total A-hole to people on set. Supposedly crew members on Spider-Man 1 offered to pay Joe Manganiello (who played Flash Thompson) to punch him out. And if you’ve ever seen “Molly’s Game”, the cocky, slime ball, d-bag character Michael Cera plays is based on Tobey. He’s “Player X” in the movie, but Molly Bloom isn’t afraid to call him (and other people) by name in her memoirs. I think that… Read more »

Ryan Maguire
Ryan Maguire
3 years ago

there’s a throwaway bit about Maguire, in her unabridged memoir, regarding the frequency Maguire found time in his day to ‘pester‘ her… ‘…and since no studio will agree to insane demands, he rarely works, thereby affording him ample time to torment me over the most unremarkable frivolities…’ Shortly before that, comparing him to her most kind and generous player: ‘Tobey is the worst tipper, the biggest winner, and the absolute worst loser…‘ He most definitely comes across as an appeasing person, but short on faculties to overcome even the most uneventful dissatisfactions, commonly presuming every affront is coming from the… Read more »

RB
RB
8 years ago

My daughter enjoyed seeing some of these clips with me as she loves Maguire and the Spiderman trilogy, ranking #2 the highest, along with everyone else…. but she also doesn’t think the third movie deserved to be as reviled as it seems to be.

Carl
Carl
8 years ago
Reply to  RB

I don’t hate the movie, but it has a lot of problems that make it the weakest of the three original movies. Sometimes people confuse worst of the three with being absolutely horrible.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  RB

10 Reasons Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man Owns Tobey Maguire’s:
http://whatculture.com/film/10-reasons-andrew-garfields-spider-man-owns-tobey-maguires.php

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Andrew Garfield Is Relieved At Not Having To Play Spider-Man Anymore:
http://uproxx.com/movies/2015/08/andrew-garfield-relieved-to-not-be-spiderman/

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

12 Worst Casting Decisions In Marvel Movies http://whatculture.com/film/12-worst-casting-decisions-in-marvel-movies.php/2 Tobey Maguire – Peter Parker/Spiderman To be fair, Tobey Maguire wasn’t terrible as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and he did capture some elements of the struggle in living a secret life quite well, but his take on the character was far from the multi-layered smart-talking hero of the comic books. Peter Parker is a unique character in that he starts off being a geeky and naïve kid who grows to enjoy being Spider-Man. While everyone definitely got more than enough geeky awkwardness from Maguire’s performance (to a fault at times), his Spider-Man was mopey… Read more »

daffystardust
Editor
8 years ago

Very little of the critique here has anything to do with Maguire’s performance. Sounds like this person’s problem is with Raimi, not Maguire.

admin
Admin
admin
8 years ago

I forgot to mention “Pleasantville” in my previous comment (what a cast!), and how much I enjoyed that film as well (I also really like Fiona Apple’s “Across the Universe” cover during the end credits).

daffystardust
Editor
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I don’t agree. The achievement of accomplishing actual art with Pleasantville outstrips any of its third act shortcomings for me. This film touches and thrills me each time I see it, and I can’t imagine it being a shallow comedy with little or nothing to say. Many people could still benefit from its message that change (hopefully progress) is inevitable and that true art is transformative.

daffystardust
Editor
8 years ago
Reply to  daffystardust

I think this is a case similar to our discussion of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. While I recognize that there are real weaknesses and that the film misses the mark it has set for itself in spots, I can’t imagine lowering its aspirations because the moments in which it does hit the mark (and there are many) inspire and entertain me in a way that I cannot and would not wish away. Those moments are indelible for me and it would be a real shame if they did not exist.

daffystardust
Editor
8 years ago
Reply to  daffystardust

Ha! Yeah, those examples might say a little something about our differences. The Indiana Jones sequel is fun, but pretty disposable for me. I like the opening sequence a lot, but if the rest of the movie did not exist it would not hurt my feelings at all. It doesn’t have any real value in my eyes. The original, in contrast, is close to perfect entertainment which stands as an example for other artists trying to hit that mark. Batman Returns stands in a similar place for me, but without the esteem I hold its predecessor. I don’t know when… Read more »

daffystardust
Editor
8 years ago
Reply to  daffystardust

One thing about Pleasantville that may help explain our different reactions to it is that it employs several absolutely classic pieces of music of the 50s and the film is edited with a musical precision in many spots. Music is very important to how the movie is made and, for me, appreciated.
The final scene in the courtroom does not pack the punch it should at all. It is kind of weak, but up until that point what I’m looking at is a masterpiece.

jeffthewildman
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I like Pleasantville enough that I own it on DVD although it’s not one I watch as often as I do other movies. To me, it could have been better if the satire had been a little more biting. There were also times where it got a little too preachy. The Ice Storm on the other hand I love. To me, it’s still Ang Lee’s best film (followed closely by Crouching Tiger). In some ways, Maguire was always more a character actor. Spidey put him on the a-list for a while. But I suspect he would have moved back into… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  jeffthewildman

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecinefiles/permalink/10153326454990795/?comment_id=10153327524180795&offset=0&total_comments=6&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%22%7D
Tobey Maguire has been working consistently, especially since he became a name in films like The Cider House Rules and Spider-Man. Just because he doesn’t chase the paycheck and pump out rubbish two or three times a year doesn’t mean he’s off the radar. Really looking forward to Pawn Sacrifice.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  jeffthewildman

Tobey Maguire: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked:
http://whatculture.com/film/tobey-maguire-5-awesome-performances-and-5-that-sucked-2.php

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  jeffthewildman

The Long, Career Snuffing History Of Lead Actresses In Comic Book Movies: http://moviecitynews.com/2011/03/the-long-career-snuffing-history-of-lead-actresses-in-comic-book-movies/#comment-354720 OK, well Dave has already kind of backed off on this and owned up to the poor correlations, here – that list is pretty damn self-defeating when you see how many of those actress at the very least got more high profile roles after their stints in comic book films. Probably a few cases where it hurt the actress’ career or at least the perception: Famke Jannsen was probably seen as too tall and otherwordly-looking to cast in a conventional dramas. As written, Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane… Read more »

admin
Admin
admin
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I agree that “Pleasantville” does tail off during the climax, but it does enough for me that I can still get into it. As for sequels like “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “Batman Returns”, I feel differently about both. For Temple, I recorded that when I was a kid and still have that recording, so it has a sentimental place for me, plus it was the first Indiana Jones picture I viewed. When it comes to “Batman Returns”, I can view it every few years or so, but it’s just too melancholy and uneven in tone for… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

I hate to delve into what could otherwise be considered as slanderous gossip, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a good part of the reason why Tobey Maguire’s post-“Spider-Man” career as been otherwise unremarkable is because of rumors surrounding his rather unpleasant, and dare I say, douchey deposition in private. One key thing that was left out was a Vanity Fair article, in which this poker game hostess named Molly Bloom accused Tobey of asking her to to bark like a seal when he was leaving the game, and was holding her 1,000 dollar chip, which was for her tip.… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Tobey Maguire told poker hostess to ‘bark like a seal’ to earn a tip: http://www.celebitchy.com/371273/tobey_maguire_told_poker_hostess_to_bark_like_a_seal_to_earn_a_tip/ Bridget says: June 13, 2014 at 10:05 am Yep, I believe it. And what a piece of work – it certainly makes sense why Tobey rarely works anymore. Reply Brin says: June 13, 2014 at 10:38 am This^^. A piece of work who doesn’t work and we know why. Reply Bridget says: June 13, 2014 at 11:21 am If you look at the other guys in the posse, most of them are still working (even the ones that have made a lot of money): DiCaprio,… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

The True Story Behind the Movie Molly’s Game http://time.com/5073577/true-story-mollys-game/ Celebrities, including Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire, did play in Molly’s game. Aaron Sorkin doesn’t name the celebrity players who frequented Bloom’s game in the film, but Bloom does identify some of them in her book, including Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio. However, she only names people who had already been exposed in the media before her book hit shelves, protecting other players from exposure. Maguire plays the biggest role in Bloom’s memoir, and there appear to be elements of him in “Player X,” played by Michael Cera in… Read more »

admin
Admin
admin
6 years ago

I viewed that “Walker, Texas Ranger” episode that Tobey Maguire was in (I’m more into crime/forensic shows, but I think that show was okay. I respect Chuck Norris; the guy is like 78, and looks 30, and probably can kick the crap out of me!). I don’t know how I feel overall about Tobey Maguire right now as a performer; poker is cool, but he isn’t giving me anything to base anything on. All I can say for now was that he was friends with magician David Blaine, who once dated Fiona Apple, and I love her music (she’s an… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Tobey Maguire: Curse of the “Spider-Man”? http://frettsonfilm.com/2012/09/05/tobey-maguire-curse-of-the-spider-man/ Much has been made of the so-called “Superman curse”: the tragedies of George Reeves’ death, Christopher Reeve’s accident and Dean Cain’s and Brandon James Routh’s careers. But could there be a “Spider-Man curse” as well? The only actor to play a live-action version of Peter Parker on TV, Nicholas Hammond, vanished into obscurity, with his most notable non-Spidey role a gig as Aaron Spelling in the 2005 TV movie Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure. And now Tobey Maguire seems to be getting caught in a post-webslinger malaise. True, he got a… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

STARS WHO REFUSE TO INTERACT WITH FANS
http://www.looper.com/8909/stars-refuse-interact-fans/
Tobey Maguire has a bad reputation for being difficult to work with and treating human beings in general like garbage, so his avoidance of his fans isn’t surprising. Autograph Seeker magazine claims that Maguire is “so wrapped up in his own egotistical web that he has earned the distinction of being the worst signer of the year.”

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/3nky2f/bffs/cvpejh7 Well here’s where it’s complicated. Great question, btw. So I can speculate having been right in the middle of it all. I believe that Tobey is a text-book narcissist. Hollywood is a very competitive place and think Don’s Plum threatened him. Perhaps is was the fact that RD might blow-up as an indie director. Or, that Connelly would have gotten a lot of attention (he was outstanding in the film). Whatever the reason(s) Tobey, and only Tobey, wanted the film dead. In the big “verbal bludgeoning” at Connelly’s Leo said the following to me, it aches to this day–“My… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

10 Actors/Actresses Completely Cut From Movies After Filming: http://www.fame10.com/entertainment/10-actorsactresses-completely-cut-from-movies-after-filming/3/ Tobey Maguire – Life of Pi What? Tobey Maguire was supposed to be in Life of Pi? As what? The tiger? Here’s what went down. Ang Lee cast Tobey as the interviewer who spoke with Pi Patel, and enjoyed Tobey’s performance. No doubt, Tobey was gentle and sincere in his line of questioning. However, Ang chose to cut Tobey’s stuff, and recast the role. Why, you ask? Because Tobey was too well known. He was famous. Ang Lee wanted the film to stand on its own without the audience being distracted… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/3nky2f/bffs/cvpdead TL;DR: Tobey Maguire is an evil genius who, when he decided to kill his friend’s career and film for selfish reasons, gained the support of his pal Leo by alleging that the filmmakers were trying to “pit the press against him.” Tobey then testified to having badmouthed the filmmakers everywhere and threatening every connection in Hollywood in order to block the film (even threatening to order a hit-man to kill the director), resulting in a lawsuit against him and Leo, resulting in a counter-suit on the filmmakers. After the settlement, the bank account that was supposed to supply the… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/4a3a0r/til_that_tobey_maguire_and_leo_dicaprio_worked/d0x2zee There was only one person who wanted to stop the film, that was Tobey Maguire. Why he did it only he can say for sure but I have my theories. But it was me he accused of betraying Leo – He got Leo so enraged that in one night Leo blocked the film and ended our friendships. Leo went on to deliberately destroy my reputation and my career. What did Tobey tell Leo? He told him that I threatened pitting the press against Leo if he didn’t support the film. That’s all he said. For the record people can’t… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

NY Magazine did a very lengthy article on the Leo and the exploits of the Pussy Posse a few years ago (link below).
The Daily Beast did a write-up on its re-emergence earlier this year:
NY mag article: http://nymag.com/nymetro/movies/features/2793/index3.html

Steelbolt
Steelbolt
8 years ago

I read that Maguire’s one of the producers for a possible Robotech adaptation.

forrestbracket
forrestbracket
8 years ago

theron has spoken nice things about maguire i dont remember hearing them fighting. franco tobey became buddies. he baby sit tobeys kids. fyi brothers did ok box office it made 46 worldwide on small budget of 26 . as for great gatsby t is Baz Luhrmann’s highest grossing film, earning over $350 million worldwide.[
another thing pawn sacrifice is being released in Sept now with oscar buzz he at the same spot he did before spiderman indies he always wantred to do indies he choses not to be a list hes doing fine .

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  forrestbracket

Then again, Charlize Theron also dated Sean Penn…:/
http://whatculture.com/film/10-most-obnoxious-stars-in-hollywood.php/5

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  forrestbracket

10 Actors Who Are About To Make A Huge Comeback: http://whatculture.com/film/10-actors-who-are-about-to-make-a-huge-comeback.php/2 Tobey Maguire – Pawn Sacrifice Remember Tobey Maguire? Of course you do. Can’t blame you if you’ve forgotten, though, given that Maguire hasn’t really featured in anything noteworthy since Spider-Man 3 – and even that movie was something of a huge critical bomb. Now, reminded that Tobey Maguire is still alive and well, some of you might be wondering: “Yeah, where is Tobey Maguire? What’s he up to these days?” Well, aside from appearing in The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio back in 2013, nothing much, actually. In fact,… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecinefiles/permalink/10153486313010795/
I just saw ‘Pawn Sacrifice’, Edward Zwick’s Bobby Fischer film. 7/10. A good film with a couple of things keeping it from being great. Some clunky exposition, a bad actor playing young Fischer, too many montage sequences and an overbearing score. Aside from that, it’s really very good. Tobey Maguire kills it and is deserving of a ‘Best Actor’ nod, and Liev Schreiber gives a great, layered understated performance. It’s got good cinematography and is pretty well written. Worth a watch. Thoughts?

admin
Admin
admin
8 years ago

This tagline is nothing personal. It’s sort of like “Sorority Babes in the Slime ball Bowl-O-Rama” (as Dexter said, “What can I say, I like bowling”). It’s a deeper read than just being nosy, and sometimes offers some fun facts or clears the air on misconceptions. In general, I think the contributors and general attitude are just a real joy. Just an awesome site, I think. Foam fingers!

forrestbracket
forrestbracket
8 years ago

tobey franco r good buddies lay off hes good actor

forrestbracket
forrestbracket
8 years ago

this insult tobey good actor he dosent deserve this shit . every one of his costars love him hes ass to fans sign autographs but no diffcult like norton .tobey wants his career to be like that he prefers indies to spiderman

Carl
Carl
8 years ago
Reply to  forrestbracket

I wonder if maybe English isn’t your first language so you aren’t fully understanding the article. Though you’ve been here long enough that you should know a WTHH article isn’t intended to trash the subject. Pretty much all the ones I’ve read poke a little fun at the subject but are really just retrospectives of their career and end on a positive note. I’m not sure how anyone could read the last several paragraphs of the last page and think it was saying anything bad about Maguire. LeBeau basically said he’s not A list anymore but it is mostly by… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  forrestbracket

A Restrained Appreciation of Tobey Maguire: http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a26637/tobey-maguire-appreciation/ Tobey Maguire shouldn’t be in The Spoils of Babylon. He doesn’t do comedy. He doesn’t do TV. A joint venture between Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Funny or Die and IFC, Babylon, which premieres next week, is a faux-melodramatic faux-adaptation of a bestselling novel chronicling the travails of a screwed-up family — like Wuthering Heights if it were filmed by the guys who made Anchorman, which it is. Maguire plays the adopted son of Tim Robbins’s oil tycoon Jonas Morehouse and alternately fights Japanese fighter pilots and incestuous urges. In between Will Ferrell… Read more »

admin
Admin
admin
8 years ago

I don’t know, I like Kirsten Dunst (I think Reese Witherspoon is a snot, but I still think she’s a solid actress).

forrestbracket
forrestbracket
8 years ago

leabeu mentioned that brothers was a flop it wasnt. show me links that say theron and tobey didnt get along.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

‘We had a rough time’: Charlize Theron reveals she clashed with co-star Tobey Maguire while filming The Cider House Rules
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3550064/Charlize-Theron-reveals-didn-t-Tobey-Maguire-filming-Cider-House-Rules.html

forrestbracket
forrestbracket
8 years ago

I am sorry. I didn’t mean to start a fight I just didn’t know tobey and theron had problems on set. The articles I read state caine praised tobey for his professionalism on the set. Brothers made 43 million off 26 million budget. Those figures sound more like it did OK .If I have find accurate information that you are wrong ill show you on it. I do find your article interesting and insightful. I am a huge Costner and Cruise fan and tend to think you trash their acting too much. However I enjoy your articles . I do… Read more »

admin
Admin
admin
8 years ago
Reply to  forrestbracket

What I like about this site is that it’s kind, and gives good info. This isn’t internet muscles, this is The Lebeau Leblog:-)

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  forrestbracket

Charlize Theron Says Working with Tobey Maguire on ‘Cider House Rules’ Was ‘Rough’ https://www.yahoo.com/movies/charlize-theron-says-working-with-tobey-maguire-on-204847289.html By Jodi Guglielmi, People Charlize Theron and Tobey Maguire’s love in The Cider House Rules didn’t quite translate off-screen. In a new interview for V magazine’s Summer Hollywood issue, Theron, 40, revealed she had a “rough time” filming with Maguire on the 1999 film. “Tobey and I had a bit of a rough time, yeah. I mean, we’re good now. It was a difficult movie,” she said. “Every day is completely different for a completely different reason. Whether it’s the weather, or the writing isn’t there,… Read more »

forrestbracket
forrestbracket
8 years ago

yes and despite my argument ents i do enjoy his blogs . I find them interesting.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

How Jake Gyllenhaal Feels About Losing Out On Batman And Spider-Man Roles:
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/How-Jake-Gyllenhaal-Feels-About-Losing-Out-Batman-Spider-Man-Roles-74777.html
I believe whatever happens, happens for good. I was definitely open to both the roles (of Spider- Man and Batman). However at a certain point you realise there is always someone more interesting, talented and ready to do the role. In any case, you are not going to get every role you go for. So you can say I neither rue nor am I thankful for having not worked on these superhero films.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

About That Time Tobey Maguire Got Fired From Spider-Man and Was Replaced by Jake Gyllenhaal http://screencrush.com/tobey-maguire-jake-gyllenhaal-spider-man/ It’s 2003. Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man has just become the biggest movie of the year, grossing over $400 million (at the time, one of only four films to achieve that feat). Maguire had just wrapped filming on Seabiscuit, a prestige film that would go on to earn six Oscar nominations including Best Picture. He was, almost inexplicably given his boyish appearance, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. In the same month, he graced the covers of GQ, Esquire and Teen Beat. He was on… Read more »

Matt Rouge
Matt Rouge
8 years ago

Thanks for the article! I really learned a lot. K, having read this, I do get a negative impression about Tobey. No, not a terrible person, but there does seem to be an aura of negativity around him. Personally, I don’t find the whole big stakes poker world to be very vibrationally attractive, and it sounds as though it has had a corrosive effect on the actor in question. That said, I really enjoyed him in the Spider-Man movies. 1 is the best, and I think 2 and 3 are about equal. I have never understood the hate for 3.… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

The unauthorized history of the Pussy Posse: https://t.co/SjQkPhSnIB

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Matt Rouge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v98rvHhPaWY
Chris Stuckmann reviews Spider-Man 3, starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons. Directed by Sam Raimi.

forrestbracket
forrestbracket
8 years ago

I dont think he ever wants to + go back to popcorn films. most of his films are indies. I am sure after spider the offers came but he prefers smaller films pawn sacrifice seems like oscar bait i see him getting nom. MAybe he will big budget role if leo is lead or supporting role i think he likes staying under the radar . that way he can make the movies he wants without being in public eye which he hates.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  forrestbracket

It makes you wonder why he even bothered w/ the Spider-Man role in the first place if Tobey doesn’t like those types of movies. I’ve been trying to look for an interview that he did around the time that “Spider-Man 3” came out on “Live w/ Regis & Kelly”, where Tobey said point blank that superhero movies aren’t his “favorite genre”. It pretty much echoed Kirsten Dunst’s interview w/ Meredith Vieira on “The Today Show” about her own weariness w/ having to do another Spider-Man movie: https://youtu.be/tj1gq5VZDBI I seriously wonder if the fall-out from “Spider-Man 3” not getting so many… Read more »

thomas osgoode
thomas osgoode
8 years ago

i remember Wonder boys being a great film…and also remember how the trailers made the film seem bizarre …

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