"Wonder Boys": Tobey Maguire Interview
By Ellen A.Kim, Hollywood.com Staff
|
Thursday, August 02, 2001
How do you learn from them? Do you interact a lot on the set or observe from a distance?
Maguire: I pretty much try to leave people to do their thing and not ask tons and tons of questions. I think the greatest way to learn is to learn by someone's example.
Your character, James, in "Wonder Boys," as well as the roles you played in "The Cider House Rules," "The Ice Storm" and "Pleasantville" - now onto Peter Parker/Spider-Man - are all social misfits. What draws you to these types of characters?
Maguire: I know with James, I just found him so interesting. A kid who is ultimately a good kid, who really wants to connect with somebody. He doesn't have anybody in his life to care about, who he feels cares about him, really. I'm sure his parents, grandparents do, but he really doesn't have that kind of connection. So him opening the doors a little bit, and getting frightened, and telling stories and feeling bad that he's doing that -- he's a really interesting character ... I had a lot of fun plunging into James Leer.
All right. I know you've been asked about this all day, but what are you allowed to tell us about "Spider-Man"?
Maguire: I'm preparing for the role; we start in January. They're casting the film -- I'm ready to go.
Are you training? What kind of training do they have you in?
Maguire: Different kinds [laughs].
You'll have to scale walls and stuff, though, won't you?
Maguire: I'll have to do various things; various spider things.
Boy, this is mysterious. Can you tell us anything about [director] Sam Raimi's vision of the film, then? What kind of film should we expect?
Maguire: [Still laughing] May 2002, you'll find out.