Finally, the world quieted down.
However, it didn't last long—
One after another, visitors kept coming.
Since Anson had entered the trailer, there hadn't been even thirty seconds of peace, making him wonder if there was a long line of people waiting outside.
This went on until Jas Franco showed up.
"Wow."
"Wow..."
"Wow!"
Jas didn't say much, just kept exclaiming, and then plopped onto the big bed, letting his entire body feel the softness of the mattress.
In fact, Anson imdiately sensed the playful mockery behind Jas' actions. However, Anson gave no response, calmly sitting nearby.
Unable to resist, Jas sighed dramatically, "Oh... sigh... it's so heartbreaking..."
Unfortunately, he still didn't get any response.
Jas sat up abruptly, "Hey, man, aren't you going to console my wounded soul? The crew gave you a luxury trailer, and we got nothing. Can you believe it?"
"Nothing! At all!"
"This is unfair treatnt, and I'm going to file a complaint with the actors' union."
As he spoke, Jas rolled around dramatically in mock protest.
Anson looked at him calmly, amused, as if watching a circus performance, shaking his head, "What a pity. Soone missed out on the role, fate played its tricks, destiny shifted... too bad, too bad."
Jas froze for a mont, then clutched his chest dramatically. "Killer! You're heartless! Ah, I'm dead..."
Just as he finished, the trailer door opened again.
Sam Raimi stood there, looking awkwardly at Jas rolling around. But Jas hadn't noticed and kept up his performance.
Anson didn't bother to alert Jas. He stood and walked over to Sam. "Hey, Director, long ti no see."
Before Sam could speak, Jas called out lazily, "It's no use talking to the director!"
Anson noticed Sam's slightly awkward expression—Sam, a straightforward man, was clearly uncomfortable—and explained, "He's jealous of my trailer."
Sam imdiately understood and chuckled, "I'm jealous too."
After a brief pause, Sam seed more at ease. After all, he and Anson had enjoyed a pleasant collaboration before, and they'd stayed in touch through calls and emails over the past few months. They had built a rapport.
"The whole crew has been eagerly awaiting Anson Wood."
"Look, the mont you showed up, word spread like wildfire. Everyone rushed over to see you, like water boiling over."
Earlier, the steady stream of visitors had all been crew mbers stopping by to greet Anson. At first, Anson hadn't understood why, as this wasn't the usual practice. But he gradually realized—over just a few months, his status in Hollywood had quietly shifted, and with a project as big as Spider-Man 2, the atmosphere on set had changed as well.
Even Sam was making jokes now.
Anson raised an eyebrow. "Like a panda at the zoo."
A panda?
The image popped into Sam's mind, and he couldn't hold back a laugh.
Finally, Jas noticed sothing was off. He looked up and saw Sam, tumbling off the bed in a panic. "Director, when did you get here?"
"Right when you got shot in the chest," Sam replied calmly.
Jas tried to explain but ended up choking on his own spit, coughing violently. "Director... director..."
Sam exchanged a glance with Anson, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, though outwardly he remained composed. Ignoring Jas, he turned to Anson. "You called over for sothing?"
"Yes, the script." Anson cut straight to the point, skipping further small talk.
Sam wasn't surprised. "I figured as much."
He sat down on the sofa against the wall, pulled the script out of his briefcase, and pushed it toward Anson.
Earlier in the year, during discussions between Edgar and Sony-Columbia about the sequel, Anson had expressed a desire to read the script in advance and offer his input, wanting to be involved in its creation.
Edgar had been supportive, hoping Anson would gain more influence and strengthen his position. Sony-Columbia also wasn't surprised, assuming Anson was looking to transition into a producer role.
However, Anson had his own ideas.
He knew that Spider-Man 2 was later hailed as a classic and beca a milestone in superhero cinema. But why didn't Spider-Man 2 achieve the legendary status of The Dark Knight?
Even as the superhero genre exploded, with countless films flooding the market, The Dark Knight remained an iconic masterpiece, while Spider-Man 2 didn't receive the sa recognition.
The reason lay in the script.
Spider-Man 2 undeniably pioneered a new style and inspired many similar films, solidifying its status as a classic. However, the script itself was still lacking.
The strength was that Peter Parker's character arc was well-developed.
The weakness was that "well-developed" didn't an "outstanding."
First, Peter Parker's character arc was bogged down by repetitive, unnecessary narrative elents.
Second, the plot was overly simplistic, with the tone of a high school soap opera.
These soap-opera elents not only disrupted the film's pacing but also weakened its appeal. Tobey Maguire's performance in particular ca off as overly lodramatic, his tendency to act with wide-eyed innocence a problem partly of his own making and partly of the script.
And that wasn't the worst of it.
What frustrated Anson the most was that Sam Raimi was willing to spend ti exploring the emotional depths and growth arcs of the characters, but poor narrative efficiency led to a lot of unnecessary scenes. This, in turn, limited the developnt of key relationships:
Family—Aunt May; friendship—Harry; romance—Mary Jane.
Of these three, aside from Aunt May, who served a functional role, both Harry and Mary Jane, crucial to the plot and character developnt, felt shallow and even irritating, failing to evoke any emotional response despite ample screen ti. They remained flat, one-dinsional characters.
This was a huge missed opportunity.
So, while The Dark Knight cos to mind when discussing iconic films, Spider-Man 2 rarely gets ntioned in the sa breath.
In Anson's view, Spider-Man 2 had the potential to be a tiless classic. If Sony-Columbia simply treated it as a youthful coming-of-age movie, it would be a trendous waste.
Of course, Anson wasn't aiming for the philosophical depth or moral complexity of The Dark Knight. He wanted to maintain the popcorn-flick quality, the youthful, school-focused feel—similar to The Avengers, a classic in its own right. That would be enough to make Spider-Man 2 a lasting classic.
So over the past few months, while touring Europe, Anson had been in constant communication with Sam, exchanging ideas and diving deeper into the script in hopes of finding a balance and making the movie tighter and more compelling.
However, this wasn't an easy task.
It's one thing to discuss ideas, but actually implenting them makes you realize just how challenging screenwriting in Hollywood really is.
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