Green Goblin test

[JOE SOAP]

The original make-up/FX test for Raimi's first spidey film:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waYxuyM4vi0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fbadassdigest.com%2F2011%2F12%2F16%2Fthis-is-what-sam-raimis-green-goblin-might-have-looked-like%2F&feature=player_embedded

[Misanthrope]

I'm glad they went with the helmet, as bad as it was.

[Beaky Smoochies]

I'm glad they went with the helmet, as bad as it was.

You're kidding right?  The helmet looked like it was straight out of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and was ridiculous!  I surmise that they changed it when John Malkovich had to pull out of playing Norman Osborne/Green Goblin over schedule conflicts, and they got Willem Dafoe instead, that mask looks like it was designed with Malkovich's angular face in mind.  If Malkovich had played Osborne/Goblin, they had used that mask, and had kept the bank robbery/helicopter in web sequence (changing the original World Trade Center end of that scene to some other NYC landmark), that movie would've been near-flawless, but that's just my opinion, and I thought Spider-Man 3 was actually pretty darn good-if-still-flawed...

[Misanthrope]

I'm glad they went with the helmet, as bad as it was.

You're kidding right?  The helmet looked like it was straight out of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and was ridiculous!  I surmise that they changed it when John Malkovich had to pull out of playing Norman Osborne/Green Goblin over schedule conflicts, and they got Willem Dafoe instead, that mask looks like it was designed with Malkovich's angular face in mind.  If Malkovich had played Osborne/Goblin, they had used that mask, and had kept the bank robbery/helicopter in web sequence (changing the original World Trade Center end of that scene to some other NYC landmark), that movie would've been near-flawless, but that's just my opinion, and I thought Spider-Man 3 was actually pretty darn good-if-still-flawed...

Because just like if they use Judge Death in a Dredd movie, this would have looked bloody stupid in the movie.

[TordelBack]

...that mask looks like it was designed with Malkovich's angular face in mind. 

As opposed to Dafoe's soft rounded features?   

[Colin_YNWA]

I really like that. I guess the mask makes more sense from a story point of view...

... in a movie were the hero gains powers by being bitten by...


...best not to think about it.

[Beaky Smoochies]

As opposed to Dafoe's soft rounded features?   

Point well taken Tordelback dude , but Malkovich has what Ann Widdecombe once memorably described of Michael Howard as "something of the night about him", and can see why Sam Raimi really wanted him for the role, and apparently really tried to fit Malkovich's schedule to accomodate production on Spider-Man, but alas was unable to, and Malkovich reluctantly had to bow out of the project, but I'm not taking anything away from Willem Defoe, he's a terrific and intense actor and gave an excellent and convincing performance as Osborne/Goblin, but he has a more muscular physique, whereas Norman Osborne/Goblin wasn't in the comics (if I remember correctly, it's been a long time now), and Malkovich was perfect casting for the role in terms of both physique and persona, but it certainly didn't hurt or detract from the final film in any way, so I concede your point, touche' and all that...

[Steve Green]

I really like that, just didn't fit in with the way the Goblin is explained in the film (Not that the rigid one makes much more sense)

[radiator]

That looks great - way better than what we got in the actual film - the design of the Green Goblin is one of the worst things about the whole film IMO.

Presumably they would have animated the eyes in cgi?

[Greg M.]

I much prefer this version - it actually looks like the Green Goblin, and is much more characterful, creepy and demented.

[judgefett]

Yeah the unused version is creepy goodness! With the re-boot and Gwen Stacey in it now maybe they'll revisit this version of the mask and give us The Death Of Gwen Stacey.

[JOE SOAP]

I surmise that they changed it when John Malkovich had to pull out of playing Norman Osborne/Green Goblin over schedule conflicts, and they got Willem Dafoe instead, that mask looks like it was designed with Malkovich's angular face in mind.

...Sam Raimi really wanted him for the role, and apparently really tried to fit Malkovich's schedule to accomodate production on Spider-Man, but alas was unable to, and Malkovich reluctantly had to bow out of the project, but I'm not taking anything away from Willem Defoe, he's a terrific and intense actor and gave an excellent and convincing performance as Osborne/Goblin, but he has a more muscular physique, whereas Norman Osborne/Goblin wasn't in the comics (if I remember correctly, it's been a long time now), and Malkovich was perfect casting for the role in terms of both physique and persona

Absolutely nothing of the sort, a change of actor would matter little to the FX and I believe Raimi wanted Malkovich for the part of the Vulture but Sony wanted Gobby, but, alas, I do prefer Defoe anyway.


It all depended on how the Green Goblin character was to be portrayed in the story, whether he would literally transform into a goblin-like creature or not. At one point Raimi was thinking of an actual physical transformation and the how the logic of that would work within the film. In the end he went in the direction of psychosis rather than physical transformation.

I still think they should have used the goblin make-up, even as a mask, the power-ranger armour was rubbish. The added visual of a fantasy element would have been interesting and fun. It is after all a film about a teenager who after being bitten by a radioactive spider assumes arachnid powers. Old time magic or what?

[Beaky Smoochies]

Have to disagree with you on this one Joe, Raimi absolutely had originally cast Malkovich as the Goblin - in an early draft of the script, both the Goblin AND Doctor Octopus were featured, but they (rightly) decided one villain was enough and excised Doc Ock, saving him for the terrific second film - I remember vividly the press reportage on it, Malkovich had to back out because he was shooting the other Mr. Ripley  adaptation (the one without Matt Damon) at the same time.

But you are correct that Raimi wanted Malkovich for the Vulture (he also strongly considered Ben Kingsley for the role as well, and he very nearly signed up for it), but that was proposed for a fourth Spidey movie that never came about, mainly because Raimi allegedly hated all the drafts submitted at that time, and thought the pre-determined release date was too tight to really make the film as good as possible- that and the fact Sony wanted the budget considerably lower than the reputed $260m that the underrated Spidey 3 cost- personally I'm glad they didn't make a fourth one as there was nowhere left to go, pretty much everything had been wrapped up and doing another one just so you can see another of the villains from the comic-book onscreen is not a reason...

[Buddy]

That looks really creepy.

[Mardroid]

I really liked that. Much closer to the comics, and I'm amazed at how much expression you can get from those rubber masks.

I can understand why they went with the other version though. It sort of went with Os-corp's technological identity. I think they should still have gone with the older version though. It's genuinely quite scary, and the glider was hardly low-tech.