Darkman | |
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Directed by | Sam Raimi |
Screenplay by |
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Story by | Sam Raimi |
Produced by | Robert Tapert |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Bill Pope |
Edited by |
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Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $14 million [3] |
Box office | $48.8 million [4] |
Darkman is a 1990 American superhero film [5] directed and co-written by Sam Raimi. Based on a short story Raimi wrote that paid homage to Universal's horror films of the 1930s, the film stars Liam Neeson as scientist Peyton Westlake, who is brutally attacked, disfigured, and left for dead by ruthless mobster Robert Durant (Larry Drake), after his girlfriend, attorney Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand), runs afoul of corrupt developer Louis Strack Jr. (Colin Friels). After a treatment to cure him of his burn injuries fails, Westlake develops super-human abilities, which also have the unintended side-effect of rendering him mentally unstable and borderline psychotic. Consumed with vengeance, he decides to hunt down those who disfigured him.
Unable to secure the rights to The Shadow and Batman, Raimi decided to create his own superhero and struck a deal with Universal Studios to make his first Hollywood studio film. It was produced by Robert Tapert, and was written by Raimi, his brother Ivan, Chuck Pfarrer, and brothers Daniel and Joshua Goldin. Makeup effects artist Tony Gardner, who also cameos in the film as the Lizard Man in the carnival Freak Show sequence, designed and created the makeup effects required to turn Neeson into Darkman.[ citation needed ]
Neeson's first action film in the main role, Darkman received generally positive reviews by critics and was commercially successful, grossing $48 million, above its $14 million budget. This financial success spawned two direct-to-video sequels, Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996), as well as comic books, video games, and action figures. Neeson did not reprise his role for the direct-to-video sequels.
Dr. Peyton Westlake is developing a new type of synthetic skin to help burn victims but cannot get past a flaw that causes the skin to rapidly disintegrate after 99 minutes. His girlfriend, attorney Julie Hastings, discovers the "Belisarius Memorandum", an incriminating document that proves developer Louis Strack Jr. has been bribing members of the zoning commission. When she confronts Strack, he confesses, showing Julie that he plans to design a brand-new city, creating a substantial number of new jobs. He warns Julie that the city's reigning crime boss, Robert G. Durant, also wants the document.
At Westlake's lab, Westlake and his assistant Yakitito are testing the skin when the lights go out. The synthetic skin remains stable after 100 minutes, so Westlake deduces that the skin is photosensitive. Their joy is short lived as Durant and his mobsters show up and demand the Memorandum, which Westlake knows nothing about. They search for the document, and Durant has his men kill Yakitito and beat Westlake, burning his hands and dipping his face in acid. After finding the document, they rig the lab to explode. Julie witnesses the blast as a hideously burned Westlake is thrown through the roof and into the river. As a John Doe, he is brought to a hospital and subjected to a radical treatment which cuts the nerves of the spinothalamic tract; physical pain is no longer felt at the cost of tactile sensation. This loss of sensory input gives him enhanced strength due to adrenal overload and keeps his injuries from incapacitating him, but also mentally destabilizes him. After waking up from a coma, Westlake escapes from the hospital.
Believed dead by Julie, Westlake re-establishes his lab in a condemned building and devises a process to recreate his face in synthetic skin, using the time to plot revenge against Durant and his men. He kills Durant's associate, Rick, by putting his head in front of an incoming car after obtaining the names of Durant's henchmen. He then studies each to learn their mannerisms (having a talent for impressionism). When his face mask is complete, Westlake manages to convince Julie that he was in a coma rather than dead. He mentions that he is aware of Julie seeing Strack after his supposed death; she responds that Strack only comforted her. Keeping his disfigurement from her, Westlake instead probes whether she would accept him despite his appearance.
Westlake puts his plan into action, sowing confusion and deceit among Durant's gang. While on a date at a carnival with Julie, Westlake loses his temper after an altercation over a stuffed elephant and assaults a worker, revealing to Julie that something is wrong with him. He flees as his face begins to melt, and she follows him, discovering the discarded mask; she calls to Peyton that she still loves him regardless. Julie tells Strack she can no longer see him before discovering the stolen Memorandum on his desk, confirming that he was collaborating with Durant the entire time. She reveals Westlake is still alive, but Strack tells her as long as he has the Memorandum, no charges can be filed. When Julie leaves, Strack tells Durant to deal with them both.
Durant intercepts Julie and kidnaps her. His two remaining men enter the lab to locate and kill Westlake but are outmaneuvered and eliminated. Durant flees in a helicopter with Westlake dangling from an attached cable, which he uses to crash the helicopter. Impersonating Durant, Westlake meets up with Strack and a captive Julie at the top of an unfinished building. Strack sees through Westlake's ruse, and they fight; Westlake eventually gains the upper hand and dangles Strack by his ankle in the air. Strack says that killing him would not be something he could live with. Westlake drops Strack, remarking: "I'm learning to live with a lot of things." Julie tries to convince Westlake that he can still return to his old life, but he tells her he has changed internally as well, and cannot subject anyone to his new, vicious nature. He rushes from Julie as they exit an elevator, pulling on a mask and running into a crowd of pedestrians. As Julie unsuccessfully searches for him, a disguised Westlake watches her for a few moments before turning and walking away, narrating, "I am everyone and no one. Everywhere. Nowhere. Call me... Darkman."
Additionally, Raimi's brother Ivan and director John Landis have cameos as hospital staff, while Jenny Agutter plays the doctor treating Westlake's burns. Neal McDonough, William Lustig, Scott Spiegel and Stuart Cornfeld portray dockworkers. Other appearances include Joel and Ethan Coen as the driver and passenger in an Oldsmobile, Professor Toru Tanaka and Nathan Jung as Hung Fat's Chinese Warriors, and Julius Harris as the Gravedigger. In the final scene of the film, Campbell portrays the disguised Darkman as he flees, credited as "Final Shemp".
The idea for Darkman developed from a short story Raimi had written about a man who could change his face. [10] The story drew elements from The Phantom of the Opera , The Elephant Man , and The Shadow [10] (Raimi had previously sought the film rights to The Shadow or Batman; when rejected, he decided to write his own superhero). [11] [12] Raimi was also inspired by the Universal horror films of the 1930s and 1940s because "they made me fear the hideous nature of the hero and at the same time drew me to him. I went back to that idea of the man who is noble and turns into a monster." [13] He originally wrote a 30-page short story, titled "The Darkman", and then developed into a 40-page treatment. At this point, according to Raimi, "it became the story of a man who had lost his face and had to take on other faces, a man who battled criminals using this power". [10] It also became more of a tragic love story in the tradition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame . In 1987, Raimi submitted the treatment to Universal Pictures which they liked, green-lighted a budget in the range of $8–12 million, and suggested that he get a screenwriter to flesh out the story. [14]
The more Raimi worked, the more Darkman became a crime-fighting figure like Batman, "a non-superpowered man who, here, is a hideous thing who fights crime. As he became that hideous thing, it became more like The Phantom of the Opera, the creature who wants the girl but who was too much of a beast to have her", according to Raimi. [10] The process of developing his treatment into a screenplay was difficult with Raimi hiring ex-Navy SEAL Chuck Pfarrer based on his work on Navy SEALs . [15] He wrote the first draft and then Raimi's brother, Ivan (a doctor), wrote drafts two through four with Sam. Ivan made sure that the medical aspects and scientific elements were authentic as possible given the nature of the story. [16]
As Raimi and his producing partner Robert Tapert progressed through various drafts, they realized they had a potential franchise on their hands. Universal brought in screenwriting brothers Daniel and Joshua Goldin to work on the script. According to Daniel, they were presented with various drafts and "lots of little story documents. There was just material everywhere; drafts seemed to go in many directions." [10] Goldin said that they "spent a lot of time talking and pulling together a way of making the story work. I think that mostly we talked in terms of the nuts and bolts of the story." [6] The Goldins added new lines of dialogue, new characters and bits of action. The studio still wasn't satisfied, so the Raimi brothers wrote drafts six through twelve before they had a shooting script. [16] Raimi wanted to emphasize Peyton/Darkman's arc over the course of the film, saying, "I decided to explore a man's soul. In the beginning, a sympathetic, sincere man. In the middle, a vengeful man committing heinous acts against his enemies. And in the end, a man full of self-hatred for what he's become, who must drift off into the night, into a world apart from everyone he knows and all the things he loves." [16]
Working with Universal meant a significant budgetary increase for Raimi, allowing him to design and build a laboratory set for Darkman and afford helicopters and professional stuntmen to film the climactic helicopter chase through the city. [17] He was eventually given $14 million to work with, including a longer schedule and much more effects work.
Visually, the filmmaker was interested in paying homage to Universal horror films of the 1930s. Production designer Randy Ser remarked, "if you look at Darkman's lab that he moves into, which is an old warehouse, what was on my mind was Dr. Frankenstein. There were a number of references visually to what we were thinking about in regards to those films." [6] Raimi consciously wanted to tone down his style because of a desire to "get into the characters' heads and follow them as real human beings in extraordinary circumstances". [14]
McDormand and Neeson worked closely in rehearsals, rewriting the three love scenes they had together after he becomes Darkman. They got through these scenes, according to the actress, by depending on "each other's knowledge, of theater and each other". [7]
Principal photography began on April 19, 1989, and wrapped on August 10, 1989, the film was shot on location in Los Angeles and Toronto, Ontario, and at Santa Clarita Studios in Santa Clarita, California. [18] [19]
Raimi said directing McDormand was "very difficult". [14] Raimi said, "apparently I didn't know Fran as well as I thought I did ... The reason it was difficult was that our conception of the best movie to make differed, arguing in trying to make the best picture possible. We did come across disagreements, but they were very healthy." [14]
Durant's finger collection developed over the Pfarrer and Raimi brothers drafts. The director wanted a specific trademark for the character – one that hinted at a military background. [9]
Neeson worked in ten-piece prosthetic makeup, sometimes for 18 hours. [13] He saw the lengthy time spent in extensive makeup as a challenge and liked "the idea of working behind a mask on camera, and just exploring the possibilities of what that entailed". [7] He and makeup effects designer Tony Gardner did tests using specific glues, foams, and bandage coverings. They also timed how fast they could apply the prosthetic makeup and put the costume on. Neeson worked with the costume designer on his outfit, including aspects like the cloak. [7] The hardest part for the actor was speaking with false teeth and he ended up doing "a lot of work on my voice – I didn't want the [false teeth] to move at all." [7]
Raimi and Tapert ran into conflicts with the studio during post-production. The director had a problem with the editor that the studio assigned him and eight weeks into assembling the rough cut, he was not following Raimi's storyboards. The editor had a nervous breakdown and left. [20] Early preview screenings did not go well as people laughed in the wrong places and complained about a lack of a happy ending. [21] Universal told Raimi that some people rated Darkman the worst film they had ever seen. According to executives, the film was one of the worst-scoring pictures in Universal's history. [20] Then, two preview screenings, one with Danny Elfman's score, went well. Tapert remembers, "the experience on Darkman was very difficult for Sam and me; it isn't the picture we thought it should be, based on the footage we shot and all that. The studio got nervous about some kind of wild things in it, and made us take them out, which was unfortunate." [6] Raimi did like the "brilliant" marketing campaign that the studio came up with, releasing posters in advance with a silhouette of the main character and the question, "Who is Darkman?" According to the director, "the marketing made the film a money-maker". [20]
Darkman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | August 17, 1990 | |||
Recorded | 1990 | |||
Genre | Film score | |||
Length | 40:09 | |||
Label | MCA | |||
Producer | Danny Elfman | |||
Danny Elfman chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [22] |
Released by MCA Records on August 17, 1990, the soundtrack to Darkman was composed by Danny Elfman, who previously scored the music to Tim Burton's Batman in 1989. In 2017, Waxwork Records released the soundtrack on vinyl which was remastered from the original tapes. [23] La-La Land Records released an expanded soundtrack album in January 2020, featuring over 30 minutes of previously unreleased music. [24]
Elfman said of his score: "Again old-fashioned and melodramatic, but in a way that I'm crazy about. Sam Raimi has a wonderful visual style that lends itself easily to music. It was an enormous relief writing long, extended musical sequences, something which is very rare in modern films. No reason to hold back on this one." [25]
All tracks are written by Danny Elfman
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Main Titles" | 1:37 |
2. | "Woe, the Darkman... Woe" | 6:09 |
3. | "Rebuilding / Failure" | 3:16 |
4. | "Love Theme" | 0:56 |
5. | "Julie Transforms" | 1:11 |
6. | "Rage / Peppy Science" | 1:37 |
7. | "Creating Pauley" | 3:19 |
8. | "Double Durante" | 1:50 |
9. | "The Plot Unfolds (Dancing Freak)" | 7:01 |
10. | "Carnival from Hell" | 3:16 |
11. | "Julie Discovers Darkman" | 1:59 |
12. | "High Steel" | 4:19 |
13. | "Finale / End Credits" | |
14. | Untitled | 3:39 |
Total length: | 40:09 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Intro / Three Fingers" | 2:56 |
2. | "Snip, Snip, Snip" | 1:42 |
3. | "Main Titles" | 1:41 |
4. | "Peppy Science" (Film Version) | 1:19 |
5. | "Persistence / Marry Me" | 0:42 |
6. | "Love Theme" | 1:00 |
7. | "The Model" | 1:41 |
8. | "One Hundred Minutes / Peyton Gets Tromped" | 2:17 |
9. | "Yakitito / The Big Bang" | 2:47 |
10. | "Julie Transforms" | 1:17 |
11. | "Hospital" | 0:39 |
12. | "Rage" | 0:29 |
13. | "Woe, the Darkman... Woe" (Film Version) | 6:17 |
14. | "Rebuilding / Failure" (Film Version) | 3:24 |
15. | "Waltz / Rage / First Blood" | 2:19 |
16. | "Creating Pauley" | 3:25 |
17. | "The Plot Unfolds (Dancing Freak)" (Film Version) | 6:25 |
18. | "Finger Stinger" | 1:48 |
19. | "False Durant" | 1:13 |
20. | "Durant Stinger / Durant in Trouble" | 2:02 |
21. | "Double Durant" (Film Version) | 1:54 |
22. | "Carnival from Hell" (Extended Version) | 4:06 |
23. | "Julie Discovers Darkman" | 2:03 |
24. | "Julie Stinger / City Stinger" | 0:59 |
25. | "Peyton on the Run" | 2:09 |
26. | "Darkman Stalks / Guzman's Reveal" | 2:19 |
27. | "Chopper Spree" | 1:18 |
28. | "Shake Him" | 2:21 |
29. | "Durant Bites It / Dead, Not Dead?" | 1:44 |
30. | "High Steel" (Extended Version) | 5:57 |
31. | "Finale / End Credits" | 3:45 |
32. | "Yakitito / The Big Bang" (Alternate) | 2:52 |
Ads asking "Who is Darkman?" began appearing on bus benches, public transit, and television as early as June 1990. Universal VP of Media Vic Fondrk said that the studio did not want to spend much money promoting the film in advance, "but we wanted to create some intrigue for the Darkman character". [26]
In 1998, Darkman was released on DVD. Bonus material included production notes, cast & crew bios, and a trailer.
In 1999, The Return of Durant was released on DVD. Bonus material included production notes, cast & crew bios, a trailer, and web links.
In 2004, Die, Darkman, Die was released on DVD as part of the "Universal Studio Selections". The DVD contained no bonus material or even a main menu (although there were chapter selections).
All three Darkman films were released in a box set by Universal Studios in August 2007. Each is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. [27] No extra material was included. The high definition version of Darkman was released on HD DVD July 31 the same year.
A Blu-ray Disc edition of the first film was released on June 16, 2010. Shout! Factory released a second Blu-ray edition on February 18, 2014.
On its opening weekend, Darkman grossed a total of $8 million in 1,786 theaters. To date, the film has grossed a total of $48.8 million worldwide. [4]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 83% based on reviews from 64 critics. The site's consensus states: "Gruesome and deliciously broad, Sam Raimi's Darkman bears the haunted soulfulness of gothic tragedy while packing the stylistic verve of onomatopoeia springing off a comic strip page." [28] On Metacritic the film has a score of 65 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. [30]
Los Angeles Times film critic Michael Wilmington felt that Darkman was the only film at the time "that successfully captures the graphic look, rhythm and style of the superhero books". [31] Terrence Rafferty of The New Yorker said, "Raimi works from inside the cheerfully violent adolescent-male sensibility of superhero comics, as if there were no higher style for a filmmaker to aspire to, and the absence of condescension is refreshing." [6] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Raimi's live-action comic book aims to deliver scares spiked with laughs. That it does." [32] USA Today gave the film three out of four stars, and wrote: "With good leads and a few bucks, he's come up with a high-octane revenge piece mentionable in the same breath as its predecessors." [33] Richard Corliss in Time said "Raimi isn't effective with his actors, and the dialogue lacks smart menace, but his canny visual sense carries many a scene." [34] Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote: "The movie is full of jaunty, Grand Guignol touches (the main gangster enjoys snapping and collecting fingers), but Raimi's images also have a spectral, kinetic beauty." [35] In his review for The Washington Post , Joe Brown wrote: "Though Raimi seems to be trying to restrain himself, his giddily sick sense of humor still pops out all over the place – Darkman is a frenetic funhouse ride that has you laughing and screaming at the same time." [36] Rita Kempley also of The Washington Post called it "a fiendishly stylish journey that links the classics of transfiguration to the terrors of our times". [37] On the TV program At the Movies , Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film "two thumbs up". Both remarked at how original and stylised Raimi's sense of direction was, with Siskel adding that Darkman as a character was "interesting". [38] [39]
Ian Nathan of Empire magazine said the film was "certainly not Raimi at his best, but some knowing genre nods and an array of great effects make up much of the deficit". [40] People 's Ralph Novak called Darkman, a "loud, sadistic, stupidly written, wretchedly acted film". [41]
Darkman was singled out for notice by comic-book writer Peter David in the Comics Buyer's Guide as "The Perfect Super-Hero Film of All Time", although this assessment was based upon other features of the film than general quality. [42] The A.V. Club called Darkman a key transitional film, bridging from Burton's Batman films, while forging its own dark path to the future. [43]
Darkman has been the subject of two Marvel Comics series (one a movie adaptation, the other an original sequel), numerous novels, as well as a video game published by Ocean Software, Darkman (1991). Tony Gardner's company Alterian, Inc. produced two different Halloween masks of the Darkman character after the film was released. Merchandising for the character all but disappeared for close to a decade until SOTA Toys obtained the rights to make a Darkman action figure. SOTA president Jerry Macaluso was interviewed by Dread Central:
This leads to an interesting story on Darkman. Universal didn't know they owned the merchandise rights. It didn't show up on any of their merchandise sheets. I had to convince them to spend a little time and have their lawyers look into it. I knew at the time that film was made Sam (Raimi) didn't have the power to retain those rights so it HAD to be Universal even though they said they didn't have them. Turns out I was right and afterwards Darkman started to show up in all their catalogs of films available to license ... [44]
In 2005, SOTA produced two versions of their Darkman action figure (including interchangeable head and hands to allow the figure to be either bandaged or revealing his scarred visage), as well as a Darkman statue.
Dynamite Entertainment in 2006 reached an agreement with Universal Studios Consumer Products Group to produce original comics based on Darkman.[ citation needed ] A bimonthly limited series entitled Darkman vs. Army of Darkness was published from August 2006 to March 2007.[ citation needed ]
In November 2007, Sideshow Collectibles put up for pre-order a 1:4 scale "Premium" Format Figure version of Darkman that would be released in 3rd quarter 2008.
With release in 1990, Marvel Comics published a 3-issue adaptation of Darkman in color along with a larger black and white magazine size adaptation consisting of all three issues. In 1993, Darkman returned in a 6 issue mini-series also published by Marvel Comics. In 2006, Dynamite Entertainment published a crossover that pitted Darkman against Sam Raimi's Ash Williams of the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness franchise.[ citation needed ]
Alongside the theatrical release in 1990, Jove Books published the novel adaptation written by Randall Boyll.[ citation needed ] In 1994, Boyll returned to expand upon the adventures of Darkman in a four-novel miniseries from Pocket Books. Over Pocket Books' four novels (The Hangman, The Price of Fear, The Gods of Hell, and In the Face of Death) Boyll further develops Darkman's character and how he deals with his new existence as an outcast individual with the ability to help others.[ citation needed ]
There were two direct-to-video sequels, Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996).
In April 2022, Neeson stated that he would be interested in reprising his role for a legacy sequel to the original film. [45] The producer of the sequel film was attached, and the studio had started to talk about the sequel. [46]
Universal Television financed a 30-minute television pilot presentation based on Darkman, which was made in 1992 and was to be shown on Fox. [47] The pilot, directed by Brian Grant, retold the origin of the character (with some alterations) and introduced several new characters. Christopher Bowen starred in the role of Peyton Westlake/Darkman, Larry Drake reprised his role of Robert G. Durant, and Kathleen York played the cop, Jenny.
The origin is similar to the one in the original film as Peyton discovers his synthetic skin, is attacked and left for dead by Durant and his gang. In this version, however, Peyton is already married to Julie, and she is killed in the explosion. As in the films, Westlake becomes Darkman, and seeks vengeance on Durant and his gang. Darkman's headquarters are in an abandoned observatory overlooking the city, and he is wanted by the police for his actions against Durant's gang. The pilot ends with some scenes from the first film (particularly of Darkman and Durant fighting) and Darkman stating that Justice will answer with a brand new face.
The pilot was unaired and never got picked up.
Army of Darkness is a 1992 American dark fantasy comedy film directed, co-written, and co-edited by Sam Raimi. The film is the third installment in the Evil Dead film series and the sequel to Evil Dead II (1987). Starring Bruce Campbell and Embeth Davidtz, it follows Ash Williams (Campbell) as he is trapped in the Middle Ages and battles the undead in his quest to return to the present.
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known best for his role as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead horror series, beginning with the short movie Within the Woods (1978). He has also featured in many low-budget cult movies such as Crimewave (1985), Maniac Cop (1988), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002).
Joel Daniel Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively known as the Coen brothers, are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Their most acclaimed works include Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Many of their films are distinctly American, often examining the culture of the American South and American West in both modern and historical contexts.
Samuel M. Raimi is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for directing the first three films in the Evil Dead franchise (1981–present) and the Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007). He also directed the superhero Darkman (1990), the revisionist western The Quick and the Dead (1995), the neo-noir crime-thriller A Simple Plan (1998), the supernatural thriller The Gift (2000), the supernatural horror Drag Me to Hell (2009), the Disney fantasy Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and the Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).
Frances Louise McDormand is an American actress and producer. In a career spanning over four decades, she has gained acclaim for her roles in small-budget independent films. McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and one Tony Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting". Additionally, she has received three BAFTAs and two Golden Globe Awards. McDormand's net worth is estimated as $100 million, and her worldwide box office gross exceeds $2.2 billion.
Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story conceived by Michael Chabon and the writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the film was produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Enterprises and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the second installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002). The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, and Donna Murphy. Set two years after the events of Spider-Man, the film finds Peter Parker struggling to stop scientist Dr. Otto Octavius from recreating the dangerous experiment that killed his wife and left him neurologically fused to mechanical tentacles, while also dealing with an existential crisis between his dual identities that appears to be stripping him of his powers.
Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the third and final installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. It also marks the final acting appearance of Cliff Robertson before his retirement in the same year and his subsequent death in 2011.
The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 American revisionist Western film directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The screenplay was written by Simon Moore, but includes contributions from Joss Whedon. The story focuses on "The Lady" (Stone), a gunfighter who rides into the frontier town of Redemption, controlled by John Herod (Hackman). The Lady joins a deadly dueling competition in an attempt to exact revenge for her father's death.
Arnold Vosloo is a South African-American actor. He is famous for roles such as Imhotep in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, Colonel Coetzee in Blood Diamond, Pik van Cleef in Hard Target, Dr. Peyton Westlake in Darkman II and Darkman III, Zartan in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and its sequel, sniper Jacob Broadsky in the TV series Bones and terrorist Habib Marwan in the fourth season of 24.
Crimewave is a 1985 American comedy film directed by Sam Raimi, from a screenplay he co-wrote with the Coen brothers. It stars Reed Birney, Sheree J. Wilson, Paul L. Smith, Brion James, Louise Lasser and Bruce Campbell, with the latter also serving as a co-producer. An unusual slapstick mix of film noir, black comedy, Hitchcockian suspense, and B-movie conventions, Crimewave portrays bizarre situations involving a nebbish everyman (Birney) entangled in a murderous plot while pursuing his love interest (Wilson).
Robert Gerard Tapert is an American film and television producer, writer and director, best known for co-creating the television series Xena: Warrior Princess.
The Shadow is a 1994 American superhero film from Universal Pictures, produced by Martin Bregman, Willi Bear, and Michael Scott Bregman, and directed by Russell Mulcahy. It stars Alec Baldwin, supported by John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Jonathan Winters, and Tim Curry. The film is based on the pulp fiction character of the same name created in 1931 by Walter B. Gibson.
Ivan Mitchell Raimi is an American emergency medicine physician and screenwriter, and a brother of filmmaker Sam Raimi and actor Ted Raimi. Ivan works as an emergency physician in Chicago, traveling to Los Angeles occasionally to work in Hollywood.
Darkman III: Die Darkman Die is a 1996 Canadian-American superhero film directed by Bradford May, starring Arnold Vosloo, Jeff Fahey, Darlanne Fluegel and Roxann Dawson. It is the second sequel to 1990's Darkman, whose director Sam Raimi serves as executive producer. Vosloo once again stars as Darkman, who stands against power-hungry entrepreneur Peter Rooker (Fahey), and forges a strange emotional bond with his enemy's neglected wife and daughter.
Spider-Man in film dates back to 1977, the rights belonging to Marvel until 1999, when Sony bought them for $7 million. He has been Marvel's most successful character in the cinema industry ever since. After selling the Spider-Man motion picture rights to Sony, Marvel eventually founded its own studio, developing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) based on the characters they still held the rights to. This would change in 2016, when Sony and Disney entered an agreement to include Spider-Man in the MCU. Despite some disagreements pertaining to finances and merchandising between the two parties, the agreement proved a successful endeavor for both companies. The following two Avengers sequels, finally with Spider-Man, crossed the $2 billion mark at worldwide box office for the first time. Meanwhile, Sony in association with Marvel launched the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), with Sony entering a 3 billion-dollar streaming agreement with Netflix and Disney.
Army of Darkness comics are based on the film of the same name published originally by Dark Horse Comics, and later by Dynamite Entertainment who initially published them through Devil's Due Publishing.
Darkman II: The Return of Durant is a 1995 Canadian-American superhero film directed by Bradford May. It is a direct-to-video sequel to the film Darkman, with series creator Sam Raimi serving as executive producer. Arnold Vosloo succeeds Liam Neeson as the titular character, who attempts to recover an experimental superweapon from his nemesis Robert G. Durant, once again played by Larry Drake. It was followed by the third installment in the trilogy, Darkman III: Die Darkman Die.
Darkman is a superhero and the protagonist of the 1990 superhero film Darkman and its sequels, Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die. The character originated in a short story written by the film's director, Sam Raimi, titled "The Darkman" and is based on the Universal Pictures' movie monsters while retaining traits of the DC Comics World War II disfigured hero the Unknown Soldier and the superpowers of the DC supervillain Clayface. He was portrayed by Liam Neeson in the original film and Arnold Vosloo in the sequels.
Peter Parker, also known by his alter ego Spider-Man, is a fictional superhero portrayed by Tobey Maguire that is based on the comic book character of the same name. He is the protagonist of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film in 2002, its two sequels, and in tie-in video games. This version of the character was followed by Andrew Garfield's portrayal in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man duology (2012–2014), with a further iteration being portrayed by Tom Holland set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) (2016–present). Maguire reprised his role as a supporting character in the MCU film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), appearing as an older version of himself alongside his two successors' versions of the character. To distinguish himself from the two other versions of himself, he is nicknamed "Peter-Two" by them, referred to by Marvel's official website as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and in the film's script as "Raimi-Verse Peter" and "Raimi-Verse Spider-Man".
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a 2022 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to Doctor Strange (2016) and the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Sam Raimi, written by Michael Waldron, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams. In the film, Stephen Strange must protect America Chavez (Gomez), a teenager capable of traveling the multiverse, from Wanda Maximoff (Olsen).