Much like a regretful Peter Parker looking back on misdeeds committed while wearing the sinister Venom symbiote costume, Sam Raimi thinks he screwed up. The director of Sony’s first Spider-Man trilogy (as well as a long list of other cinematic achievements) appeared on Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist podcast this week to chat about various geeky topics, but he took special care to apologize for 2007’s infamous Spider-Man 3:
I messed up plenty with the third Spider-Man. […] It’s a movie that just didn’t work very well. I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters, so that can’t be hidden from people who love Spider-Man. If the director doesn’t love something, it’s wrong of them to make it when so many other people love it. […] I think [raising the stakes after Spider-Man 2] was the thinking going into it, and I think that’s what doomed us. I should’ve just stuck with the characters and the relationships and progressed them to the next step and not tried to top the bar. I think that was my mistake.
Hardwick tried to talk Raimi off the ledge, but the auteur was having none of it.
Raimi: Very few times do you hear filmmakers talk about their bad movies. People aren’t interested in them.
Hardwick: I don’t think that “bad†is the right word. I think–
Raimi: Awful!
Aw, c’mon. Cheer up, Sam! Didn’t you read our list of the 25 best modern superhero movies? We firmly believe Spider-Man 3 is an underrated gem. Sure, it barely makes sense and has more song-and-dance numbers than coherent character beats. But it’s so weird and experimental! It’s unlike anything else in the staid, dull superhero genre. If you’re going to apologize for anything, tell us you’re sorry for producing that awful 2013 Evil Dead remake.