4x Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe has expressed his willingness to return to the Spider-Man multiverse again, should the right opportunity arise.
The actor known for his iconic villain role as Norman Osborne aka Green Goblin, in Sam Raimi’s 2000s Spider-Man trilogy and beyond, said as much in a recent interview with Inverse, telling the outlet he’d gladly reprise the part “if everything was right.
“I mean, that’s a great role,” opined Dafoe. “I liked the fact that it’s a double role both times. Twenty years ago, and fairly recently, both times [were] very different experiences, but I had a good time on both.”
Dafoe’s Spidey character Osborne is a scientist holding the post of CEO at Oscorp who goes mad in Raimi’s 2002 trilogy opener Spider-Man, coming after the web-slinging superhero of the same name played by Tobey Maguire, after an experiment with strength enhancement goes awry, despite the fact that Spidey is, in his day-to-day life, Peter Parker, the best friend of his own son, Harry (James Franco). While the character meets his end in that film after a failed attempt at killing Parker, Dafoe reprised the part with small appearances in the Raimi-directed sequels, Spider-Man 2 and 3.
The actor most recently returned to the Spider-verse for the 2021 multiverse pic Spider-Man: No Way Home, which had him reuniting on screen with Maguire’s version of the character, while striking fear into the version played by Tom Holland in the more recent film series.
And Dafoe certainly isn’t the only legacy star of the franchise to have expressed excitement about further installments. Maguire himself said in an interview for the book Spider-Man No Way Home: The Official Movie Special, released last month, that when he got the call to come back for No Way Home, he was “like finally!
“I got the call and was immediately open about coming to do this. Not without nerves – you know, “What will this look like and what will the experience be?” But to get to show up with beautiful, talented, creative people and play together? It’s just like, “Yes!” It’s fun and exciting,” said Spidey 1.0.
“I love these films and I love all of the different series,” Maguire went on to say. “If these guys called me and said, “Would you show up tonight to hang out and goof around?” or “Would you show up to do this movie or read a scene or do a Spider-Man thing?”, it would be a “yes!” Because why wouldn’t I want to do that?”
Dafoe’s Inverse interview came in support of his new thriller Inside released by Focus Features on Friday, on the heels of a Berlin world premiere. The first feature from Vasilis Katsoupis has him starring as Nemo, a high-end art thief, who finds himself trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn’t go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive. Other buzzy upcoming projects for the actor include Wes Anderson’s potentially Cannes-premiering Asteroid City, Focus’ Nosferatu from his The Lighthouse collaborator Robert Eggers, and the Yorgos Lanthimos films Poor Things and AND, to name a few.
While it’s not yet clear what Sony has in mind for its next live-action Spider-Man film, the studio will release Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — its follow-up to the beloved, Oscar-nominated animated feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — on June 2nd.
