Can you believe it’s been 14 years since Spider-Man 3? Venom 2 is currently filming and it’s bringing a whole new series of Spider-Man films. The first Tom Hardy film premiered in 2018 and made over $800 million worldwide. But the first attempt to bring Eddie Brock to audiences was a critical failure and didn’t connect with audiences. So while it was the third-highest-grossing film that year it left a bad taste in the mouth of the director, actors, and Sony Pictures.
Since then the studio rebooted the movies with Andrew Garfield. Then they handed it off to Marvel Studios who rebooted it again with Tom Holland. Now, while Holland has another Sony-Marvel movie in the works it’s headed in a new direction.
But whatever happened to the cast of Spider-Man 3? Which actor moved to a ranch in Texas? Which actor is an accomplished director? Which actor didn’t survive the #MeToo movement? Find out when we answer the question: Where is the cast of Spider-Man 3 today?
1. Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
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| Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Peter Parker / Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) |
Lets’s start with Peter Parker. Tobey Maguire Greene grew up wanting to be a chef until his mother paid him $100 to take a drama class in sixth grade. His first big-screen role was a supporting role in 1989s The Wizard. He was a rising child star in the 1990s thanks to his youthful appearance and continued playing teenagers in commercials, TV, and movies even in his 20s. In 2002 he played teenage Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. When the third movie came out he reprised his role as “your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”. When the movie came out it ended the franchise and hopes of a fourth movie.
Despite ending the Raimi Spider-Man movies his career continued and he took less fantastical and more dramatic roles like the 2009 film Brothers and 2014s Pawn Sacrifice. After marrying jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer in 2007 he had two children with her. After their amicable divorce in 2016, they continue to be devoted to helping the children. He hasn’t acted since voicing Adult Tim in Boss Baby back in 2017. But since 2002 he started producing films. Most haven’t been box office successes. Like the sci-fi young adult bomb The 5th Wave.
But this year the drama The Violent Heart is coming to Netflix. He even has plans to direct his first film. Peter’s all grown up and moving.
It’s rumored that Maguire is reprising his role of Peter Parker in the upcoming Spider-Man movie Spider-Man: No Way Home.
2. Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
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| Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) |
Now let’s catch up with Peter’s first love Mary Jane Watson played by Kirsten Dunst. Kirsten Caroline Dunst made his debut in the swoosh Allen anthology film New York Stories back in 1989. Her box office break came in 1994 when she played 12-year old Claudia in Interview with a Vampire. She also got props for her role in the 2000 cheerleading movie Bring it On. But being cast as Mary Jane Watson made her a household name. She played Peter Parker’s love interest M.J. for three films.
During and after Spider-Man she continued making movies. In 2011, she won “Best Actress” at Cannes for her performance in Lars von Trier’s Melancholia. In 2015 she starred in Fargo as Peggy Blumquist. The role was critically acclaimed and she won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress. She was also nominated for Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy awards. In 2016 she began dating her Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons. They became engaged in 2017 and Dunst had a baby boy the next year.
She currently stars on the dark comedy Showtime series On Becoming a God in Central Florida. Dunst recently talked about how her career is in a slump since the Raimi films.
“I’ve never been nominated for anything. Maybe like, twice for a Golden Globe when I was little and one for ‘Fargo,'” Dunst told SiriusXM. “I always feel like nobody— I don’t know, maybe they just think I’m the girl from ‘Bring It On.'”
3. James Franco as Harry Osborn / New Goblin
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| Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Harry Osborn / New Goblin (James Franco) |
Another former child actor is James Franco who plays Harry Osborn. He’s an actor, director, screenwriter, comedian, film producer, television producer, academic, painter, and writer. This guy does it all. In 1997 he got his first paid role. It was a commercial for Pizza Hut’s new Edge pizza featuring a CGI Elvis. Though he only had one line (“Rrriiiight”) he made an impression. He had a few acting roles before starring in the short-lived cult series Freaks and Geeks back in 1999. Franco’s big break came playing actor James Dean in the TV movie of the same name. His performance led to critical acclaim and both a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG). He was also nominated for an Emmy Award.
In 2002 he starred in the first Spider-Man movie. He originally auditioned for the role of Peter Parker but he landed the role of his friend Harry Osborn. Franco reprised his role for the two sequels but the failure of Spider-Man 3 ended the franchise.
But that didn’t stop Franco’s career. In 2006 he enrolled at UCLA as an English major with a creative writing concentration. Franco got his undergraduate degree in 2008. Franco starred in several other notable films like Pineapple Express (2008), Eat, Pray, Love (2010), and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). In 2010 he was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for 127 Hours (2010).
He’s also had a music career and released several albums with his band “Daddy” including Let Me Get What I Want in 2016.
Unfortunately for him, in 2018 at least five women accused him of sexual assault and exploitative behavior. Since then he’s stayed away from the spotlight mainly working on low-budget and independent films.
4. Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko / Sandman
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| Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Flint Marko / Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) |
Another Oscar-nominated actor is Thomas Hayden Church who played the main villain Sandman. The actor is best known for playing the dim-witted mechanic Lowell in the 90s sitcom Wings. With his deep baritone, he started out as a radio personality and did voiceover work. But his biggest role was in the 2003 film Sideways where he won an IFP Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Church continued to work steadily in film and television starring in one of AMC’s highest-rated television productions, Broken Trail, with Robert Duvall. In 2006, he won an Emmy for the role.
The next year he played in his first superhero movie playing the shape-shifting villain Sandman. He’s continued to work steadily in films like Easy A (2010), Hellboy (2019), and John Carter (2012). Church moved from Hollywood California to live on a working Texas ranch west of San Antonio in 2001.
Thomas Haden Church also found critical success starring in the HBO series Divorce. This year, in 2020, he stars in the historical drama about the 1917 Houston riot called The 24th.
5. Topher Grace as Eddie Brock / Venom
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| Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Eddie Brock / Venom (Topher Grace) |
Christopher John “Topher” Grace plays Venom in Spider-Man 3. He’s best known for playing teenage Eric Forman in the Fox sitcom That ’70s Show. Growing up he hated the name Chris so he started going by Topher. He acted in several school plays like “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “The Pirates of Penzance”. At 20, while attending the University of California, Bonnie and Terry Turner saw him in a play. Despite having no professional acting experience they were impressed. They cast him as the lead in their upcoming sitcom That 70s Show. In 2005 he left the show and moved to New York to focus on his film career. He was cast as Peter Parker’s nemesis Eddie Brock / Venom in Spider-Man 3.
After Spider-Man Topher Grace continues to act. He’s returned to television for a number of guest roles and appeared in several movies. Most recently starring as Edwin in Predators, Getty in Interstellar, Adrian Yates in American Ultra, and David Duke in Spike Lee’s Oscar-nominated film BlacKkKlansman. Now 40 years old he married actress Ashley Hinshaw in 2016 and the two have a daughter and one on the way.
Grace mainly works on television today. He appeared on the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror, had a recurring role on The Hot Zone and an upcoming ABC sitcom named Home Economics.
6. Rosemary Harris as Aunt May Parker
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| Spider-Man 3 (2007) – May Parker (Rosemary Harris) |
Rosemary Harris is best known for her theater work but achieved Hollywood stardom playing Peter’s Aunt May on Spider-Man and the two sequels. Her stage career started in 1948 and her Broadway debut was in 1952. Harris racked up the awards too. She is a four-time Drama Desk Award winner and nine-time Tony Award nominee, including her 1966 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. But her television work has also earned her awards. The 1974 TV serial Notorious Woman won Rosemary Harris an Emmy Award. Meanwhile, the 1978 miniseries Holocaust snagged her a Golden Globe Award. She’s also an Oscar nominee too thanks to her 1994 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for Tom & Viv.
After Spider-Man 3 she continued acting in TV and movies. Harris has appeared in shows like The Undoing and TV movies like The Money (2014).
But Harris mainly focused on the theater. Most recently, in 2018, Harris took over the role of Mrs. Higgins in the Broadway revival of My Fair Lady at 91.
Broadway asked her if she thought she’d be acting at her age. “As long as one’s health hold out, yes,” she said. “My husband didn’t want to travel so I had to turn things down, but now, alas, I can go anywhere. You never know what’s around the corner. I feel very, very lucky.”
7. Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy
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| Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) |
Bryce Dallas Howard is the eldest daughter of the famous actor and director Ron Howard. She played Mary-Jane’s rival for Peter’s affections after he gets taken over by the symbiote. Howard went to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. But the pull of acting prevented her from graduating and she took roles on Broadway. Her first movie role was a bit part in Parenthood back in 1989. Since then she acted in a number of movies and even tried her hand at directing. Bryce Dallas Howard’s big break came in M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller The Village (2004).
While in college she met actor Seth Gabel and the two married in 2006. They have two children together. After appearing in Spider-Man 3 she worked steadily in several commercially successful films. Her biggest box office hit came when she was cast as Claire Dearing in Jurassic World and the sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Even though she’s the daughter of a famous director she still takes her career seriously. In 2020 she got her Bachelor’s degree in drama from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
In 2006 she wrote and directed the short film Orchid. Recently she made her feature film debut in the documentary Dads (2019) and directed an episode of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2019). But she’s still acting and is coming back in the third film in the Jurassic World franchise in 2021.
“The more responsibility I have, the more I thrive,” she told Observer. “As an actor, you need to give your performance over to a director and constantly be in the service of the director’s vision. But I want to take accountability.”
8. J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
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| Spider-Man 3 (2007) – J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) |
Jonathan Kimble Simmon had originally planned to be a singer and studied at the University of Montana to become a composer. Simmons got his start on Broadway. After some TV and movie roles, he got his big break as police psychiatrist Emil Skoda on Law & Order in (1990), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). He reprised his character on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001). In 2002 he was cast to play Peter’s acerbic boss J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man. He reprised the role for the sequels and several animated series. The role is so iconic he played the Daily Bugle editor in the recent MCU movie Spider-Man Homecoming.
But that’s isn’t the defining moment of the star’s career. In 2014 Simmons won an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. The next year he won a Golden Globe award for his Best Performance as an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, BAFTA Film Awards Best Supporting Actor, Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Male. Most recently he was cast to play Commissioner Gordon in Justice League.
His unique voice has gotten him steady voice work and most recently does the voice of Omni-Man in the Amazon animated series Invincible.
9. Theresa Russell as Emma Marko
Thersa Russel played Flint Marko’s ex-wife in Spider-Man 3. Russell started out as a model at 12-years old before transitioning to acting. Her film debut was in The Last Tycoon (1976) before nabbing the lead role in Straight Time (1978). She snagged critical acclaim in Nicolas Roeg’s British controversial thriller Bad Timing (1980). Russell married Roeg in 1982 and appeared in many of his films.
Russell’s biggest box-office hit was Wild Things in 1998 and appeared in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls (2005). Most recently she appeared in the 2016 musical drama A Winter Rose.
10. Dylan Baker as Dr. Curt Connors
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| Dr. Curt Connors (Dylan Baker) |
Dylan Baker played Peter Parker’s college professor Dr. Curt Connors in Spider-Man 2 and the sequel. Baker started out in theater and received a Tony Award nomination and won an Off-Broadway Theater (Obie) award. In 1987 he for his first film role in Planes Trains and Automobiles. It was the 1998 independent film Happiness that proved to be his breakout role. He received an Independent Spirit Award for his role as a pedophile in the controversial film. Dylan Baker had a number of TV and movie roles before appearing in Spider-Man 2.
There were plans to have Dr. Connors transition to the villain The Lizard. That plan was scuttled after the failure of Spiderman 3. Sony decided to reboot the series but the reboot made The Lizard the main villain in 2012. Since then he’s been a prolific narrator of audiobooks like The Grapes of Wrath to Steve Jobs. After Siderman 3 Baker got a recurring role on the show A Good Wife. His role was so well received he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
Baker most recently played on the TV shows Homeland and Hunters.
11. Bill Nunn as Joseph ‘Robbie’ Robertson
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| Joseph “Robbie” Robertson (Bill Nunn) |
William “Bill” Nunn III played The Daily Bugle editor Robbie Robertson on Spider-Man and the sequels. The actor is best known for playing Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing.
Bill Nunn started his career in the 1988 Spike Lee film School Daze.
While he almost got typecast as a young street thug he broke out of the mold playing other roles. He played everything from a caring physical therapist in Regarding Henry (1992) to a Southern police chief in Bill Condon’s White Lie (1991).
His last acting role was as a Vietnam war veteran and EMT on the medical comedy series Cash. Sadly, in 2016, Bill Nunn died of leukemia at 62 years old.
In 2013 he reflected on his role. “[Spike Lee] had me in mind to do Mister Señor Love Daddy at the time, the DJ character [played by Samuel L. Jackson],” he told Entertainment Weekly. “But I’m so glad it worked out the way it did. Radio Raheem was really good for me because I like those characters that don’t have a lot of lines but they’re kind of significant to the story. I thought of Steve McQueen because I liked Steve McQueen’s silence a lot in movies.”
12. Elizabeth Banks as Miss Brant
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| Spider-Man 2 (2004) – Miss Brant (Elizabeth Banks) |
Elizabeth Irene Mitchell is known better by her stage name Elizabeth Banks. She starred in Spider-Man 3 as Miss Brant the assistant of J.J. on The Daily Bugle. She started her career in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy (1998). Her profile was raised in films like Wet Hot American Summer (2001). But her big break was in Spider-Man 2. She originally auditioned for the role of Mary-Jane Watson. But was cast in a smaller role. In a 2008 interview, she said “The casting director called and said, ‘As a consolation prize essentially, do you want to be Betty Brant?’ So it started out as a consolation prize and it’s become a favor.”
After the third movie in the trilogy, she gained fame as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games film series and in the Pitch Perfect film franchise. Elizabeth Banks became a director thanks to Pitch Perfect 2 (2015).
Banks didn’t rest on her success but started working on television. Banks earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for a recurring role as Avery Jessup on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. Her work on Modern Family earned her another Emmy nomination. In 2019 she became the host of the game show revival Press Your Luck and wrote and directed the 2019 reboot of Charlie’s Angels.
Now that you’ve had a chance to catch up on the cast of Spider-Man 3 think about how far we’ve come in the years since. Some died, some moved behind the camera, and some moved away from the limelight. For better or for worse, Spider-Man cemented a place in Spider-Man movie history.
What do you think of the cast of Spider-Man today? Which is your favorite actor or actress from the movie? Let us know in the comments below!
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About the Author Maurice Mitchell has been a passionate science-fiction fan of movies, television, books, and comics since age five. He and his twin brother Nigel created the site “The Geek Twins” to share that passion. Maurice has written and created infographics for sites like The Geek Twins and About.com. His work has been featured on sites like Business Insider, io9 Slashfilm and more. Read more of his posts | Follow him on Twitter @Mauricem1972 |
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