Why Jake Gyllenhaal Nearly Replaced Tobey Maguire As Marvel's Spider-Man

Sam Raimi's superhero flick "Spider-Man" was a huge hit when it was released in 2002. It was made for a whopping $132 million (big money at the time), but it ended up grossing over $825 million worldwide, more or less ushering a new age of superhero movies that remained strong all the way through the 2020s. It's easy to see why a story about superheroism in New York would have caught on in the early 2000s; superheroes live in morally simple universes where good and evil are clearly delineated, a stark contrast to the wickedness and chaos of a post-9/11 world. Noble beings with extraordinary powers can now prevent massive acts of terrorism.  

Despite the success of "Spider-Man," however, franchise star Tobey Maguire almost stepped away from the role for the 2004 sequel. Maguire had just become a notable Hollywood player with "Spider-Man," as well as with his acclaimed performance in the Oscar-bait horse picture "Seabiscuit," released the following summer. These caused Maguire to renegotiate his "Spider-Man" sequel salary, feeling that he should get a larger payday. Maguire also aggravated a preexisting back injury while acting in "Seabiscuit," as the horse-riding scenes were very physically demanding. One might notice that Maguire also had to lose a lot of weight for that film, a contrast to the bulking up he had to do for "Spider-Man." 

Because of this, movement was made to potentially replace Maguire as Spider-Man, just in case. Word got out that Jake Gyllenhaal had been approached to take over playing Peter Parker for Raimi's next film. The rumor at the time was that, with a new actor, the title would be changed to "The Amazing Spider-Man." Gyllenhaal, it turns out, was one of several actors on deck to replace Maguire, as reported by Yahoo! in 2019.

According to a 2003 report in the Los Angeles Times, Maguire had to negotiate a high salary of $17 million to appear in "Spider-Man 2." The rumor was that he resented that the film's producer, Laura Ziskin, was being paid north of $25 million for her involvement, and Maguire felt he should be receiving about the same amount. As it so happens, Maguire happened to be dating Jennifer Meyer at the time, and she was the daughter of Ronald Meyer, one of the founding members of CAA. A report in Variety pointed out that his association with the Meyers gave him considerable negotiation power with Sony, the studio putting out the Spider-Man movies. Even though Gyllenhaal was waiting in the wings, Maguire was determined to return and get a big ol' paycheck. 

Maguire once spoke to Moviehole about his experience with the "Spider-Man 2" casting, and revealed that he had to undergo physical tests to assure the filmmakers that he would be capable of performing in such a physical role. Maguire was relaxed about the process, and he didn't come across as bitter or doubtful. He passed the tests and shooting began. It's a good thing, too. Remember that train sequence? 

As for Gyllenhaal, he recalled standing by to play Spider-Man, but he's also not resentful about the process. He said as much in an interview with Yahoo in 2019, indicating that Gyllenhaal knows the realities of Hollywood and doesn't mourn the roles he doesn't get. 

In the Yahoo! interview, Gyllenhaal knew that he was just one of many actors on standby, hired just in case negotiations with Maguire fell through. He also seemed to want Maguire to keep the part anyway. He said:

"The truth of the matter is, in the end, [Tobey is] Spider-Man. There are so many roles in my career where I was up against another actor, or there was something happened, that possibly could've happened, but didn't happen, but maybe it would have. Eventually, my belief is: when an actor's played a character, particularly in a movie, the character's theirs, and that's that. But yeah, there was talk. He hurt himself, and there was talk. There was a slew of actors [possibly up for the part], and I was one of them." 

When asked if Spider-Man would have changed the trajectory of his career, Gyllenhaal said yes — it would have been "exciting and fun" — but also that there were many possibilities for his career to have gone in any number of directions, so he didn't want to speculate. 

Gyllenhaal ended up being involved with Spider-Man anyway. The 2019 film "Spider-Man: Far From Home" took place in the same continuity as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Tom Holland playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man for those films. In the sequel to "Spider-Man: Homecoming," Gyllenhaal played a seemingly heroic sorcerer nicknamed Mysterio by the Italian media. He would eventually prove to be a bitter, wronged ex-employee of the deceased Tony Stark, and he was arranging illusory disasters as a means to gain access to Iron Man's abandoned technology that had been gifted to Peter Parker. At the end of the film, he would reveal Spider-Man's true identity to the world. 

So it seems that everyone got what they wanted. Maguire got his paycheck, and Gyllenhaal got to work on other projects he was interested in and eventually made it into Spider-Man history.