The upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home pays homage to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films not just by bringing back old actors, but also through an impactful camera technique referred to behind the scenes as the "Raimi Cam."
"I think also something that [director] Jon Watts did really well is he would call it the 'Raimi Cam,'" Holland said in a video interview with Den of Geek. "And he would do these, like, really quick smash push-ins on characters, which is something that Sam Raimi, I suppose, was quite famous for. So, Jon definitely paid respects to the previous two movies."
Raimi did indeed zoom in on characters during dramatic moments in his trilogy of Spider-Man films, with everything from the genetically-altered spider that bit Peter Parker to Norman Osborn receiving close-ups during key scenes. Raimi's previous directorial experience on horror films like the Evil Dead trilogy may have contributed to this sweeping, energetic style -- a fact highlighted in Spider-Man 2's sequence where Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus wakes up in a room full of hospital staff. In three minutes more akin to a horror movie than a superhero flick, Doc Ock attacks the surgeons with his new octopus arms, the camera focusing on the faces of every screaming victim.
Interacting with actors like Molina, who reprises his Doc Ock role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, was an "unreal" experience, Holland's co-star Zendaya said, especially since she, Holland and Jacob Batalon had all grown up watching the previous Spider-Man movies. Aside from Molina's Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, Lizard, Sandman and Electro -- played by Willem Dafoe, Rhys Ifans, Thomas Haden Church and Jamie Foxx -- all return in the new film thanks to multiverse shenanigans.
"There was days where Tom would ask us to come in just as emotional support," Zendaya said, while Holland stressed that his two co-stars were like "cheerleaders" when it came to encouraging him alongside the older actors. Holland also added that for many of the returnees, the additional CG used in Spider-Man: No Way Home took some getting used to, and in the case of Molina, actually helped free up his performance as Doctor Octopus.
"I think back in the day, his arms were puppeteered and obviously in this film they're completely CG," Holland said. "So I think it gave him a lot more creative freedom in the way that he could just move around the set. Which was really nice to see; someone kind of adapt to the new way of filmmaking."
Spider-Man: No Way Home and its host of returning villains and callbacks to previous webslinger films hits theaters on Dec. 17.
Source: YouTube