With the return of so many iconic villains like Alfred Molina's Doc Ock and Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home, there was one who actually never stepped foot on set to join the rest of the cast: Flint Marko / Sandman actor Thomas Haden Church.
Spider-Man: No Way Home visual effects supervisor Kelly Port recalled her time working on Sandman in the 27th MCU installment, delving deeper into the technical and creative challenges that the character presented. It was then when Port suggested that Church actually never stepped foot on set after being asked if there was any facial capture that took place for the actor.
"We had his voice," Port added during an interview for befores & afters. "We weren't able to get a lot of visuals on him, but we were able to get his voice for sure and we got scans and textures and things like that." While it is not 100% percent confirmed, Port's comments do back some speculation that surfaced before Spider-Man: No Way Home's release that hinted at Sony and Marvel Studios using previous footage of Church and Rhys Ifans (Curt Connors / Lizard) from Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man.
Church's Sandman first appeared in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, as he went up against Tobey Maguire's version of Spider-Man in that film. Spider-Man 3 was met with mixed reviews for it's jumbled plot, inclusion of too many villains, and uneven pacing. However, Church's more emotional portrayal of the villain was one of the few positive takeaways from the film.
Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up immediately where Spider-Man: Far From Home left off, as Peter Parker seeks Doctor Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) help in restoring his secret identity after the world finds out who Spider-Man really is from Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Through the use of this magic, Parker must then deal with multiversal consequences, and with this, sets up the return of many villains from previous Spider-Man installments (which would become one of the film's biggest positives).
Other than its critical praise (as the films currently holds a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 98% audience score), Spider-Man: No Way Home has now entered the top 10 list of the highest-grossing domestic films of all time, garnering roughly $609.9M while also racking up a total of $1.381B worldwide. Knowing where Peter Parker ends up at the end of this film combined with the even greater exploration of the multiverse that is set to be featured in future MCU films, Tom Holland's exciting journey as Spider-Man appears to be just getting started.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theatres.
Source: befores & afters