Tobey Maguire is a household name and probably one of the most renowned Hollywood stars of all time. He rose to international fame after his portrayal as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in Sam Raimi’s trilogy. The actor also had the chance to star in another prominent franchise that has earned more than $2 billion but surprisingly the role went to his on-screen foe James Franco.
James Franco was seen in Rise of the Planet of the Apes as Dr. Will Rodman. But the director also considered several other faces before setting his eyes on the very controversial James Franco. Even though the character didn’t return for future installments, he had an important role in the 2011 movie.
Was Tobey Maguire set to be a part of Rise of the Planet of the Apes?
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a significant movie in the Planet of the Apes franchise as the reboot started a highly successful film series. Following the Mark Wahlberg 2001 movie that garnered a huge mixed reception, the reboot series starring Andy Serkis as Caesar garnered both critical and commercial success.
As the movie completes its 12 glorified years, a Twitter page has highlighted some interesting facts about the 2011 Rupert Wyatt directorial. According to reports, director Wyatt considered Tobey Maguire and Shia LaBeouf for the role of Dr. Willam Rodman.
Wyatt considered Shia LaBeouf and Tobey Maguire as main human character Will Rodman before turning to James Franco for the part.
7/34 pic.twitter.com/X1FPB6Do15
— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) August 5, 2023
However, according to Fandom, not only Tobey Maguire and Shia LaBeouf but The Final Destination fame Bobby Campo was also considered for the lead role before James Franco. A source HitFlix also reports that Maguire presented script notes for the studio after which there were no more talks regarding his casting.
While the reason is largely mysterious, the Brothers star is also notorious for his off-screen dramas and has a name for being one of the most problematic personalities to work with.
Is Tobey Maguire too difficult to work with?
There have been reports for years that claim how the actor is not very ‘friendly’ and is very difficult to work with. Tobey Maguire even had a feud with James Franco that was revealed by the latter when he stated how his crush on Kirsten Dunst made Maguire mad. During that time, the on-screen lovebirds were also a couple in real life.
But in the same interview with Playboy in 2013, Franco also added that everything went okay between the two after the first movie.
“Tobey and Kirsten became a couple around that time. I had a crush on Kirsten, and I think I was upset about that as well… Tobey was mad at me for a while.By the second film, we were cool.”
While many rumors don’t have authentic reports to support them, Charlize Theron had a major feud with the actor during the filming of The Cider House Rules. The actress stated how she had a tough time filming with Maguire- “Tobey and I had a bit of a rough time. I mean, we’re good now. It was a difficult movie.” Although the feud was resolved soon, they didn’t get along for quite some time.
Besides these, Tobey Maguire is also infamous for being almost replaced by Jake Gyllenhaal in Spider-Man 2. He was caught faking his back injury to get a higher paycheck after which Sony started preparing to replace him to not support any delay. Maguire had to apologize to the studio before returning to his role.
After appearing in a theater-roaring cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the actor was last seen in Brad Pitt’s Babylon.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes can be streamed on Hulu.
Source: Twitter
