Sam Raimi gives update on Doctor Strange 2, his take on No Way Home

Spider-Man: No Way Home saw the return of a plethora of characters from Spidey movies past, including Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), and even the early 2000s webslinger himself played by Tobey Maguire. Sam Raimi was the director and mastermind behind the Maguire-era Spider-Man films, which has left many of us wondering: just what was his opinion on Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Raimi opened up about it to Variety. “It was so much fun,” he said. “I love No Way Home and the audience I was with went crazy. It was delightful to watch Alfred play his role, and Willem Dafoe, just seeing these guys take it to the next level. And Tobey was awesome as always. The best word I can say is it was refreshing for me.”

Getting the seal of approval from the director is surely a nice feather in the cap for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which has now made over $1.5 billion at the box office and become one of the highest grossing films of all time. Raimi’s original Spider-Man films really kicked off this modern superhero cinema craze, so it’s great to hear the director give this newest Spider-Man his blessing.

Sam Raimi “thinks” Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is done filming

Spider-Man isn’t the only superhero film that Raimi’s got a hand in, however. He’s also the director of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the next big Marvel movie. According to Raimi, the Doctor Strange sequel might be done with filming, though he’s hesitant to say for certain.

“I think we’re done, but we just cut everything. We’re just starting to test the picture and we’ll find out if there’s anything that’s got to be picked up,” Raimi explained. “If something’s unclear or another improvement I can make in this short amount of time left, I’ll do it. One thing I know about the Marvel team is they won’t stop. They’ll keep pushing it until it’s as close to being great as it could.”

After years away from the superhero business (in part due to the backlash from Spider-Man 3), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness marks a sort of homecoming for the director who helped launch this genre of movies into the stratosphere. It’s also Raimi’s first time working with Marvel Studios. “Marvel’s been a great team to work with,” he said. “I think that was a not-surprising surprise. I’ve been super-supported by the whole Marvel operations, starting at the top with Kevin Feige, and working all the way down to the crews that they work with. [They’re] super professional and have supported me every step of the way.”

Andrew Garfield only told three people he was in Spider-Man: No Way Home

Since we’re talking about Spider-Man, an interesting tidbit also came up recently about Andrew Garfield, who in No Way Home reprises his role as Peter Parker from Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man films. The rumor mill churned fiercely in the years leading up to No Way Home’s release, and since Garfield was working on a variety of other projects during that time he was inevitably barraged with questions about whether he would feature in the multiversal Spider-Man movie. Garfield took a certain amount of glee in lying to fans, assuring them that he wasn’t “the werewolf,” a nod to a popular game where players have to lie through their teeth in order to win. He even lied to his friends, like ex-partner and Amazing Spider-Man costar Emma Stone.

As it turns out, the actor was so close-lipped that, aside from people essential to the process like his agent, he only told three others he would be returning for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

“My dad, my brother, and my mother… just kind of us. It was fun to keep it a secret,” Garfield revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week. “It felt like I was organizing a surprise birthday party for a bunch of people who I knew would appreciate it.”

Based on the massive success of the movie, I’d say that he pulled it off.

Spider-Man: No Way Home continues to dominate the box office. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is due out in theaters on May 6.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels