"[end of PlayStation 2 game, closing narration] Mary Jane, the girl next door, the girl I love, and now, the girl waiting for me at the end of the day. Fate handed me amazing powers, and with those powers came a burden of responsibility. Somehow though, having her with me makes that burden lighter. Still, in the end, it's mine to bear. After all, there's still only one... Spider-Man!"

"[to himself] She (MJ) can never know how much I love her."

"[to himself, regarding his life] Am I not supposed to have what I want, what I need? What am I supposed to do?"

"[drops boxes of pizza on desk] Pizza time!"

"Remember the first time you saw the characters defy gravity in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"? They transcended gravity, but they didn't dismiss it: They seemed to possess weight, dimension and presence. Spider-Man as he leaps across the rooftops is landing too lightly, rebounding too much like a bouncing ball. He looks like a video game figure, not like a person having an amazing experience."

"The other super-being in the movie is the Green Goblin, who surfs the skies in jet-shoes. He, too, looks like a drawing being moved quickly around a frame, instead of like a character who has mastered a daring form of locomotion. He's handicapped, too, by his face, which looks like a high-tech action figure with a mouth that doesn't move."

"Peter Parker was crucial in the evolution of Marvel comics because he was fallible and had recognizable human traits. He was a nerd, a loner, socially inept, insecure, a poor kid being raised by relatives. Maguire gets all of that just right, and I enjoyed the way Dunst is able to modulate her gradually increasing interest in this loser who begins to seem attractive to her. I also liked the complexity of the villain, who in his Dr. Jekyll manifestation is brilliant tycoon Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) and in his Mr. Hyde persona is a cackling psychopath."

"9/11 was undeniably a paradigm shift. Its effects would ripple throughout the next decade and continues to impact the world today. The superhero industry's response to the unjust tragedy was felt immediately. Those who went to the movies to escape the ubiquitous news coverage on Sept. 11, 2001 would have seen a trailer for “Spider-Man,” which would be released in the following May. The trailer, which featured Spider-Man trapping a helicopter of bank robbers in a web strung up between the Twin Towers, was quickly pulled out of circulation along with posters featuring the towers reflected in his eyes. The nation, still reeling from the horrors of 9/11, flooded the theaters the following year, hitting a record high for U.S. admissions—1.64 billion moviegoers—in 2002, according to the 2006 U.S. Theatrical Market Statistics. Spider-Man raked in the highest domestic growth of 2002, beating well-established franchises “Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars” (“All Time Worldwide Opening”). The nation clearly hungered for a figure who could save the country—or, in this case, at least defend New York."

"Q: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?"

"Movies hadn't been doing the sort of opening-weekend business that's fairly common – even expected – today. The first Harry Potter came out about six months before us and it was this phenomenon from Day one. It was so wild because it was a new thing at that moment – and I'm not saying that hasn't happened in movie history, but at the time that was a big jump. and then that happened with us. People didn't anticipate [2002's Spider- Man] to be like that. Leading up to it you start to get reactions and people tell you, you know, what the tracking is and what range your opening weekend box office is likely to be. but for me it was kind of unexpected. So much shifted in my life the weekend the movie came out. it was shocking."

"I worked closely with David Koepp who based his scenario on that of James Cameron. I especially wanted to develop what I like in Spider-Man, that is to say the character of Peter Parker. I really did not care about Spidey, I wanted a movie about Peter Parker. (Laughs) It's interesting because he looks like us, he does not have a lot of money, he grew up in a working class environment, he can not fit in, he has problems at school ... His egoism and irresponsibility contribute to his uncle's death and he does not know how to live with it. But when he realizes that he must live to become the responsible person his uncle wanted him to become, he takes the mask. And that's what I'm interested in Spidey. For me, he becomes a hero by becoming responsible, not by knocking out some bad guys. (He thinks) I feel still invested with great responsibilities. Parents will take their children to see the movie and whether it is good or bad, these kids will point the screen and say, "I want to be like Spider-Man . " I know that there will be this admiration and I had to put on the screen a character who deserves this admiration."

"Initially, I wanted to build a very light camera, from 2 to 3 kg, loaded with a minute of film, mounted on a system of cranes and pulleys, with mini engines. She could have flown over the streets of Manhattan, drifting over passersby and reaching a speed of 60 km / h. But production was certain that we would lose control and kill people! So we tried lots of other things that did not work, like stuntmen hanging from cables, but they had neither the grace nor the acrobatic agility of Spidey. Then John Dykstra, the head of visual effects, proposed a virtual Spidey. I did not like this idea, I did not think I could convince the public with a virtual human, it would not be real enough. But at the point where we were, we tried. And it works. But because Spidey is wearing a suit. If it had been necessary to create skin or virtual eyes, nobody would have believed it."

"I stay true to the spirit of Spider-Man . Its creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, wanted Peter Parker to be like us. I can identify with a simple high school student not a genius capable of inventing this mechanism and this canvas. I wanted to tell the story of an ordinary boy who becomes an extraordinary being, not that of an extraordinary boy who becomes an extraordinary hero."

"Tobey Maguire – Peter Parker/Spider Man"

"Willem Dafoe – Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: Harry's dad"

"Kirsten Dunst – Mary Jane (MJ) Watson"

"James Franco – Harry Osborn: Norman's son"

"Cliff Robertson – Ben Parker: May's husband and Peter's uncle"

"Rosemary Harris – May Parker: Peter's aunt and Ben's wife"

"J. K. Simmons – J. Jonah Jameson"

"Joe Manganiello – Eugene "Flash" Thompson"

"Bill Nunn – Joseph "Robbie" Robertson"

"Elizabeth Banks – Betty Brant"