Bruce Campbell Denies He Was Going to Play Mysterio in Sami Raimi’s Spider-Man 4

Bruce Campbell has shot down rumors that he was originally set to play Mysterio in Spider-Man 4. Campbell spoke with io9 for an interview and, while explaining why he’s not a big fan of doing green screen, explained why the rumors that he would have played the Spider-Man villain in the never-produced film were nonsense.

“I was just telling somebody — actors, like, ‘Oh, man, I wish I could be in one of those superhero movies. Man, I’d love to be Mysterio.’ Let’s say Mysterio,” Campbell said. “Okay. Congratulations. You’re Mysterio. Here’s your costume, and you can’t even take a leak in this costume. But we’ve got a team for that. Don’t worry. But we’ve got tubes, things like that. So we’re going to be in this really uncomfortable outfit and you’re not really going to be anywhere. You’re in the king’s castle? Oh yeah, you’re on that chair, painted green in front of a green screen, and a guy right here, and you’re looking at that castle exploding. Oh no, oh no. Tennis ball on a stick. That’s what you’re looking at.”

Spider-Man 4 entered development after the third film was a huge hit, with Raimi set to direct and Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and more signed to reprise their roles from the first three films. However, Raimi never liked the scripts that were produced and withdrew from the project over his doubts that the release date could be met, leading to Sony canceling the project.

Mysterio, of course, eventually made it to the big screen in this year’s Spider-Man: Far From Home as played by Jake Gyllenhaal.