The Original Design For Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin Mask Is So Much Better Than What We Got

I've seen this footage before, but my friend Alex Hunter, a.k.a. HiTop Films posted the most recent version. I recommend you follow him on Twitter and YouTube. And support his short film "Jason," which should be coming out soon. I love the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. Well, I love the first two. They are some of my favorite movies of all time, and I'll write about them at some point in the "Movies I Actually Like" series. But even people who love the original Spider-Man films acknowledge that the costume design for Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin left much to be desired. 

I understand that Raimi Spider-Man films are lighter in tone. They have their goofy moments. That's part of what made them charming. They are to the early 2000s what the Richard Donner Superman films were to the 1970s. But as many people have discussed, that Power Ranger mask could have been better. It's such a shame because Willem Dafoe's performance was fantastic, but the costume design didn't match the portrayal. As Weird Al pointed out, the character is scarier without the mask.

Advertisement

Sam Raimi is famous for coming from a horror background. He burst out of the scene by directing the Evil Dead movies back in the 80s, so the Green Goblin's original design makes a lot of sense. The imagery is horrifying and even scary. They agreed to go with what they went with because it probably fits the movie's tone better, but I don't know. 

One thing I like about the Raimi Spider-Man movies is that while they capture the whimsy and innocence of the character, those movies do feature some pretty frightening imagery. I wrote about this a bit when I talked about "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" last week, but it doesn't feel like movies that children see are allowed to have super frightening imagery anymore. Even though "Spider-Man" doesn't technically count as a kid's movie, I saw it in theaters in kindergarten. Seeing scary or adult images and movies when you're a kid makes you feel cool. I think even kindergarten. Chris would've been about seeing this Green Goblin mask in live-action.

Outside of the imagery not matching the movie's tone, it appears this mask was animatronic. Anyone who knows anything about animatronics knows that they are a pain in the ass to maintain. There's a reason why Chuck E. Cheese's are dying across the country. They constantly need maintenance. When you're talking about a movie as big as the first Spider-Man, the last thing that you want to have as a hindrance is a fucking Greene goblin mask. So yeah, that's a little nugget. I figured I'd share. Watch the Spider-Man movies if you haven't already. They're awesome.