Fans of Spider-Man almost had to get used to a brand new main star portraying their favourite character after Tobey Maguire was nearly replaced for the second instalment of the movie.
The actor, 46, almost made way for Jake Gyllenhaal, 41, on the back of medical advice - a suggestion Jake's then-partner Kirsten Dunst, 39, was seemingly unimpressed with.
At the time, Tobey had been advised by medics to steer clear of reprising the role incase he injured his back and was paralysed.
Execs of the movie were said to have put together a contingency plan to bring in Jake, with Kirsten not standing for his casting.
Seattle PI reports that the movie's director Sam Raimi had been told that Tobey's back was in such a bad condition that any further injury could lead to him being paralysed.
Sam told the publication: "At that moment, I said to myself, ‘I can’t be irresponsible. I can’t make a movie about responsibility and then grab this kid and make him do stunts where he’s going to be paralysed. And I can’t compromise the movie'."
In an interview with Yahoo, the lead actor also opened up on the situation, saying that if an actor plays a character it should only belong to them and no one else.
Speaking about a potential role on the film, Jake also said: "He [Maguire] hurt himself, and there was talk. There was a slew of actors [likely for the role], and I was one of them.”
But Kirsten admitted that Jake's casting would have "been weird".
Speaking in a Black Film interview, she commented: "I mean, I would like to work with him, and I would. I’m happy it wasn’t this because I would rather do a more intimate movie with him where I could actually have, like, many scenes with him."
She continued: "If we had done this, we could never have done another movie together probably, and I would rather do something else with him than this movie."
Kirsten, who is now engaged to Jesse Plemons, admits that co-starring with her now-partner was "really easy" as the two lined up alongside each other for FX series Fargo.
It was the second time the pair had worked together after playing on-screen spouses in the critically acclaimed Western movie The Power of The Dog last year.
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