Meet the new ‘Spider-Man 3’ villains

Raimi thought both his villains brought new energy to the franchise. He was convinced that Church was right for the role after spotting him tearing up during his acceptance speech at the Broadcast Critics Awards two years ago. Church won the best supporting actor trophy for his performance in “Sideways.”

“Thomas Haden Church brought life to the role of Sandman,” Raimi said. “He brought with him two very important elements as an actor. One, he had the physical size and a menace that he can draw upon, and he’s someone you might believe could threaten Spider-Man. And he’s also someone you might believe could have been guilty of this crime of killing Uncle Ben.

“I needed someone who had a soul and who you could believe needed forgiveness. I don’t think you can fake that on screen. That’s why he was so important for this picture.”

Hating and loving Grace as Venom
Dunst, who had some memorable scenes with Venom, thought Grace was perfect for the role of a womanizing, brown-noser who eventually got trapped in his own web of evil and deceit.

“Topher, even when you want to hit him, you kind of love him at the same time because you can see through him,” she said. “You see that he’s an insecure little brat. To me, I just kind of roll my eyes at it. It was nice to have somebody who was a villain who had like some humor — who was a little see-through and not up for the job.”

But while Grace praised Dunst and the rest of the cast for rolling out the welcome mat it was still rather daunting being green.

“I remember the first one coming out and being the biggest thing ever and the second one coming out and being even better than the first one,” he said. “So yeah, it was kind of nerve-wracking and I knew I wanted to do a good job because I had such love for the character from being a kid and reading the comic book. James and Tobey and Kirsten and Sam have done two together, and it’s not a coincidence that they’ve been so successful.

“They just want to be good and work really hard on it, and it is a big deal. A lot of people see these movies.”

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