- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
- Willem Dafoe, who returned as Green Goblin, spoke to the New York Times about his character's new look.
- Dafoe said that the criticism of the mask he wore in Sam Raimi's film "probably" led to a redesign.
Willem Dafoe said that the criticism of his original Green Goblin mask from Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" "probably" influenced the iconic villain's redesign in "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
"I must be honest, I am aware that there was some criticism of that mask in the original one," Dafoe, 66, said in a new interview with the New York Times. "We heard it enough that it was probably a consideration, to change it up a little bit."
The actor added: "I don't think about that because I don't think about emoting with my face. My face follows my heart. It's just an expression of what you're feeling."
Dafoe made his big-screen debut as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in the first installment of Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy, released in 2002, which starred Tobey Maguire as the titular web-slinger.
The actor's emotive facial expressions were inhibited by an immobile mask, which had a fixed mouthpiece and yellow pieces covering his actual eyes.
His performance as the iconic Spider-Man foe was praised, but some critics called the Green Goblin's look cartoonish and slammed it for being a departure from his comic-book look. Critic Roger Ebert likened the character's mask to "a high-tech action figure with a mouth that doesn't move" while IGN called the costume "dorky" in their review of the film.
In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter and other publications resurfaced a series of YouTube videos posted by Amalgamated Dynamics, an Oscar-winning special effects company, five years prior, which revealed that Green Goblin's mask was originally going to be much different than the one worn by Dafoe in "Spider-Man."
The original animatronic makeup was far more sinister-looking and similar to the comic book counterpart. It also seemingly allowed the person wearing the mask to express a range of emotions.
According to THR, the design was scrapped because it was difficult and uncomfortable to wear, leading the studio to craft the mask that fans see in the film.
Dafoe went on to appear as Norman briefly in the two sequels that were released in 2004 and 2007. He reprised the role over a decade later in last year's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which marked Tom Holland's sixth appearance as Spidey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In the film, released on December 17, 2021, Dafoe's character enters Holland's universe after a spell cast by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) goes wrong.
In his first appearance in the movie, Dafoe dons similar metallic armor from the Raimi film but smashes the mask when his two personalities clash.
When he returns later in the film, sans face mask, he channels his comic-book counterpart by wearing a hooded outfit over his bulky costume.
Without a covering on his face, the actor is able to fully emote and deliver a fan-favorite performance — while doing his own stunt work for the movie's impressive fight scenes.
"Spider-Man: No Way Home," also starring Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, and Jacob Batalon, is in theaters now.
