Overview
- Cage confirmed in a Variety interview published Wednesday that he was offered the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man and the Lloyd Christmas role in Dumb and Dumber but declined both.
- He said creative differences and scheduling drove his decisions, noting he chose Adaptation over Spider-Man and Leaving Las Vegas over Dumb and Dumber.
- Those choices yielded clear recognition: Leaving Las Vegas earned Cage the Academy Award for Best Actor and Adaptation received multiple Oscar nominations.
- Cage recalled pitching a spider-like crawling scene to Raimi at lunch, a suggestion that did not make the final film, and the Green Goblin part ultimately went to Willem Dafoe.
- The interview coincides with the May 27 premiere of Spider-Noir on Amazon Prime Video and MGM+, in which Cage stars as Ben Reilly in a Depression-era take on Spider-Man that he says finally matches his creative sensibility and highlights how casting, shelved projects and scheduling reshape careers.