The power of the sun … in the palm of his (many) hands. It turns out that Alfred Molina was not the only one Spider-man 2 former student who participated (or should we say tentacle?) in the production of No way home. In an interview with VarietyVFX Supervisor Kelly Port has revealed that a number of visual effects artists from the film (especially those employed by Digital Domain) had previously worked on the Sam Raimi sequel in 2004, helping bring Doctor Octopus to life. first time.

“When I got an animation note on how Doc Ock walked, they’d say, ‘Excuse me, but the animator did it in the previous movie,’ so I would correct myself but I still asked them to write it down, ”Port remembers cheerfully.

Despite a number of CGI plans and tweaks, Spider-man 2Otto Octavius’ performance was almost 100 percent practical, with the antagonist’s mechanical appendages controlled by a full team of puppeteers. For No way home, however, director Jon Watts & Co. opted for purely CGI tentacles – something that hasn’t been lost on Raimi, who hailed Molina’s aging return in an exclusive conversation with SYFY WIRE several months before. the theatrical release of the film.

“He looks awesome, the animation is awesome,” Raimi told us. “I guess it’s not a puppet because when we did Doc Ock we had puppets and animation for his octopus tentacles. But it was fluid and powerful and I loved his costume that they have kept [from the original]. I think it’s gonna be a good movie. “

A very cranky Doctor Octopus shows up shortly after Doctor Strange’s botched memory spell, demanding to know what has become of his perpetual energy machine. He fights Tom Holland’s version of Peter Parker, only to realize that the Spider-Man he’s fighting is not the one he knows from home. According to Port, the exciting scenery required “over 30 billion rendered polygons,” which “wouldn’t have been possible not so long ago, just in terms of rendering power.”

“The pitch was excellent,” Molina remarked during a heinous question-and-answer session held in honor of Brazil’s CCXP last month. “To be honest, when the idea was first suggested, my first thought was, ‘Wait, I’m 17, I have chins, I have wrinkles. What are they going to do? ‘ And then of course I suddenly realized, ‘Wait a minute, they’ve got the technology, that’s not going to be a problem.’ But it’s been really nice to come back to something that is familiar, but at the same time completely new because the technology has evolved in phenomenal ways over the past two decades. It’s always exciting. “

Spider-Man: No Path Home is currently playing in theaters around the world. With just over $ 1 billion in worldwide ticket sales, the film is the twelfth-highest grossing film in box office history. Sadly, this will be the only Spider-Verse content on the big screen for a while following Sony’s recent decision to postpone. Morbius for the sixth time in early April.