Nikke Finke posted this item on her blog under the headline, "Why Hollywood Moguls Are Such Dickwads?" (The URL title is "Why Are Hollywood Moguls Such Asswipes?" I wish she'd make up her mind.)
I found this interesting: Tobey Maguire last night was a guest on Conan and said the Sony Pictures execs wouldn't give him the Spider-Man suit even after he shot the first and second movies in the franchise. (Insiders now claim he never asked…) Calling it humilating, he said he mentioned it on Oprah. Only then did the studio send him not just one but two Spidey suits.
I don't get how the headline fits the item. First off, it doesn't even pretend to tell us "why." And though not one person in this town would question that moguls can be dickwads — if not asswipes — this isn't much of an example of that.
Then, you have to presume he asked for one. Finke admits the record isn't clear on that. Secondly, you have to presume he asked the appropriate Hollywood Mogul. If he asked, say, the person in charge of wardrobe, they probably didn't have the authority to hand over studio property worth — what? — a hundred grand or so? These movies are an ongoing franchise and it's kinda possible that they might need those costumes again.
Plus, there's this: Mr. Maguire just signed for Spider-Man 4 and 5 for a reported $50 million plus a share of profits. If he wanted a costume, his agent could have just called up the head of Sony and said, "Hey, Tobey would also like two Spider-Man suits and a couple of Maseratis," and they would have had them at his door within the hour.
And there's really this: A man named Steve Ditko designed that costume. What Tobey Maguire gets paid per day for wearing it is probably more money than Mr. Ditko has earned in his entire life. That strikes me as maybe a bigger injustice than the fact that Maguire had to ask on Oprah to get one.