J.K. Simmons garnered much acclaim for his role as J.Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man: Trilogy”, recently he reprised his role in the new “Spider-Man: Far from home” while appearing in a mid-credit scene. The Oscar-winning actor sat down with People TV’s “Couch Surfing” podcast to talk about the various roles he had played during his career including a daunting music instructor in “Whiplash” (My favourite) and his famous Stan Lee character J.Jonah Jameson.
He also talked about whether his fans will see him again in the next “Spider-Man” sequels.
“I don’t know if I would use the word ‘expect’, When we signed on for the first movie, we signed a contract to do two sequels as well, which is always …that’s always a one-sided – not always, I guess, but in my case – a one-sided contract where you, y’know, you’re committed to do it, but they’re not necessarily committed to, y’know, use your character in the ensuing movies, so it’s great to have the opportunity, as these things evolve, to be one of the holdovers from the previous version.”
So, now we clearly know that Simmons is signed up for the movies, but he does not reveal whether he will be back or the franchise is deciding to use Jameson again, the end credits revealed something else, they gave a potential plot point for the sequel, Jameson reveals the identity of Spider-Man and calls him a psychopath, now that accounts to something. Anyway, Simmons also talked about his audition for Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man”.
“It included a scene where the Green Goblin breaks through the windows and picks me up by the throat, lifts me up in the air, and is strangling me. I’m holding the script pages, reading the scene on the audition, but then at the same time, trying to…” [strangling noises] “…pretending I’m being lifted by the neck and choked.” explained Simmons. He also talked about convincing Sony for his role, as he wasn’t that famous in those times.
“The producers and the people at Sony, they needed to be convinced, because obviously, there were a lot of much more high-profile actors that they had in mind that would help with the box office,” Simmons explained. “It was very nerve-wracking.”
Simmons also jokingly talked about the industry standards and kinds of roles people of his age usually get:
“My plan now – my career plan, now – is to play the father of every handsome, blue-eyed movie star stud named Chris. So I checked off my Chris Evans box and I’ve just finished a film with Chris Pratt where I play his father,” Simmons took a beat, before joking “Chris Pine …I’m available.”