This Is How J.K. Simmons Really Felt About The End Of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Series
Veteran actor J.K. Simmons has taken on a whole lot of memorable roles over the years — just a few years ago, he even won his first Oscar for his supporting role in Damien Chazelle's "Whiplash" (via IMDb). Some of his upcoming roles include "Being the Ricardos" and "National Champions" — plus, of course, the highly anticipated "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
Simmons's role as J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy is undoubtedly one of his most iconic portrayals within his filmography. Jameson, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper The Daily Bugle, has a personal disliking to Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire), yet unknowingly hires Spider-Man himself — Peter Parker — as a freelance photographer for the paper after seeing the up-close shots Peter manages to get of the aforementioned hero.
The last film of Raimi's trilogy came out in 2007 and, thus, Simmons moved on from the role of Jameson. However, that changed with the most recent "Spider-Man" film — the MCU's "Spider-Man: Far From Home," the second film starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker. In a mid-credits scene in "Far From Home," Jameson appears, as the executive reporter of the sensationalist news website TheDailyBugle.net, and reveals Spider-Man's identity. Now, the character of Jameson is set to return for the upcoming "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which premieres this month.
In a recent interview, Simmons discussed what it felt like to move on from the "Spider-Man" trilogy — and how it felt to return to the role.
Simmons found it "heartbreaking" when the trilogy ended
At an event for "Being the Ricardos," The Hollywood Reporter spoke to J.K. Simmons about "Spider-Man" — both the old and new series of films — and posted the video to their Twitter account.
Discussing the end of Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" movies, Simmons said, "After the... Sam Raimi trilogy and then when they moved on from there, it was heartbreaking, I'm not gonna lie. And I thought 'Oh well, that was amazing fun, and I'm so glad I had that opportunity.'"
He then revealed what it felt like when the opportunity to play J. Jonah Jameson came up again. He continued, "And then, yeah, when they came back a couple years ago and said 'Hey, guess what? We wanna revive that, y'know, gasbag of a character'...I was thrilled. And, y'know, it was just a question of, y'know, adapting him a little bit to...2019 or whenever the first movie came out. And, uh, really to me, he's the same blowhard, just instead of running a newspaper, now he runs a media empire."
We can't wait to see more of J. Jonah Jameson when "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is released in theaters on December 17.