In a recent podcast with Empire Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach (producers of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’) discuss why we didn’t see Norman Osborn, the ties between Osborn and Peter and the rumor of the ‘Proto-Goblin’ being in the movie.
On why Norman Osborn is not in the film:
Avi Arad: Norman for us, in this movie, wasn’t an important face. It was more of a symbolic idea (Oscorp Tower) of the world of science. It’s a place where his father worked. It’s a place where Connors works. And most importantly, it’s a place where Peter aspires to be. One, because his father worked there and two, it stands for the ultimate advancement of science and biotechnology.
So the threat of Norman at the top, that’s what the comics are about. You can read the whole comic book and you’ll have a mention of something that may not appear for two more issues.
Matt Tolmach: We had a lot of story to tell within this movie and Dr. Connors is a very rich character and that’s where we wanted to spend time, on the relationship between Peter and Dr. Connors. If you begin to venture into Norman and Oscorp in this movie then…ummm..you just have a finite amount of screen time. As Avi said he hangs over this building and the lives of these people and you know, we’re going to make more movies.
With Peter solving his father’s algorithm and giving birth to The Lizard, is it safe to say that he will also be responsible for the creation of The Green Goblin:
Avi Arad: If you look at Norman’s affliction, if you will, cross-species genetics or any kind of that science is exactly what he needs to survive. Obviously he will support this kind of science to the nth degree and the nth degree is what is happening in laboratories around the world; stem cells, cloning, etc. You have a guy at the top of the building who has a huge personal stake and you have Connors who has a huge personal stake in succeeding. And then you have the man who supposed to be carrying the clue for it, who vanishes. And it happens to be Peter’s dad.
Matt Tolmach: They’re all sort of Norman’s lab rats. There’s something that Norman needs and everyone here also has their own needs. And Peter becomes the little mouse. Norman is the puppeteer and that’s something we’re going to get to.
In the Dark Reign comics we saw Norman Osborn as a formidable villain without the Green Goblin persona. Is that something that could be explored down the line:
Avi Arad: The goblin can be something that happens for a very short period of time or the goblin can become a whole story. The real story is Norman and I think this movie showed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Peter Parker is the most interesting study here. The fact that he becomes Spider-Man is great and it’s fulfillment, and it’s the metaphor for a lot of things but Peter works so well. And Norman needs to work really, really well and be sort of the classic, Marvel, sympathetic villain who carries something personal as the reason to do what he’s doing. And the fact that he’s going to fly through the air and fight Peter, eventually it will be inevitable. But that’s not his main story.
Matt Tolmach: He like Connors, and this is important, is connected to Peter Parker. You get hints of that in the movie obviously, through his relationship to Peter’s father and his relationship to Doc Conners. Norman Osborn, the man, is critically important to where this story is going.
Avi Arad: It’s all about secrets. Norman has a secret, Connors has a secret, Peter’s father had a secret and now Peter has a secret…..All these little hints throughout the movie are saying, ‘so if it worked on Peter, oh boy, this kid is not going to have a moment of peace and I think that’s a wonderful thing to look at.
Matt Tolmach: Norman is an important character and obviously there’s a certain inevitably to one day seeing the Green Goblin. What we’ve done, and what we’ll always do is go back to what serves the story best. Going back to this quest that Peter is still very clearly on when this movie ends, that’s going to lead us to villains, that’s the best version of how you figure out who your villain is going to be, it serves Peter’s story along the way.
On Gwen’s story and was there ever a point throughout all the script rewrites where she met her comic book end:
Avi Arad: No, it would’ve been too fast. It took the whole movie for us to develop this new relationship. To show what a match they are because the more you fall in love with them as a couple, the more you want them to be together, the bigger the tragedy. If you introduce her and get rid of her in the first movie then it feels manufactured.
On Proto Goblin,was he ever intended to be in the film:
Avi Arad: I don’t know where the talk came from, not from us. We tried multiple villains before, as you know, and it’s really hard to service them all, especially when you’re doing an origin story. Also, there was no reason.
Source: Empire