Spider-Man: Comedian Tig Notaro Reveals She Lost a Role to an Oscar Winner

The past two decades have brought over half-a-dozen different Spider-Man movies to the big screen, [...]

By Jenna Anderson

The past two decades have brought over half-a-dozen different Spider-Man movies to the big screen, each with a wildly different take on Marvel's iconic web-slinger. For many, the gold standard of the franchise is Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, with its massive scale and wide array of characters. There certainly are a lot of cameo appearances in those three movies -- and it sounds like fan-favorite comedian Tig Notaro was almost one of them. In a recent interview with Collider, Notaro spoke about her first job in Hollywood at the production company of Sam Raimi, who directed the first three Spider-Man movies. In the process, Notaro revealed that she and actress Octavia Spencer actually auditioned for a small part in Spider-Man, with Spencer ultimately landing the role.

"Sam was very much on location most of the time, and so I had very minimal interactions with him. It was mainly over the phone, because he would be on some movie set," Notaro explained. "But it was really fun. I mean I still, I would say most of the people from that company are still some of my closest friends, and Sam has been supportive over the years of my stand up and acting career. And so I would say it was a very positive experience."

"One of the craziest things, actually, is that I did a movie with Octavia Spencer called Instant Family, and while we were working together, it came up that she loves horror films," Notaro continued. "And I said, 'Oh, I worked for Sam Raimi.' And she said, 'Really?' She said, 'I worked for the casting director.' She was the casting director's assistant on the Spider-Man movie. And I said, 'Oh, I went in to audition for a part, that was my first time to audition. Sam just sent me in to do this role.' And she was like, 'Oh my gosh.' She said, 'I was in the room, then, with you.' And she said, 'What role was it?' And I told her, and she said, 'I ended up doing that role. My boss let me audition for that, too, and I got that role.' It was so insane."

"I think Octavia's part was checking people into the wrestling ring, and that's the role that I tried to get, or that Sam sent me in for, and Octavia Spencer got it," Notaro added.

While Spencer only appears in Spider-Man for a brief amount of time - with her cameo largely catching fans' attention now thanks to her award-winning work on films like The Help and Hidden Figures - it certainly would have been interesting to see Notaro take on that role. And who knows? Maybe Notaro, who has gone on to act in properties like One Mississippi and Star Trek: Discovery, could land a role in Raimi's next Marvel movie.

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