Wild Wild West made no one happy… except for super producer and spider enthusiast Jon Peters.
So when Smiths secret agent Jim West and Klines U.S. As the exhausted duo mocks Lovelesss offerings, they ask What has he got?
listing off his failures.
The same question could be posed toWild Wild West, with its garish set-pieces and flat humor.
An 80-foot Tarantulla, mutters West, looking up in horror.
Gordon agrees with a simple impressive.
Its not impressive, at least not to most people.
But Peters own story is just as outlandish.
Peters came to Hollywood not as an actor, writer, or director, but as a hairdresser.
To be clear, hairdresserslike every other crew person in Hollywoodplay vital parts in making the movies you love.
But such positions rarely earn much acclaim and never really lead to a producers chair.
Peters is the exception because of a wig he made for a very powerful client, Barbara Streisand.
Outrageous as Coopers performance gets, most agree that its accurate.
Peters was a guy whose oddball energy helped him get what he wanted.
And what he wanted most in the mid-to-late 1990s was to see a giant mechanical spider on screen.
But, at least as Smith tells it, Peters had no idea what to do with Superman.
… Because you and me, were from the streets.
Most famously, Smith recalls three requirements that Peters set down for his Superman movie.
No suit, no flying, and Superman must fight a giant spider in the third act.
[Spiders] are the fiercest killers in the insect kingdom.
Many filmmakers cite the reveal as one of the most exciting in cinema history, includingSteven SpielbergandPeter Jackson.
Peters isnt wrong to want to recreate that feeling for modern moviegoing kids.
Instead Jon Peters got his wish in a movie better suited to the material:Wild Wild West.
As the villainous mad scientist Dr. Loveless, Kenneth Branagh devours all the scenery he can.
It became a punch line among movie fans, leaving a stink that lingered for few years.
Smith still cites it as the biggest mistake of his career.
