though the first years of the new
millennium suggested no end to toby
mcguire's burgeoning fame it wasn't long
after the cooler reception to spider-man
3 that his presence in front of the
camera began to become a rarity here's
why toby maguire disappeared from
hollywood
it turns out that despite his affable
appearance toby mcguire may not be the
easiest actor to work with
when it came to his earlier career he
reportedly had multiple issues with
co-stars on various movie sets
james franco for example seems to have
held a bit of resentment while working
alongside his spider-man co-star
franco himself also interviewed actress
charlize theron who recalled that when
filming cider house rules
toby and i had a bit of a rough time
yeah i mean we're good now
it was a difficult movie and the drama
goes beyond acting circles as well
after the success of the first
spider-man movie maguire tried to get
columbia pictures to adjust the filming
schedule of the second film
allegedly to accommodate his bat back he
even got executives to meet with his
neurosurgeon to discuss his workload
only to be dropped from the project a
few days later he was quickly reinstated
partly due to a helping hand from his
then girlfriend's father a leading
executive rival studio universal but
it's interesting to note that he ended
up apologizing for the whole debacle
referring to his own attitude as quote
inappropriate
in an interview with cinema.com maguire
was asked how he felt about comments
that he was quote too reserved as an
actor
he responded i know there's all this
talk about my charisma deficit and i
have to admit that i'm not a wild
in-your-face actor it's not my nature to
be flashy or extroverted and that's why
i see it as a great challenge to me as
an actor to be able to play against type
and shake up people's perceptions of me
it would appear that it isn't in
maguire's nature to be excessively
flashy social or outgoing however the
harsh reality in hollywood is that if
you're not willing to play the
popularity game
sooner or later you're likely to be
pushed onto the back burner and with
maguire's acceptance of his own subdued
nature
it's no surprise that his reticent
personality has done little to help him
stay at the forefront of casting agents
minds
despite launching him to fame the spidey
flicks may have also had a bit of a
negative effect on mcguire's career
overall
while the original spider-man film was a
smash the series ended on what was
pretty universally considered the worst
of the three the project had a lot of
factors stacked against it and even
director sam raimi was disenchanted with
the final product
shortly after this hour critical and fan
response talks between raymie and sony
about a fourth installment fell through
regardless of whatever complex
negotiations may have happened behind
the scenes it was hard for audiences not
to lay blame for the cancellation
squarely at the feet of spider-man 3.
needless to say ending your tenure as an
iconic character with a movie so
unpopular it seemingly kills a franchise
isn't a recipe for instant popularity
toby mcguire's marriage to jennifer
meyer in 2007
also happened to coincide with the
beginning of his gradual fate from the
limelight the relationship endured for
nine years before they announced that
they were officially separating in
october 2016.
according to entertainment tonight by
that point their marriage had slowly
been crumbling
in an additional statement the couple
told people magazine that after much
soul searching and consideration we had
made the decision to separate as a
couple the divorce was finalized a year
later
fortunately though the split was
amicable and they still remain the
dedicated parents of two children
ruby and otis and this sentiment hasn't
waned over time either
us weekly reported that meyer considers
her ex-husband her best friend and the
two have continued to strive to raise
happy children despite the circumstances
she even called maguire
the best co-parent a girl could have we
really share in everything he's amazing
he's the greatest dad in the world he
may not play the popularity game but
toby maguire has certainly shown a
penchant for entertainment of a
different sort
gambling as far back as 2011 cnn
reported that mr maguire had to settle a
lawsuit to prevent having to pay back
the sum of three hundred and eleven
thousand dollars that he had won a few
years earlier
the problem the money had been stolen
from investors by an illegal ponzi
scheme
while all mcguire did was accidentally
win the money being in the headlines
because you're connected with stolen
cash isn't quite the same kind of
popularity one gets from playing a
beloved childhood superhero but
maguire's gambling issues went deeper
than simply winning stolen money they
were put on much more damning display
through the book and movie adaptation
molly's game which followed the real
life story of molly bloom as she
organized underground poker games for a
host of rich players
including one player x played by michael
cera in the film
the unnamed gambler who happens to be a
jerk that enjoys destroying the lives of
his fellow players can easily be
connected to maguire from winning stolen
money to his overall sinister reputation
as a player maguire's gambling has
hardly done his reputation any favors
when he's not gambling or tending to his
kids toby maguire is still first and
foremost an entertainer but while
earlier in his career that primarily
meant acting
recently maguire has begun to spin off
more and more in a different direction
as a producer
it's not uncommon for a popular actor to
attempt to leverage their successful
career in front of the camera into one
behind it
it started with big shots like charlie
chaplin and has continued right through
to modern legends like clint eastwood
interestingly it's through this shift
that maguire seems to have found the
ideal way to express his passion for
film
on paper toby mcguire's shift to
producing film seems to have panned out
pretty well so far
he's managed to produce a decent number
of movies over time although the truth
is that his production prowess initially
fell a bit short of the mark
especially if you grade him against a
curve of other a-list
actor-turned-producers
nevertheless maguire's managed to stamp
his name on several movies that found at
least minor success including the
musical comedy drama rock of ages the
slow moving but tense cold war thriller
pawn sacrifice
and the alien infested action drama the
fifth wave maguire stayed busy helping
to produce these films for several years
as the early 2010s unfolded
he also established his own production
company in 2012
called material pictures which helped to
co-produce all of the aforementioned
films
another factor that has chilled the
relationship between hollywood maguire
is the fact that he doesn't accept just
any old acting job that's offered to him
these days he's been very selective
about the roles he's taken on in the
years since the spider-man films with
only four of those landing him on the
big screen during that time
in an interview with nylon back in 2015
mcguire explained
it's always difficult to find projects
that i want to get involved in so it's a
continuous challenge
he went on to say that his choosy nature
stems from the fact that an acting
producing career involves a lot of
commitment and investment
if he's not deeply interested in the
story of the project it becomes very
hard for him to enjoy the experience
maguire came very close to reprising his
role as spider-man on the big screen in
recent years
and we're not just talking about a fan
theory either it comes straight from the
mouth of one of the producers for sony's
spider-man into the spider-verse
during a watch party in early may 2020
christopher miller revealed
that we pitched the sony brass an
ambitious tag involving spider-ham toby
andrew and tom
they felt it was too soon into the
spider-verse was already jam-packed with
multi-dimensional surprises
but the fact that there were actual
plans in development to involve the
three live-action members of the sony
spider-man universe of characters is
exciting even just to think about
unfortunately it never materialized
interestingly enough a quick cameo and
into the spiderburst wasn't toby
maguire's only potential lifeline to a
superhero past
in a 2019 interview with the hollywood
reporter maguire was asked if he would
ever dawn a superhero suit again to
which he gave the nebulous response
i just don't really have an i would or
wouldn't do mindset i'll just do
whatever
whatever it is that comes that i feel
called to that may or may not fit in any
kind of box
while it's not really a straight answer
it's also definitively not to denial of
future cinematic heroics
in fact mcguire's open mindset seems to
leave the door wide open for a return if
a studio manages to woo him in just the
right way
it's something that the modern crossover
happy multiverse minded superhero
universes could certainly look to
capitalize on in the future
considering the increasingly surprising
list of stars set to appear in
spider-man no way home
there's certainly a possibility of
maguire pulling on the tights again for
a quick cameo
there are plenty of new professional
projects and important life events
keeping toby maguire out of hollywood
but there are also a few non-film
hobbies that he's admitted to investing
time in
when asked by the hollywood reporter
what he's done in his downtime maguire
headlined his list of leisure pursuits
with playing pickleball with his friends
he added that he also enjoys hanging out
with his kids and going skiing
which are both pretty normal ways to
spend your spare time then he casually
added one more item to the list
competitive puzzling that's right
maguire spends significant portions of
his spare time putting puzzles together
as quickly as he can
is his hobby taking the time and energy
he would otherwise be putting into
acting
toby maguire's shift to working behind
the camera might have initially looked
like the type of dabbling many actors do
when they reach a certain level of
success
but over the years maguire's managed to
find an increasing level of success as a
producer
material pictures gave maguire an
opportunity to break away from acting
while simultaneously maintaining his
passion for the entertainment industry
untethered from concerns for his
on-camera career maguire began to focus
more intently on behind-the-scenes work
and his new production company slowly
started to gain some traction by 2019
the studio which produced three films
that year finally found noteworthy
success
one of the films get duked won the
midnighters audience award at south by
southwest
while another brittany runs a marathon
was purchased by amazon for an
impressive 14 million dollars and went
on to earn critical acclaim with success
finally materializing for material the
chances of maguire stepping back into
the hollywood limelight seemed to grow
slimmer with each passing year
toby maguire last found his way in front
of a camera way back in 2014
his voice is heard alongside alec
baldwins and dreamworks 2017 animated
hit the boss baby but apart from that
he's remained hidden behind the camera
when asked by the hollywood reporter if
he was retired from acting though
maguire once again gave a hazy answer
declaring
i'll do what i feel called to do i
suspect i'll be excited when i do it
like just whenever the calling appears i
guess
while mcguire may not consider his
acting career dead in the water the
truth is he may have a bit of a long
road ahead of him if he ever wants to
start landing larger jobs in hollywood
again
the question that really needs to be
asked is whether maguire wants that in
the first place
clearly since he hung up his spidey
suits he seems to have his hands pretty
full simply being a father and producing
movies with an occasional cameo or
supporting role added in perhaps we'll
see the ex-superhero hit the big leagues
once again but that seems to be a
possibility that depends as much on his
wishes as it does on anything else
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