tv star collector
06-19-2006, 02:28 PM
In the 1980s, there almost was a reunion TV-movie co-starring The Hulk and
Spider-Man. In his book, "MY INCREDIBLE LIFE AS THE HULK," Lou Ferrigno
remembers:
In 1984, Bill Bixby began serious talks with Columbia Television about producing
an INCREDIBLE HULK reunion movie. He proposed doing a team-up movie with
the Hulk and Spiderman series star, Nicholas Hammond. Hammond revealed this
information in an interview in SFX Magazine.
"I used to know Bill Bixby quite well in those days," said Hammond. "Anyhow, we
used to speak on the phone once in awhile, and we talked about the problems
the Hulk series had ran into and why SPIDER-MAN didn't work. Bill asked me during one of these conversations would I play the part again. My response was
only if I could have more control over the character, I wanted to make him more
humorous and was interested in doing more of the physical stuff. I felt one of the problems with the series was that the Peter Parker applied and the
Spider-Man, who was played by a stuntman, were so opposite and lots of
the believability of the character was lost. Bill liked my ideas and said that
he would let me know if anything came up.
"About three weeks to a month later, I got a phone call from Bill saying that
he had spoken to screenwriter Ron Satlof and he was close to setting up a
deal with Columbia Television to start work on a project which featured both
Spider-Man and the Hulk. Bill was going to direct, and I was to have writing
credits with Stan Lee and Ron Satlof. One of the main problems early on
though, was Universal Television weren't prepared to let Columbia have use
of the Hulk character and this took a while. Eventually Bill phoned again
saying that both networks came to a deal to co-produce the tele-movie
with Universal having the rights to screen.
"Things started moving quickly and we got most of the technical crews from
both original series on board and the movie had air date of spring 1984. I was
very excited because work had been tight, and as Bill said, this could open
doors on the acting front. I also loved the character. Bill was also keen to do
it because his private life was in something of a limbo and directing the movie
would have really taken his mind off things. The most impressive thing about
the movie was to be the costume I was going to wear. It was to be the
black costume used in the comics around this time, and it looked a lot better
than the one in the TV series.
"Just as everything was running smoothly, Bill phoned again. 'Hi, it's Bill, Nick.
I've got some bad news. The project has been cancelled. Lou is unavailable,
Universal won't do the movie without Lou.' Lou Ferrigno was in Italy making
a Hercules movie and wouldn't be available to make the movie and they weren't prepared to wait for him. Personally, I have always thought that this
was Universal's own way of cancelling the project. If they had just left it
to Columbia, it would have got made easily. I was a bit upset because I was
looking forward to doing it again and the script was good, and I never got
the chance to work with Bill. A shame really."
Hammond's suspicion that Universal was looking for a reason to cancel the
project was correct, from what I can gather. My availability was never an
issue, because I was never contacted about the project. Universal never
inquired to see if I was available. I had already completed HERCULES II
months before, so my availability was not an issue. In fact, I wasn't even
aware of the HULK/SPIDERMAN project until I came across this information
in 2003 during research for this book.
Spider-Man. In his book, "MY INCREDIBLE LIFE AS THE HULK," Lou Ferrigno
remembers:
In 1984, Bill Bixby began serious talks with Columbia Television about producing
an INCREDIBLE HULK reunion movie. He proposed doing a team-up movie with
the Hulk and Spiderman series star, Nicholas Hammond. Hammond revealed this
information in an interview in SFX Magazine.
"I used to know Bill Bixby quite well in those days," said Hammond. "Anyhow, we
used to speak on the phone once in awhile, and we talked about the problems
the Hulk series had ran into and why SPIDER-MAN didn't work. Bill asked me during one of these conversations would I play the part again. My response was
only if I could have more control over the character, I wanted to make him more
humorous and was interested in doing more of the physical stuff. I felt one of the problems with the series was that the Peter Parker applied and the
Spider-Man, who was played by a stuntman, were so opposite and lots of
the believability of the character was lost. Bill liked my ideas and said that
he would let me know if anything came up.
"About three weeks to a month later, I got a phone call from Bill saying that
he had spoken to screenwriter Ron Satlof and he was close to setting up a
deal with Columbia Television to start work on a project which featured both
Spider-Man and the Hulk. Bill was going to direct, and I was to have writing
credits with Stan Lee and Ron Satlof. One of the main problems early on
though, was Universal Television weren't prepared to let Columbia have use
of the Hulk character and this took a while. Eventually Bill phoned again
saying that both networks came to a deal to co-produce the tele-movie
with Universal having the rights to screen.
"Things started moving quickly and we got most of the technical crews from
both original series on board and the movie had air date of spring 1984. I was
very excited because work had been tight, and as Bill said, this could open
doors on the acting front. I also loved the character. Bill was also keen to do
it because his private life was in something of a limbo and directing the movie
would have really taken his mind off things. The most impressive thing about
the movie was to be the costume I was going to wear. It was to be the
black costume used in the comics around this time, and it looked a lot better
than the one in the TV series.
"Just as everything was running smoothly, Bill phoned again. 'Hi, it's Bill, Nick.
I've got some bad news. The project has been cancelled. Lou is unavailable,
Universal won't do the movie without Lou.' Lou Ferrigno was in Italy making
a Hercules movie and wouldn't be available to make the movie and they weren't prepared to wait for him. Personally, I have always thought that this
was Universal's own way of cancelling the project. If they had just left it
to Columbia, it would have got made easily. I was a bit upset because I was
looking forward to doing it again and the script was good, and I never got
the chance to work with Bill. A shame really."
Hammond's suspicion that Universal was looking for a reason to cancel the
project was correct, from what I can gather. My availability was never an
issue, because I was never contacted about the project. Universal never
inquired to see if I was available. I had already completed HERCULES II
months before, so my availability was not an issue. In fact, I wasn't even
aware of the HULK/SPIDERMAN project until I came across this information
in 2003 during research for this book.