Did you know that Lucy Lawless was in 2002’s Spider-Man? If not, it’s okay! It’s a blink and you’ll miss it cameo, and she was also rocking a style we’d never from her on screen before.
At about the 54-minute mark of the movie, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is inspired to suit up as Spider-Man after an emotional high school graduation without his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson). A chat with Aunt Mae (Rosemary Harris) reminds Peter his uncle thought he “was meant for great things,” so he takes to the streets of New York to help those in need. When the press catches on, we get a video montage of citizens sharing their thoughts on the new local hero and in the mix we get Lawless as “Punk Rock Girl.”
How exactly did that super short cameo come to be? Lawless connected the dots from Xena: Warrior Princess and her husband, producer Rob Tapert, to Sam Raimi’s 2002 superhero movie:
“Sam Raimi was one of the executive producers on Xena and Hercules and is one of Rob’s oldest friends so he just invited me. I was in New York and just rocked up.”
Rather than ditch the wardrobe after her one-line appearance was in the can, Lawless opted to wear it home:
“And then I wore that punk outfit home on the plane and, yeah, people aren’t that nice to punks! They’re frightened, and they act in a way that’s a little bit hostile.”
As for that one line - “Guy with eight hands. Sounds hot.” - Lawless insists that dialogue was “pure Sam.” While one might think they would have played around with the beat a bit while they had Lawless on set, she explained that that actually wasn’t the case. When asked if they did any alt takes she said, “No, that was really it.”
So it was that simple! And while Lawless didn’t go on to have a cameo in every Raimi-directed Spider-Man movie like her Ash vs. Evil Dead co-star, Bruce Campbell, she still managed to make her mark on the franchise with her three seconds in the 2002 movie as “Punk Rock Girl.”
If you’re looking for more on Lawless’ journey from Xena to her latest release, the ultra-violent animated feature The Spine of Night, you can check out our full Collider Connected conversation below: