Casting dispersions: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin considers the difficulty in casting actors for film adaptations of comic books:

"A well-written and illustrated book makes the characters come alive for the reader. The graphic novel Road to Perdition, made into a successful film, was so thoroughly drawn, researched and influenced that it appeared to be a tracing of real life. It made filmmaker's job both easier and less fun, as there was no room for creative wiggling. In the film, Tom Hanks often seemed straitjacketed. ...

"... Casting the right person in a comic-book role is tricky. Will they make the familiar character breathe? Or will they bury it in technique or squash it out of actorly hubris?

"Probably no piece of comic-book casting was more closely examined than Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker the Spider-Man, a character who is an icon of American mythology. But there were sighs of relief when Maguire was brilliant in the role. But casting grave Kirstin Dunst as hedonist Mary Jane Parker was bothersome. As for villains, Willem Dafoe was ticcy as the Green Goblin, but Alfred Molina was perfect as the conflicted Doctor Octopus."