--- title: Elizabeth Banks Told She Was Too Old For Spider Man Role description: Actress Elizabeth Banks deemed 'too old' for the part of Mary Jane, despite being only a year older than Spider Man actor Tobey Macguire. canonical: https://time.com/4379598/elizabeth-banks-spider-man/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-23T13:22:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:47.676Z og:title: Elizabeth Banks Was Told She Was Too Old to Play Mary Jane in 'Spider-Man' og:description: And she was only 28 at the time og:url: https://time.com/4379598/elizabeth-banks-spider-man/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf82f43383113c10e/6988991b656a3f64b0bcc064/elizabeth-banks-mary-jane-spiderman-too-old.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The 31st Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Virtuoso's Award og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elizabeth Banks Was Told She Was Too Old to Play Mary Jane in 'Spider-Man' twitter:description: And she was only 28 at the time twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf82f43383113c10e/6988991b656a3f64b0bcc064/elizabeth-banks-mary-jane-spiderman-too-old.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elizabeth Banks Was Told She Was Too Old to Play Mary Jane in Original _Spider-Man_ by [Naja Rayne / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Naja Rayne / People Jun 23, 2016 1:22 PM UTC  SANTA BARBARA, CA - FEBRUARY 06: Actress Elizabeth Banks arrives for the presentation of the Virtuoso's Award for The 31st Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre on February 6, 2016 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Jennifer Lourie/Getty Images) SANTA BARBARA, CA - FEBRUARY 06: Actress Elizabeth Banks arrives for the presentation of the Virtuoso's Award for The 31st Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theatre on February 6, 2016 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Jennifer Lourie/Getty Images)Jennifer Lourie/Getty Images by [Naja Rayne / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Naja Rayne / People Jun 23, 2016 1:22 PM UTC Despite auditioning for a role in which the actor playing her love interest was just one year younger, [Elizabeth Banks](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:ElizabethBanks,00.html) was told she was too old to portray Mary Jane Watson in the original [_Spider-Man_](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,MediaProductsTax:MovieSpiderMan,00.html) film. During a recent interview with _GlamourUK_, the actress revealed that she did a screen-test opposite the film’s star [Tobey Macguire](http://www.people.com/article/charlize-theron-on-working-with-tobey-maguire), 27 at the time the movie was filmed, but was rejected for the role because of her age. She was 28. “I was told I was too old to play her,” Banks, now 42, told GlamourUK, according to Vanity Fair. “Tobey and I are basically the same age. I was like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s what I’ve signed up for.” The part ultimately ended up in the lap of Kirsten Dunst, who was 18 at the time. Banks, however, didn’t walk away completely empty-handed, as she was given the role as newspaper secretary Betty Brant. Telling the same story [in 2008](http://www.chud.com/16712/elizabeth-banks-ponders-betty-brants-future/), Banks then revealed that the role was offered as a sort of consolation prize. “I was a nobody. I had no expectations of even being in that movie. The casting director called and said, ‘As a consolation prize essentially do you want to be Betty Brant?'” she added. “So it started out as a consolation prize and it’s become a favor.” _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/elizabeth-banks-deemed-too-old-for-original-spider-man-flick) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4379598/elizabeth-banks-spider-man/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4379598/elizabeth-banks-spider-man/"},"headline":"Elizabeth Banks Was Told She Was Too Old to Play Mary Jane in Original Spider-Man","datePublished":"2016-06-23T13:22:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:47.676Z","description":"And she was only 28 at the time","url":"https://time.com/4379598/elizabeth-banks-spider-man/","keywords":["motto","movies","celebrities","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf82f43383113c10e/6988991b656a3f64b0bcc064/elizabeth-banks-mary-jane-spiderman-too-old.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Naja Rayne / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf82f43383113c10e/6988991b656a3f64b0bcc064/elizabeth-banks-mary-jane-spiderman-too-old.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 31st Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Virtuoso's Award","caption":"The 31st Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Virtuoso's Award","creditText":"Jennifer Lourie/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4379598/elizabeth-banks-spider-man/","name":"Elizabeth Banks Was Told She Was Too Old to Play Mary Jane in Original Spider-Man"}}]}] ```