More than 20 years after the first "Spider-Man" movie was released in 2002, one scene in particular continues to circulate online due to the impressive 156 takes it reportedly took to perfect. In it, a young Tobey Maguire prevents Kirsten Dunst from falling while simultaneously catching various lunch items on a tray as they flew up and then fell back down.
For example, one popular Reddit post (archived) shared the clip in October 2025:
Tobey Maguire took 156 retakes for this shot. There was no CGI in this scene.
byu/JadooJitters ininterestingasfuck
The full scene can be viewed below:
According to sites such as Screen Geek, The Independent, Buzzfeed, and Metro, the scene was indeed executed without the use of visual effects. According to the Independent, both Dykstra and Dunst stated in separate DVD commentaries that the scene was all Maguire, no special effects.
"This next gag here, where he catches all this stuff, he actually did that. Pretty good. Take 156," visual effects head John Dykstra allegedly stated. "Not CGI by the way, that's all Tobey, which is pretty impressive," Dunst allegedly also said in the commentary. "They used sticky glue stuff to stick his hand to the tray."
Although we've been unable to confirm these accounts independently thus far, a user on YouTube uploaded footage of the DVD commentary video:
We reached out to representatives for Maguire, Dunst, Dykstra, and director Sam Raimi seeking corroboration; we will update if we receive a response.