J.K. Simmons on Stan Lee wanting to play J. Jonah Jameson

J.K. Simmons says Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee told him he was “jealous” that he wasn’t asked to play J. Jonah Jameson.

J.K. Simmons‘ portrayal of J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy is iconic, but it’s a role that Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee wanted for himself. While speaking with GQ, Simmons said that Lee confessed to him that he was jealous they didn’t even ask him to play the part.

“I had never met Stan and didn’t even know, and this is kind of obvious to anyone who’s really paying attention or smarter than I am, but JJJ was kind of based on Stan, the comic version of himself,” Simmons said. “He confessed to me at the time that, you know, he was a little jealous that they didn’t ask him to play the part in the movie, but ‘having seen you do it, I thought you were fantastic.’ Very, very nice things, which obviously, coming from the man, was a great, great compliment.“

After playing the J. Jonah Jameson in all three Spider-Man movies, it seemed that we had seen the last of Simmons as the boisterous Daily Bugle publisher. However, fans were shocked when he returned in the mid-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Simmons said that by the time they asked him to reprise the role, “the movie was [already] in the can.”

The actor was intrigued by the idea of reprising the role but was upset that the producers didn’t want to do the flattop haircut, the mustache, or the cigar. “I was like, that’s half the guy, what do you mean?” Simons said. He eventually got them to agree to the mustache, and they quickly shot the scene a day or two later. “We shot it in somebody’s office,” he said. “It wasn’t on stage. It happened fast.” In fact, it happened so fast that Simmons suspects the reason they didn’t want to do the flattop haircut was because they “didn’t have time to get a wig made. I think it may have come down to that.” Simmons returned as Jameson for a slightly more substantial appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Simmons has a number of projects on his slate, including starring alongside Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry in The Union (coming to Netflix on August 16th), playing Milton Berle in Saturday Night (hitting theaters on October 11th), playing Santa Claus opposite Dwayne Johnson in Red One (set for a November 15th release), and more.