J.K. Simmons is sharing the bizarre way he discovered he’d be playing J. Jonah Jameson in 2002’s “Spider-Man”.
In an interview with “The Ringer”, the actor was asked what it was like to receive the call that he’d landed the role as the bombastic publisher of the Daily Bugle.
“It was gigantic. And getting the call itself was an interesting thing,” he recalled.
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“This was 21 years ago, I think, and I was at a voiceover audition at Grey Advertising doing that thing that journeyman actors do a lot — doing a gig here, doing a gig there. Auditioning for this and that,” he continued.
“And I’m walking, following the person through the cubicles, and this desk chair comes flying out in front of me, backwards, with some kid who was probably 28,” added Simmons.
“And he goes, ‘Oh my god, J.K., congratulations!’ and I go, ‘Thank you.. for what?’ And he goes, ‘Are you kidding me? Spider-Man! J. Jonah Jameson, that’s so cool!'” he said.
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“And I was like, ‘I did not know that.’ I found out I got the part because of some kid who was so connected to, you know, the internet and fan sites, that they had that information on a Spider-Man website before my agent called me to tell me I got the job!” he explained.
“[My agent] called me like three hours later,” he added. “And I was like, ‘Yeah… I know.'”
