Everyone's friendly neighbourhood superhero, Spider-Man, just got an upgrade. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, created by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street), offers a completely new take on Marvel’s beloved web-slinging superhero, which was first introduced by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962.
Featuring a diverse cast and a revolutionary approach to the classic Spider-Man mythos, the movie (based on the comic book characters created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli in 2011) is unlike any of the previous cinematic interpretations of the familiar character. It introduces Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales, to the limitless possibilities of the Spider-Verse, where anyone can wear the mask.
“One of the main reasons we were drawn to the project was the fact that Miles is a different kind of superhero,” says producer Christopher Miller. “What’s cool about Spidey is that you can see this superhero wearing a mask and flying around, and you can think, ‘Hey, that can be me underneath the mask.’”
He adds that in a way, the heart of the movie is Miles’ coming-of-age story. “But we wanted to tell this in completely new and unconventional way. We wanted to put someone totally different in Spider-Man’s shoes and under that mask. One of the key themes of the movie is that we all have powers, and we all need to face up to our responsibilities, regardless of who we are or where we are born, and we have kept that theme up,” he adds.
Miles to go
To voice the colourful characters of Spider-Man’s new adventure, the filmmakers tapped some of Hollywood’s brightest and most talented actors. Providing the film’s main voices are Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, Jake Johnson as Peter Parker, Hailee Steinfeld as Spider-Gwen, Mahershala Ali as Miles’ Uncle Aaron, Brian Tyree Henry as Miles’ father Jefferson, Lily Tomlin as Aunt May, Luna Lauren Velez as Miles’ mother Rio, John Mulaney as Spider-Ham, and Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir.
Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, a young teenager in Brooklyn who goes on to become Spider-Man. “I am a big fan of the Spider-Man films,” says Moore. “In fact, when I was a teenager, I wrote in my diary that one day I would play Spider-Man! But this film goes beyond everything we’ve seen before with the multiple universes, multiple villains and multiple spider heroes. With Miles Morales, you have a Spider-Man character that we’ve never seen before on the big screen. It’s also important to point out that this is the first movie about a biracial superhero, ever. His culture, background and upbringing really makes him a different type of superhero — something we have all been eager to see on the big screen for a long time.”
Visual wonder
One of the most striking aspects of the film is its dynamic visual style, which goes beyond what audiences expect to see in CG-animated movies and pays homage to the classic look and feel of the comic-books of the Golden Era.“We have moments when the frame gets broken into panels, just like you see in comic books,” explains Miller. “There are flash frames that allow for unusual compositions, and there are new sound effects and stylised visuals that are spread throughout the movie. It’s very exciting to create and very exciting to watch. And it’s choreographed to hopefully change the way animation is done in the future.”
Hand it over
Christopher Lord brings up the fact that the film’s talented artists use the highest state-of-the-art CG animation tools combined with hand drawn animation techniques to tell the film’s multi-layered narrative. “While computer graphics can effectively represent people and places in highly photo realistic ways, in this movie, we added an extra layer of hand-crafted artistry on top of every CG frame. It was important to us that every frame was refined by the artists’ hand after the visuals were rendered by computers. Freeze any part of the movie and it will look like an illustration with hand drawn touches,” he says.