In the 2018 hit cartoon Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Brooklyn’s developing teenage superhero, Miles Morales, receives multiple unexpected visits from another dimension. In the movie sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, it is Morales who must follow a version of Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), to a new realm where other Spider-Mans reside. (voiced by Shameik Moore). .
For the film’s directors, Joaquin Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, the premise of Miles becoming a traveler rather than a host gave them permission to expand their aesthetic horizons. This time the mission isn’t limited to creating uniquely designed characters that live in a single universe, but is based on countless comic book stories reinterpreted by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s arachnid paladins. was not limited to creating whole worlds.
“It’s like jumping from one book to another,” Thompson said. “The goal was to take people on a journey and celebrate a range of amazing artists.”
To do so, the producers reached out to sources and reached out to some of the people behind Alternate Visions of “Spider-Man” to participate in the development of the film. Rick Leonardi, the designer of the comic “Spider-Man 2099”, participated in devising his tool for 3D animation that can emulate his line drawings. And Marvel Comics veteran artist Brian Stelfreese helped formulate the film’s take on Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman.
Calling in for a video interview, the three filmmakers from different parts of Los Angeles (cities that could become their own Spider-Verse) analyze some of the other ideas swirling in the pool of reference material. Did.
Leonardo da Vinci and Royal Deluxe
Early in this multi-world adventure, a villain named the Vulture unexpectedly invades Gwen’s colorful world. Born into an alternate reality, wielding gadgets and looking like they were drawn on a parchment sheet, this black-and-white character must feel distinctly alien to the world he’s invading. I had to. Sketches by Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci served as the basis for his designs.
“The Vulture contraption was like a surreal version of many of the crazy inventions that da Vinci himself had, some crazy, some very advanced.” said Dos Santos. “Some of them were frankly terrifying.”
Another important inspiration in the character’s early development was royal deluxeis a street theater company based in Nantes, France that specializes in the production of large-scale marionettes.
The only quiet alone time Miles and Gwen spend in the entire film occurs when they are both looking at the upside-down New York skyline. This sequence, while breathtakingly important, popped in and out of the film many times. “We had to really bring it into the movie,” said Powers. Through the process, he finds himself reminded of Cameron Crowe’s innocent romance Say Anything. The film’s male protagonist, Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), gives his lover Diane Court (Ione Skye) a chance on an unlikely encounter, despite his father’s disapproval. try to persuade “Gwen has a mentor in her life who encourages her to stay away from Miles Morales for reasons her viewers will discover, so there’s definitely a parallel there,” Powers said. Told. But of course, to achieve a Cameron Crowe-worthy swoon-worthy moment between his two Spider-Men with amazing abilities, it takes a special setting where they’re both hanging upside down in a clock tower. bottom.
‘Cinderella’
Gwen’s world works like a mood ring that responds to her emotions. For example, when she is angry, the screen turns red and the atmosphere becomes even hotter. And when her chaos hits her, her world is fragmented. According to Thompson, the 1950 Disney classic “Cinderella” was a reference. “As a child, I remember watching the scene where Cinderella’s dress was ripped apart by her evil stepsisters and her background and surroundings began to react to the trauma she was going through. he said. For him, these moments of Gwen’s reactive microcosm push the film to its most experiential form.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The production visited NASA’s research and development center in Flintridge, La Canada, California to study how cutting-edge technology can be applied to the characters in the film. They explore how Miguel O’Hara, the brilliant geneticist who will become Spider-Man of 2099, can create a tear-resistant, high-tech wingsuit with powerful flight capabilities, and what materials it’s made of. I wanted to elucidate how it is made. If it actually exists in our world.
To optimize the look of Spider-Man, the crime-fighting Spider-Man in the cyberspace multiverse, the filmmakers looked at current technologies that are trying to create three-dimensional holograms in real time. “We don’t just have her on her screen and then she’s slightly opaque,” Thompson said. “There are certain techniques that we dug deep into to give her an on-screen presence that feels like she’s more than just someone in a suit.”
“Point Break” and “No Country for Old Men”
For Powers, there were two high points of great character development through action sequences that blended into Spider-Man 2099’s retro-futuristic territory. one of which he Footchase in “Point Break” directed by Kathryn Bigelow Where Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) tries to catch Bodie (Patrick Swayze). “It was weird and funny and embodied what we learned about the characters early on in the movie: Utah injured his knee playing football,” Powers said. A similar chase unfolds in Across the Spider-Verse.
Another reference Powers had in mind was the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men. In this film, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) continues her defiant stance against psychopath hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Moss fights back and “licks,” as Powers said, even if there is some inevitability in how everything is resolved.
“Miles is being chased,” he added, “but we still want him to do something.”
