Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Directors Talk Film’s Insane Process
308Though Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is swinging into theaters on June 2, the directing trio still have their work cut out for them. Following the massive success of the first Oscar-winning film, Into the Spider-Verse, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, and Joaquim Dos Santos took the helm of what Thompson calls “the world's most expensive independent arthouse film” already equipped with the necessary skills to bring Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) back in not one Multiverse-weaving sequel, but two. In their exclusive interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, the directors talk us through their unique and shared responsibilities, how they decided to break up cowriters Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s story with Beyond the Spider-Verse, and so much more.
Across the Spider-Verse begins “a year and a half later” after accepting the Spider-Man mantle, and Miles is now facing “more complex problems” as he juggles his life as Miles Morales and the responsibilities of Brooklyn’s Spider-Man. When Gwen Stacy returns to his dimension she takes Miles into the Spider-Verse, where Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) has formed a Spider Society tasked with protecting the Multiverse. On top of that, a bizarre new character has cropped up in Brooklyn, The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), and it just goes to show Spider-Man’s work is never done. The directors praise their enormous crew of animators who were constantly “experimenting and doing something new at all times” in order to bring this Spider-Verse to life. And with these hundreds of new characters comes a slew of new talent, like Academy Award-winner Daniel Kaluuya, Issa Rae, Andy Samberg, Karan Soni, and more.
In their interview, which you can watch or read below, Powers, Thompson, and Dos Santos answer all our questions about the shared responsibilities of three directors, how and why the story was split into two feature films, choosing the music, and how far along they are in recording for Beyond the Spider-Verse. Creating such “groundbreaking” story and visuals takes a super amount of talent and hard work, and they share some of those challenges, like last-minute changes to script, adding new Spider-People up to the very end, sneaking in Easter eggs, and how seemingly small moments, like Gwen’s hairstyle, can be costly.
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