The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse brain trust pulled off a next-to-impossible feat.
Writer-producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller had the unenviable task of following up 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, their Oscar-winning film that redefined the animated medium and well-trodden superhero genre. But against all odds, the longtime creative partners managed to shepherd a middle chapter that either matches or exceeds the trilogy starter in every direction.
For Miller, the key was to not rest on their laurels. “We knew that we couldn’t just do more of the same,” Miller said during a recent THR Presents panel, powered by Vision Media. “The first film opened the door, but we thought [Across the Spider-Verse] could kick down the door and start a bonfire —and hopefully wake up people who control the purse strings —as to how varied a film can look.”
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Added Lord: “You can use this opportunity to play it safe or play not to lose, but I think we would’ve lost if we did it that way.”
Across the Spider-Verse, which is currently contending for the same best animated feature Oscar that the original film won at 2019’s ceremony, brought in three new co-directors, including Oscar-nominated screenwriter Kemp Powers, Avatar: The Last Airbender alum Joaquim Dos Santos and Justin K. Thompson, the latter of whom, besides being a veteran of Lord Miller productions, served as Into the Spider-Verse’s production designer.
Dos Santos admitted that the high bar set by Into the Spider-Verse weighed on him at first: “There was a before-Spider-Verse time in feature animation and a post-Spider-Verse time. So that was definitely an artistic reckoning for me.”
Powers —who had to withhold his involvement in Across the Spider-Verse until after the release of his Oscar-winning Pixar film Soul —initially thought that the aforementioned Jamie Foxx-led film would be his last go-round as co-director of an animated feature. “I felt like I couldn’t do anything different or better than [Soul] —and then I saw Into the Spider-Verse,” Powers revealed. “So I wrapped Soul on a Friday and started this sucker on a Monday.”
Across the Spider-Verse picks up 16 months after the explosive events of the first film, as Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is now more adept at being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, even if it’s taking a toll on his family and academic life. He soon encounters a new villain known as the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), which happens to coincide with the curious return of his Earth-65 friend and crush, Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld).
However, by the time the duo reunited, the film had already devoted its opening 20 minutes to establishing Gwen as the co-lead, something Steinfeld didn’t fully grasp until she screened the movie for the first time. The Spider-Verse films utilize a piecemeal-type approach during production, and voice actors like Steinfeld are routinely called back to the recording booth once each scene or sequence has had the chance to evolve. So, by virtue of such a meticulous process, the voice cast often lacks the 30,000-foot view until the film is finally projecting in a screening room.
“There have been moments where you get that call to go do reshoots or ADR, and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’m in the middle of something else. I’m in a completely different headspace,’” Steinfeld shared. “But with [Across the Spider-Verse], I would look forward to getting that call because it was just another chance to perfect and better the moment.”
Gwen’s emotional and revelatory scenes with her father, Captain George Stacy (Shea Whigham), on Earth-65 are among the film’s many standout moments, and together with over a thousand artists and animators, the creative team achieved a breathtaking watercolor style for Gwen’s home universe that fluctuates based on the mood of the characters.
Thompson added: “With Gwen and her dimension, it was really just an amazing opportunity to put on screen what she couldn’t say with her words. If she can’t cry, then let the paint drip down the walls and let the rooms cry for her.”
The Across the Spider-Verse team is keeping their cards close to their collective vest regarding the eventual trilogy capper, Beyond the Spider-Verse, but Miller makes it clear that it’ll be more of the same, meaning none of the same: “Our hope is that we break as much new ground as we did on the last one.”
This edition of THR Presents is brought to you by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
