Nicolas Cage is middle-aged Spider-Man in his first leading TV role

LOS ANGELES – “My first question was, can I make Spider-Man a little older than he usually is? Because I relate less to a high school kid and more to a middle-aged.”

Oren Uziel remembered asking that question to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the geniuses behind “Project Hail Mary” and the “Spider-Verse” franchise, when they asked him to develop “Spider-Noir,” a live-action series based on the Marvel comic, “Spider-Man Noir.”

At the screening room of The Ross House, a breathtaking mansion in the Hollywood Hills, we saw the first two episodes of “Spider-Noir,” both directed by Harry Bradbeer.

The series is precedent-setting because it is available to Prime Video viewers in both color and black-and-white. They screened the first episode in black-and-white and the second episode in color to us.

‘Spider Noir’ screening in Hollywood Hills | Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

Vision for ‘Spider-Noir’

Afterward, there was a Q and A with Oren, the co-showrunner, whose credits include “The Lost City” and “21 Jump Street”; executive producers Phil and Christopher; and actors Lamorne Morris and Karen Rodriguez.

Oren continued about his vision for “Spider-Noir”: “I’m a huge noir junkie. So I thought this was something I could really work with.

“This came to me four years ago from Phil and Chris. I was obviously a big fan of Spider-Man and the work that they and Amy (Pascal) had done in ‘Spider-Man.’ And it came in as a ‘Spider-Noir’ project set in New York in the ’30s. At the time, it was black-and-white.

“And so when they said, ‘Absolutely, that (having an older Spider-Man) sounds actually great and interesting. Follow your passion there,’ it took off from there.”

In the show’s production notes, Oren wrote, “‘Spider-Noir’ is a world at the intersection of two genres that have nothing and everything in common. The unexpected pairing of comic book and noir is what gave this show its beating heart: What if Humphrey Bogart, as Rick, Sam Spade, or Philip Marlowe, just happened to be Spider-Man? From there, it became the driving force of almost every creative and aesthetic choice made during the production of the show.”

Nicolas Cage

In his first leading television role, Nicolas Cage plays Ben Reilly, a veteran, down-and-out private investigator in 1930s New York, who is coping with his past life, following a personal tragedy, as the metropolis’ only superhero.

On casting Nicolas, who adds the Spider-Man to his long list of quirky characters, Oren said, “Nic was obviously familiar with the character or a version of the character from working with Phil and Chris. And so he was the first person we went to. When I sat down with him, he was just so well-versed. He’s been in movies and been a movie star for 40 years.

“So he has his cinematic, encyclopedic understanding of the genre of noir, but also of superheroes, because he’s also a huge fan of that. So he understood everything that I wanted to do, in terms of taking these two impossible things and mashing them together. He just got it right away.

“And then he also had so much to say about who this character could be and how to make it his own. He’s Nic Cage. He’s not going to do the usual version of things. So it was a really good conversation between us for basically two years as we worked on how we can make this its own special thing.”

‘A spider trying to be a person’

Phil prodded Oren to share Nicolas’ take on his Ben Reilly/Spider-Man character. Oren obliged: “Nic’s idea was that when he gets bitten (by a spider), he basically becomes more spider than man. The man disappeared, he became a spider, and had to relearn how to be a human being. And it informed us of everything we did.

“So underneath it all, he is just trying to get by and keep that spider instinct suppressed. And one of the things he does is go to the movies. So when he is giving you a lot of Bogart, Cagney, and Peter Lorre, it’s because he’s experiencing that by sitting down and watching their films and retraining the human part of him. It’s fascinating.”

Phil remarked, “I love watching it, thinking that’s a spider trying to be a person.”

Oren Uziel

Oren Uziel, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Lamorne Morris | Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

Oren, who shares co-showrunner duties with Steve Lightfoot, explained more about the new series: “Where the collision of the comic book world and the noir world comes into play is that there’s this extraordinarily deep bench of characters and canon. And then, because of the Spider-Verse that these guys (Phil and Christopher) made, it opens it up to taking any of that and slamming it into this world.

“One of the mantras on the show was, ‘What if you made a Bogart movie where Bogart just happened to be Spider-Man?’ And so it’s like, ‘What if it’s ‘The Big Sleep’ and it’s a Spider-Man character and there are all these Spider-Man villains and it becomes a huge world that you can play in?’ ”

Christopher cited why they tapped Oren. “We’ve worked with Oren over the years several times, starting with the very similar to ‘Spider-Noir,’ ‘21 Jump Street.’ And we got along really well. He’s really smart and really thoughtful. And we knew that he was a huge noir-head.

“We knew this was a tricky one, tone-wise, because noir often gets reduced to tropes, pastiches, and visual flair of like, oh, it’s a Dutched lens and hard shadows. But what’s cool about Oren is that he understands the underlying story thematics that are underneath what makes a noir noir, not just a noir-looking commercial. And so he was the first person that we reached out to, and it was the right choice.”

Phil added, “We go to Oren when we can’t figure something out. And we like to do very bold, unusual, and difficult things, and Oren does, too. He understands that a great noir is about people in impossible situations who can’t possibly dig themselves out. And that’s what Chris and I were in until Oren came along.”

Viewers can watch in color or black-and-white

The show’s notes elaborate on the decision to let viewers watch in color or black-and-white: “When faced with the question of color versus black and white, that same core philosophy led us to the solution – what if instead of choosing black-and-white film or color, we could create a print of both? How would that affect our lighting? How would it affect production design? Costumes?

“By settling on our dual delivery intention early in the prep process, we were able to craft two bespoke formats for the series and open up a vividly creative world that we are excited to introduce to fans and newcomers alike. One, a black-and-white that embraced the chiaroscuro lighting of classic noir and the original comic, and the other, a color palette that combined the vibrancy of Technicolor and the boldness of the modern comic book world.”

Oren remarked on the show being in both color and black-and-white: “It’s never been done before for a reason.”

Worth watching twice

Phil stressed, “It’s hard. Why do one insanely difficult color timing job when you could do two? And God bless Amazon for understanding the value of that and investing in it because the only way to do it is to have a lot of smart people work very hard for a lot of time.”

Chris said, “And when we were on set, the LUT (Look-Up Table) that we were seeing on the monitors was black and white. And so, we were always making sure that it was going to work in black-and-white, but we were capturing the color version also. But it was tuned to black-and-white.

“So there was a lot of work that had to be done to the color. And we had this idea that we wanted to make it feel like it was more of a processed, three-strip/colorized vibe of something like what would have been of the era, which meant that every shot had to be bespoke, color-timed, which is slow and difficult, but we didn’t want it to feel like it was just some regular show.

“And so, that’s why both versions have a really interesting stylistic value on their own, and it’s worth watching twice.”

‘Go farther’

Phil added, “And we like to push things really hard. We all talked about letting the sails out, really going for it. And then usually, you’re used to the studio calling and being like, ‘It’s too dark.’ The studio called and was like, ‘It’s not weird enough.’”

Chris said the studio advised, “Go farther.”

Phil chimed in, “‘You didn’t go hard enough.’ We dropped the phone.”

Oren explained, “And it was a challenge because we were going hard. And then when you go that hard with some of those blues and colors, skin tones go nuts. And so, there are so many windows. It’s just so much work to make sure that everybody doesn’t look like a pumpkin.”

Filming in black-and-white

Lamorne Morris, who plays Robbie Robertson, a reporter for The Daily Bugle, pointed out that filming in color and black-and-white also posed challenges for the cast. “It was interesting performing that way, too. I’d never been a part of anything like it when there were so many costume adjustments and placing you in different places, based on background and what you were in front of, which lapel we’re going with today, which pin we’re using, does it pop in black and white? Does it not?

“It took a while for me to get used to that, but then, obviously, watching the show, it worked. So the team, the set designers, costumers, everyone was on top of it.”

Oren added, “We actually got a couple of days to shoot early in July (2025), and then we shot a few months later. But it was a chance to test everything, and every department had a camera with the two different LUTs to test everything because if you shoot in just black-and-white, it’s like, (use) green lipstick because if you do red, it looks black.

“But Lamorne shot on one of those first days, and you (to Lamorne) walked into this hotel room set. And the walls are insane.”

Lamorne quipped, “I said, ‘Is this a crack house? Where are we?’”

Cast

Karen Rodriguez, who plays Girl Friday in Nicolas’ private investigator office, brings sass to the noir genre’s character staple.

“Oren, Steve, and Harry gave me a lot of freedom,” said “The Hunting Wives” and “Acapulco” star. “Because the character is an original, she is more in the tradition of noir Girl Friday. But she certainly is funny, so it was a lot of pace. I definitely learned that pretty quickly.

“The feeling of Janet is that she is a very modern woman. I thought that was such a special thing about her. That’s why she stays. That’s why she loves Ben. That’s why she loves her job. She’s not just a secretary. She’s the boss. That is her domain.

“And so for me, the tempo of Janet was, she is the boss, so she is holding the reins of scenes when she speaks. I trusted Oren very much when I needed to pick up the pace or something like that. That was my approach.”

The actress continued, “Very quickly, Janet reminded me of the women I had grown up with, women who love you really hard, but they are going to get you right. But it’s all done through love and a little bit of sass, for sure.

“And I remember once I met Nic, we did the table read, and I was really nervous. I was like, dude, I got to deliver because now, I really want this job. I’m here.”

The series also stars Li Jun Li, who was critically praised in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” Jack Huston, and Brendan Gleeson.

Chris shared, “Every director in town wanted to do the show because you’re like, when else can I shoot a noir with this cast?”

Phil commented, “And in Los Angeles.”

Phil Lord and Inquirer.net’s Ruben V. Nepales | CONTRIBUTED

Chris promised, “It gets so weird later in the season. I can’t wait. This stuff (first episodes) is pretty tame compared to where it goes.”

The new series, produced by Sony Pictures Television exclusively for MGM+ and Prime Video, will premiere globally on Prime Video on May 27.

Ruben V. Nepales is an LA-based journalist whose honors include nine first prizes from the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and the Los Angeles Press Club’s Southern California Journalism Awards. He authored “Through a Writer’s Lens,” which won first prize in nonfiction at the 2020-2021 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. In 2004, he became the first Filipino voter of the Golden Globe Awards, He is a member of the Golden Globe Foundation, one of Hollywood’s biggest philanthropic organizations.

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