Original-Cin Q&A: Spider-Noir's Dark Characters Talk Nic Cage, B&W vs Colour and '30s Lingo, See?

By John Kirk

Think grit. Think noir. Think 1930’s New York.

Now think Spider-Man.

As unlikely as this combination may seem, this is the setting for Spider-Noir, Prime Video’s foray into the universe of Spider-Man – or more specifically, the Spider-Verse, featuring none other than comic book aficionado, Nicolas Cage.

It’s a hard-boiled detective story from the 1930’s (streamable in both colour and era-appropriate black-and-white) in which Cage plays ace private eye, Ben Reilly (who Spider-Man fans will recognize as the name of Spider-Man’s clone), aka The Spider. He was New York’s only superhero, before giving up the cowl and settling into a lonely life of Depression-era obscurity following a personal tragedy.

Li Jun Li as femme fatale Felicia Hardy in Spider-Noir

Original-Cin sat down with some of the cast of Prime Video’s foray into the multiverse, Spider-Noir. We wanted to ask Li Jun Li (femme fatale Felicia “Cat” Hardy), Jack Huston (Flint Marko, a.k.a. The Sandman) and Abraham Popoola (Lonnie Lincoln, a.k.a. Tombstone) about the noir, the fun, the balance between light, the dark, and their characters’ natures.

And, of course, working with Cage.

We began by asking the cast what they found was fun.

Jack Huston: “Wow … phew. I think that we really became a family in this series. Watching these characters brought to life. It really pops. You hear the dialogue and it really keeping that ‘30s cadence up and playing up to these films that came before. It was amazing trying to give it a modern twist trying to make it all come to life.”

Abraham Popoola: “You know, I think I really had the most amount of fun watching you guys (indicating Huston and Li). You know, popping in and see what Li Li’s doing. I mean, my mind was saying to me, ‘What is going on?’ and going absolutely insane watching these incredible performances. Across the board, not just the main cast, every character pops in every conceivable way. So, for me, that was really fun to take in.”

There’s an assumed duality behind this question that is matched by the nature of the characters as well as the show’s colour and black-and-white format. The cast commented on that.

Popoola: “Duality. That’s actually the whole nature of the show.”

Huston: “Yeah.”

Popoola: “Everyone has a duality. My character, who is in a bad situation but trying to do a good thing? But then he finds out that doing a good thing isn’t necessarily the right thing. And, Oren (Oren Uziel – writer and show-runner) is so open to that, you know, people trying to find that depth of character.”

Li: “For Cat Hardy, she’s innately a good person, you know despite the fact that she is the femme fatale of the show. But you know, we talk about this all the time: humanizing your character – no true villain.”

Huston: “Yeah. It’s an interesting concept, bringing out the duality of people. We’re all going through an internal struggle. It doesn’t make them true villains but more like anti-heroes. Good people can do bad things in desperate situations, so we’re sort of being led down darker paths than we’d like to be.”

Of course, there was the whole idea of releasing the series in both colour and black and white formats. What did the cast think about delivery?

Li: “Well, I think the black and white really captures the aesthetic of the noir, that stylistic authenticity to what the characters are trying to convey. But I think that our cast along with Oren have found this balance between keeping aesthetically true and adding that contemporary delivery as well so that it can be viewed by today’s audience in the colour version. I think we did a pretty good job!”

Huston: “It’s important to know that I sort of thought I was being a bit of a purist. I thought I’d gravitate towards the black and white, but we were lucky enough to see both ways, and I think it’s a wonderful way to open up the door to a younger audience and an older audience because you can watch it in black and white and then go back to colour.”

That opened up some thought about whether the re-iteration of these characters affected the performances of the cast. After all, we are seeing noir versions of these comic characters.

Li: “We were all given a blank canvas. Oren made it a point that he would only do this if he really gets to go to town and create his own world. So, I think we went in there and were able to be creative. And my character was based around little pieces of Felicia Hardy’s background. Then we added our own inspirations from the classic themes and femme fatales of the old films. So, yeah.”

Popoola: “Yeah, for me, I’m very much aware of the iterations of Tombstone and the other characters. Tombstone is such an exciting cool character. There was one that came out recently, and it was incredible in a video game. I felt really pressured that I can’t be that fantastic, but then it kind of enforced the idea that he (Lonnie) is a blank canvas for me and that I can really do my thing.”

Huston: “Wow, you just told me all sorts of things that I didn’t know! (Laughs) I think I need to come to you for more information. That was so great. You know, Oren really created something so unique, so original that it almost didn’t have to be in the Spider-Verse. But it was and that’s what made it much more special that he was creating something with a long-standing love of film noir and of comic books and mashing them together.”

Thinking about it, the dominant part of the series is the basis it has in the comics, but with the Spider-Verse, any version could have been chosen. In this case, it was the film noir version of Spider-Man that took the centre stage.

Comics have always been a melodramatic medium; so is film noir. The moods are darker, the violence more abrupt and the passions are richer. But the more heightened these are in either medium, the more fun the story is. That’s what brings out heightened performances.

Of course, there was Nicolas Cage.

Li Jun Li shared this observaiton.

“You know, in terms of the casting, we just kind of had chemistry instantly. When we all met each other for the first time at the table read, the rhythm kind of just took care of itself. I mean, I have to admit that I did not know that Nic has just such rhythm, but it really pulled me to step up. He really elevated our work.”

Popoola: “Actually, we would have conversations - before we started and a sit-down before we shot – during the whole process, about how our characters relate to each other and our shared past. Yeah, it created such a wonderful experience. The camaraderie our characters have and we got a chance to embody that.”

Huston: “You were excited. All of us. Every time we were in a scene, we were having fun! Even in the darkest scenes, we were like, “This is great This is amazing!” And you know with Nic, I said, “Come to the table,” and we ordered him to go into his Ben Reilly! It was like: Oooh, the bar has been raised!”

Spider-Noir streams on Prime Video May 27.