He wove a tangled web.
Prime Video’s new superhero series, “Spider-Noir,” stars Nicolas Cage as a down-on-his-luck PI version of Spider-Man, living in 1930s New York City. The audience isn’t passive; there’s an additional element of viewer participation: you get to decide how to watch the story — in black and white, or in color.
For production designer Warren Alan Young, working on the show was “the equivalent of making three series at the same time.”
“[I was] asked to also develop a color look, and also shoot both at the same time,” he added, noting that he worked on the project for ten months. “The greatest challenge was discovering which colors, textures and patterns worked well” for both versions of each episode. They used various camera filters, and tested how everything looked both still and in motion.
The show follows Ben Reilly (Cage), aka “The Spider,” who stepped away from his superhero past, but now must resume it. The cast also includes Lamorne Morris (“New Girl”), Brendan Gleeson, and Li Jun Li (“Sinners”).
Although Cage is a Hollywood legend, who has “done it all” on the big screen, Warren said, the show is his starring TV debut.
The production designer, who has also worked on “Fargo,” said that they had to do camera tests in both color and black and white, for “every color, every texture, every fabric” right down to minor details — such as “a belt, or a sock, or a detail on the bedding.”
The process was “extraordinarily involved,” he told us.
Young didn’t feel “limited” in their color palette. They mostly used cyans, reds, greys, and violets, with splashes of orange. But what mattered most was “the degree to which colors were warmer or colder.”
To re-create 1930s Manhattan, they filmed the show on soundstages in Los Angeles, the backlots of Warner Brothers and Universal Studios, and in LA’s historic old bank district.
During his research, he found the “phenomenal” Australian born American artist, Martin Lewis, whose 1920s and ‘30s charcoal and pencil drawings of Manhattan street scenes partly inspired the show’s aesthetic.
Young also consulted photos from the era, including images of train systems, cafes, and even street signs – he noted details like, “the letters would be smaller” on street signs in the ‘30s than they are today.
One thing that wasn’t an inspiration? Warren Beatty’s 1990 film “Dick Tracy.”
“With all due respect, we weren’t looking to go that way,” said Young.
“Even though we’re portraying a comic book character, we wanted to be set in a bit more realism.”
Although viewers can choose if they want to watch the show in black and white or color, Young advised us to “start with the black and white,” because it’s “unique.”
But, he quipped, “I will probably have this debate with myself for the rest of my life.”
“Spider-Noir” is now streaming on Prime Video.
