Creating a live-action spin-off of an animated film is a unique kind of risk. That’s especially true for Sony and Prime Video’s Spider-Noir, which will star Nicolas Cage as the character he stole the show with in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. That animated film was a visual feast, so there may be a slight downgrade in translating that story to live action.
Things have gotten even dicier courtesy of Esquire’s exclusive new look at the series. While Prime’s first offering from Spider-Noir teased a high-contrast black-and-white look along the lines of Sin City, the streamer will reportedly give audiences the option to watch the show in color, too. Two versions of Spider-Noir will be available to stream on Prime Video: one will be a stylized monochrome, and the other is the show’s own take on Technicolor.
Per co-showrunner Oren Uziel, the Spider-Noir team went ot great lengths to achieve a vintage-looking color effect. “It looks like a black and white film that's been kind of colorized,” he told Esquire. “That was one of the inspirations for how to do it.”
Spider-Noir will give fans the option to watch the show in monochrome or “True-Hue” color.
Not every frame was recolored by hand, but the team’s patented process was thorough. On-set cameras captured digital footage that was later calibrated into both grayscale and grainy, vintage color. Maintaining that Old Hollywood look while embracing the full spectrum of color and light was a challenge, but early images tease a payoff that’s sure to put sticklers at ease. This tribute to Technicolor even has a name: “True-Hue.” There’s no concrete release date for Spider-Noir yet, but when it does officially launch on Prime Video, fans will get to curate their own experience.
“The truth is, they both work and they’re beautiful for different reasons,” Cage told Esquire. “The color is super saturated and gorgeous. I think teenage viewers will appreciate the color, but I also want them to have the option. If they want to experience the concept in black and white, maybe that would instill some interest in them to look at earlier movies and enjoy that as an art form as well.”
Spider-Noir is already a risky project, but it’s nice to see its creators lean into that to create something new, rather than playing it safe. And if the show works out, it will be nice to have an excuse to watch it twice.
