There have been many big-screen interpretations of Spider-Man over the years, with Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse managing to offer a refreshing new take on the web-slinging hero from Marvel Comics, introducing viewers to Miles Morales and the many other versions of Spider-Man that have cropped up over the years. The film even went on to win an Oscar for best animated feature — but just because it was greeted enthusiastically by fans and critics alike doesn’t mean it didn’t require a whole lot of editing prior to hitting theaters.
In fact, Phil Lord, the writer and producer of the film, dove into the behind-the-scenes planning and editing on Twitter this weekend. He shared the “storywheel” for the movie, explaining how the creative team made some massive changes to the film later on in the production process, going so far as to drastically alter the last stretch of the movie within a year of the release date.
“We did a big shakeup of the story less than a year from release and we had to figure out how to reshape sequences we had already boarded and animated and fold them in with new stuff,” Lord explained. “Oh and we rebroke the whole third act.”
So here is the “storywheel” of @SpiderVerse . We did a big shakeup of the story less than a year from release and we had to figure out how to reshape sequences we had already boarded and animated and fold them in with new stuff. Oh and we rebroke the whole third act. pic.twitter.com/NYPcaPcXfH
— Phil Lord (@philiplord) March 22, 2020
“These dumb whiteboards became our bible,” Lord said in another tweet. “It made sense basically to no one but us.
"This is not a flex. This is embarrassing that we hadn’t figured it out this late in the process. It’s more to illustrate that it IS a process. Always."
Spider-Verse associate editor provided s’more details on what went down, saying he locked himself in a room for two days while he worked through the story. “I mocked up a new version of the 3rd Act,” he wrote. “It was a huge undertaking. A lot of this pass was kept and iterated on for the final film. Some of it was structural like enhancing and tying together the beats we already had… But at the same time…”
However chaotic the process was, the final product seems to have benefited. Not only did Into the Spider-Verse win an Oscar and do well at the box office, but its success has spurred other Spider-Verse projects, including live-action television series.
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