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Though he admits to not being an avid gamer, Destin Daniel Cretton, the director behind Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, has acknowledged that the latest video game adventures of the web-slinger played a significant role in shaping his take on the character.
In a recent interview, the filmmaker opened up about how PlayStation’s Marvel’s Spider-Man titles, developed by Insomniac Games, helped refine both the film’s action sequences and the portrayal of Peter Parker, a role that will see Tom Holland return to the suit.
Furthermore, Cretton, who previously helmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, also drew heavily from the Spider-Verse films and Sam Raimi’s work as essential to deliver a fresh vision for the iconic Stan Lee creation.
PlayStation Games Inspired Spider-Man: Brand New Day
The new Marvel Cinematic Universe installment finds Peter Parker in an extraordinarily lonely position: nobody remembers who he is after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Now, he must confront his rogues’ gallery of classic villains, while burdened by his dual identity.
Speaking with Polygon, Cretton confessed that he is “not a gamer” by any measure, yet he made a point of experiencing Insomniac’s critically acclaimed Spider-Man titles, considered some of the best in the superhero genre.
To shoot the film and capture Spider-Man’s essence, he deliberately assembled a production team filled with “obsessive gamers”. Many of his crew members were avid fans of the games, and the PS4 and PS5 Insomniac Games.
“They would do screen grabs of their play and bring it in and say like, ‘Can we pull this move off?’ So that was a great inspiration for things,” he said.
While the director did not specify which particular sequences he got from the games, it is likely that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will incorporate several signature movements from the games as they are the most fluid and complex representations of Spider-Man’s acrobatic abilities.
Spider-Verse and Sam Raimi’s Movies Also Inspired Spider-Man: Brand New Day
In preparation for the film, Cretton immersed himself in nearly every available Spider-Man adaptation, both live-action and animated. He paid special tribute to the Spider-Verse franchise, expressing admiration for producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s work.
“I love those movies and I love Chris and Phil. We definitely looked at those movies. We also drew inspiration from the video games. We drew inspiration from all the other Spider-Man movies. There wasn’t a place where we weren’t at least trying to find, you know, references of things that we could do in our movie that you haven’t really seen before in live action,” he explained.
The shadow of Sam Raimi’s early-2000s trilogy loomed especially large, particularly when it came to visualizing Spider-Man’s iconic web-swinging. Cretton and his team studied Raimi’s camera angles and choreography obsessively to figure out how to best portray his movements in the air.
“We looked at a lot of references of wingsuiters or parkour athletes online. Not only the athleticism, but how they capture it with GoPro cameras and selfie sticks. And we used all of that as inspiration as to what would be the best lenses and angles to really make you feel like you’re right there with Spider-Man,” Cretton explained.
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