Nicolas Cage Reveals Inspirations for Spider-Man Noir Performance

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse star Nicolas Cage reveals the iconic Hollywood actors who inspired his voice performance for Spider-Man Noir. Helmed by directing trio Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians), Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman, Into The Spider-Verse was the first animated film in Sony’s Spider-Man franchise. The story of the film revolves around Miles Morales as he takes on the mantle of becoming the new Spider-Man and teams up with other Spider-People from various parallel universes to save his universe from the menacing Kingpin.

Alongside Cage, who plays Spider-Man Noir, the film features a stellar voice cast that includes Shameik Moore (as Morales), Jake Johnson, Chris Pine, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Zoe Kravitz, Kimiko Glenn, Kathryn Hahn, and Liev Schriber, who plays Kingpin. Into The Spider-Verse proved to be a massive commercial success and received universal acclaim, winning myriad accolades along the way, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2019. The film currently has two sequels, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Part One) and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Part Two), slated to release in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

While answering fan questions and comments in a recent video for GQ, Cage revealed that he was able to draw inspiration from some of his “own personal interests” for his performance as Spider-Man Noir in Into The Spider-Verse, which included actors who were prominent in the ’30s and ’40s, namely Hollywood icons Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney. Cage also expressed his delight at playing the part, stating that it was “fun” for him and he was satisfied with the fact that the studio let him run with it. Check out his quote below:

“Well, Spider-Man Noir was great. I really enjoyed playing that part. I liked it because I was able to bring some of my own personal interests in the early actors of the ’30s and ’40s, like Bogart and Cagney, that were in all those noir films. So that was fun for me. And they let me do it, which is unusual.”

The names in question don’t come as much of a surprise as they’re quite impressive and admirable sources of inspiration for the National Treasure actor. Both Bogart and Cagney simultaneously took Hollywood by storm in the 1930s and ’40s as the black and white visual style of film noirs was all the rage during that time. The two celebrated actors and Oscar winners share a plethora of films between them that filmmakers and actors like Cage are influenced by to this day, with Bogart starring in films like The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, and Cagney featuring in titles like Angels With Dirty Faces and Yankee Doodle Dandy.

While Cage has featured in some live-action superhero roles in films like the Ghost Rider series and Kick-Ass, Spider-Man Noir marks Nicolas Cage’s most significant and impactful superhero character to date. It’s safe to say that the Face/Off actor made good on his inspirations as he perfectly captured the personality and tone of a noir-themed character in his unique iteration of the charismatic web-slinger, becoming a fan-favorite character in the process. It’s unclear whether Cage will be reprising his role for Across The Spider-Verse, but with the myriad avenues of the multiverse already explored in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, audiences know that anything is possible and will remain hopeful in seeing one of their new beloved heroes make a much-awaited return.

Source: GQ