Last month, it was reported that Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage was in “serious talks” to reprise his “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” role for a live-action “Spider-Man Noir” series incarnation. And just this past weekend, during a recent chat with Collider at the SXSW festival in Austin to promote his new film “Arcadian,” Cage confirmed those conversations. The actor also cited some of the period aspects as being an appealing angle, being able to channel 1930s screen legends like Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney for his performance in the Spidey variant series.
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“Well, I can say that we have been talking. It’s no secret that I love the character,” Cage revealed. “I think the character provides another mash-up of sorts. I can combine my favorite golden age performances, i.e., Robinson, Cagney, Bogart, with a character that is, I guess, widely considered [to be] Stan Lee’s masterpiece. I see it as a kind of foray into a pop art mash-up of, sort of, a [Jungian], Lichtenstein mash-up by way of Bogart and Cagney, but nothing’s definitive yet. It’s just conversation.”
Mentioning that string of classic actors isn’t that shocking given that “Spider-Man Noir” is expected to take place in 1930s New York City, allowing him to combat various gangsters and fight Nazis in the Big Apple. The Spider-Noir version of Peter Parker, seen in the aforementioned “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse,” and its sequel briefly, is a private detective and, as the name suggests, will have a darker/mature tone given it will be set within the noir genre. If there were ever a driving force to get the cinephile actor to tackle a television project allowing him to channel iconic actors from the early 1930s, this would certainly be one way to do it.
Sony Television and Amazon Prime Video previously tapped Steve Lightfoot to oversee “Spider-Man Noir” as showrunner following his run writing on the Netflix series version of “The Punisher” that starred Jon Bernthal, who is set to reprise that role in “Daredevil: Born Again.” As you might already know, the show is produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who have been the creative force on the “Spider-Verse” trilogy and are also behind a live-action “Silk: Spider Society” show that is receiving a creative overhaul.
We’ll have to wait to see if Cage ultimately commits to “Spider-Man Noir” and who they’ll cast around him as noir projects are known for two-faced femme fatals, backstabbing pals, and squirrely villains working all kinds of angles.