Nicolas Cage has been spotted for the first time filming the upcoming live-action series Spider-Man Noir, in which he plays an aging version of the superhero.
Spider-Man Noir was created for the comic books in 2008 as a darker, more morally ambiguous version of the classic chipper character.
In this version, Spider-Man is a brooding vigilante in 1930s America who sometimes resorts to bloodthirsty methods in his quest to fight organized crime.
Cage, 60, first played the role in voiceover for the acclaimed 2018 animated movie Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
Now the character is getting the live-action treatment for the Amazon Prime Video series Noir – which Cage was seen shooting on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Nicolas Cage has been spotted for the first time filming the upcoming live-action series Spider-Man Noir, in which he plays an aging version of the superhero
Read More Inside Hollywood’s super spenders: From Paris Hilton’s $325k dog mansion to Nicolas Cage splashing $276k on a stolen dinosaur skull – as Mariah Carey’s out of control’ $1million-a-month spending is revealed
Fittingly, Cage appeared in a costume and aspect that looked as if it were pulled straight out of one of the film noir masterpieces of Old Hollywood.
In a touch even more well-suited to the genre, the scene took place in a dimly lit, desolate outdoor urban setting after dark.
He was wrapped in a long dark coat befitting a Depression-era detective over a three-piece suit, and his character had what appeared to be a bruise on one cheek.
At one point, he was seen kneeling, staring forward in evident concern – and at another moment he was on his back.
In footage that has surfaced form the set, Cage began the sH๏τ lying on his back, then abruptly rolled over and pulled himself up to a kneeling position.
He then sprang to his feet and darted off quickly to one side, at which point that particular sH๏τ appeared to be over.
Cage bore an eerie resemblance to Humphrey Bogart, whom he previously cited as one of his influences while playing the character in voiceover in 2018.
‘I tried to channel those noir films with Bogart, and have those kinds of sounds that he might make with [James] Cagney, or Edward G. Robinson, that kind of way of talking,’ Cage told Entertainment Weekly at the time.
At one point, he was seen dropping to a squat, staring forward in evident concern – and at another moment he was on his back, apparently crying out
Cage, 60, first played the role in voiceover for the acclaimed 2018 animated movie Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (pictured)
Cage has cited the Old Hollywood film noir icon Humphrey Bogart as one of his influences while he was playing the character in voiceover in 2018
It was announced this May that Cage had been tapped to star in Noir, a live-action serious about the character he previously only played as a cartoon.
The logline describes the show as being about ‘an aging and down on his luck private investigator (Cage) in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero,’ via Variety.
Cage, a longtime movie star who won an Oscar for his 1995 turn in Leaving Las Vegas, has never been a regular on a TV series before.
Two months before the new show was officially announced, he dished that he was toying with the idea of playing Spider-Man Noir on the small screen.
‘Well, I can say that we have been talking. It’s no secret that I love the character. I think the character provides another mashup of sorts,’ he spilled.
‘I tried to channel those noir films with Bogart, and have those kinds of sounds that he might make with [James] Cagney, or Edward G. Robinson, that kind of way of talking,’ said Cage
‘I can combine my favorite golden age performances, ie Robinson, Cagney, Bogart, with a character that is, I guess, widely considered Stan Lee’s masterpiece,’ he said.
‘I see it as a kind of foray into a pop art mashup of, sort of a Jungian, Lichtenstein, mashup by way of Bogart and Cagney, but nothing’s definitive yet. It’s just conversation,’ he told Collider at the time.
He drew widespread praise earlier this year for his villainous role in the horror movie Longlegs, which became a social media sensation.
The movie was written and directed by Osgood Perkins, the son of Anthony Perkins, who played the murderer Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.
Longlegs stars Maika Monroe as an FBI agent on the hunt for a serial killer (Cage) who leaves a note that reads: ‘LONGLEGS,’ with the corpse of each of his victims.