Annecy 2022: the animation festival caught in Spider-Man’s web
IThey look exhausted but relieved. On this Tuesday afternoon, slumped side by side on the sofa of a palace in Annecy, directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson are still savoring the phenomenal welcome received the day before, for the screening of a handful of scenes from Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Verse in front of an ecstatic audience, at 46e Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Direct continuation of Next Generation Spider-Mansmall masterpiece crowned with the Oscar for best animated film in 2019, Through the Spider-Verse continue the adventures, in an alternate dimension, of the young Latin American Miles Morales under the mask of the Spider. Released in 2018, the previous film was the first to explore, long before Spider-Man no coming home or the last strange doctorthe concept of the multiverse: in his own universe (baptized Earth-1610 in the comics), Miles became the Spider then joined forces with four versions of himself from other parallel worlds to fight the dreaded Caïd, while avoiding an interdimensional cataclysm.
Visually stunning with its innovative combination of graphic styles and textures, New generation managed the feat of catching young and old fans in its web, in the service of a pure animated blockbuster combining action, emotion and a hilarious humor but always respectful of the myth. A miracle. Its performance at the worldwide box office (375 million dollars, for a budget of 90 million), certainly far from the billion gleaned by other live-action superhero films, nevertheless made a sufficiently commendable affair to launch a new franchise. Scheduled in French theaters for May 31, 2023 (June 2 in the United States), Through the Spider-Verse will therefore continue the journey of Miles Morales in his life as a superhero, but this time he will be the one who will explore the various worlds of the multiverse, led by his interdimensional counterpart Spider-Gwen. The film will be followed by a very mysterious third part in 2024, called Beyond the Spider-Verse, currently being shot and which will complete the triptych. An infernal schedule for the directors and their teams subjected to untenable deadlines. Moreover, the output of ATSVoriginally scheduled for October 2022, has been postponed for seven months.
We have the responsibility to offer the public an unexpected spectacle, which will take the medium to new frontiers.Justin K. Thompson, co-director
Projected on Monday June 13 in the great hall Bonlieu, the images of Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Verse (a replay of the teaser unveiled by Sony in December 2021, plus two large extracts, plus visuals and animation tests) in any case left the audience speechless, jaw dropped. At first, phew: Through the Spider-Verse will indeed be at the height of its illustrious illustrious. “I don’t like the word pressure, but yes, we have a responsibility to offer the public an unexpected spectacle, which will take the medium to new frontiers, without ever losing sight of the fact that it is above all the story of a character: Miles Morales”, entrusts to the Pop Stitch Justin K. Thompson, the only member of the director trio to work directly on New generation (as production designer). Co-director of the magnificent Soul at Pixar, Kemp Powers assumes his status as a newcomer: “Like many people, I did not see the success of New generation. When I read the first announcement of the project, I believed in a direct-to-video. I realized my mistake when I saw the film, while I was working on Soul at Pixar. WOW! I was so not expecting that! New generation had exactly the same effect on me as Mad Max Fury Road and Parasite. The film fell a little under the radar when it was released, but its popularity was boosted by its Oscar and its streaming. I still read comments on the Internet from people who discover it and do not reject it. »
As for Joaquim Dos Santos (a little predisposed to the affair by his middle name: Aranha, spider in Portuguese!), he recalls that no less than 240 characters and six dimensions will be seen in Through the Spider-Verse and its sequel: “Warning: 240 characters obviously does not mean that there is a story for everyone! Between the teaser and the previews you saw on Monday, you’ve already seen four dimensions and we can’t wait to show you the other two. We’re all the more proud of the result because, unlike many superhero blockbusters, we really involved original comic artists like Rick Leonardi and Brian Stelfreeze in the character designs. Still written by the prodigy duo Chris Miller/Peter Lord (directors of The Lego Great Adventure, 21 Jump Street and its sequel…), ATSV promises an explosion of colors and movements at least as maddening as its predecessor. What about the two excerpts that formed the real main course of the Annecy event session?
Dizzying action scene at the Guggenheim Museum
Already shown by Miller and Lord last April, during CinemaCon in Las Vegas, these two sequences are taken from the opening of the film. In the first, lasting 11 minutes, we discover the world of Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Spider-Gwen for friends, still played by Hailee Steinfeld), in New York: in Earth-65, this variation female Spider-Man is a young adult, only daughter raised by her cop father (George Stacy, who does not know her secret identity) and wanted by the police for the murder of… Peter Parker. After a scene of dialogue between the Stacys at their home, the extract continues with the attack on the Guggenheim museum by an alternate version of the Vulture (historic enemy of Spider-Man in the comics), sporting a look and mechanisms taken from image of Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine. Linguistic detail: this Vulture speaks Italian! Spider-Gwen intervenes but the attacker quickly takes over and, before a fatal blow, the heroine is saved in extremis by two other intruders from another dimension: Miguel O’Hara, alias Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac) and five-month-pregnant biker black Spider-Woman Jessica Drew (Issa Rae).
At the end of the fight and after the three Spiders have combined their efforts to avert the danger, George Stacy takes advantage of a moment of inattention from the heroes to hold Spider-Gwen (still considered a murderer by the authorities) at gunpoint, who removes her mask and reveals to her dumbfounded father her double identity… No time to breathe! Her two accomplices save her from this bad situation and take her to another dimension, under her dad’s nose and beard. And us, the public, for having witnessed a fireworks display with this sequence always on the go, constantly inventive, always bewildering in its dynamism and aesthetic splendor. The look of the massive, high-tech Spider-Man 2099 is going to be all the rage, while Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew promises a heroine with maximum charisma. And again: most of the plans were not even finalized!
The second excerpt, about four minutes long, shows Miles Morales arriving late for an orientation appointment between his parents and the educational adviser of his high school. A hilarious and touching discussion ensues on the future of the young man, who wishes to undertake studies at Columbia University (located in the middle of Manhattan) while his parents would like to keep him in Brooklyn. Between his dumped cop father and his vehement mum, the scene unfolds in a delicious little family comedy, before Miles has to leave the scene in a hurry following the panic of his proverbial spider sense, a signal to a close imminent danger… The sequence ends with an enigmatic reflection of the adviser to Mrs.me Morales: “Your son is lying to you, and I believe you know it. »
Annecy’s ovation was a real vitamin shot for usJoaquim Dos Santos, co-director
Finally, the directors unveiled in Annecy, this time in world exclusivity, the identity and the look of the main supervillain of this adventure: The Spot. Created in 1984 in the magazine Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Manrenamed La Tâche in the magazine Nova from the Lug editions which, in France, published the comic book, this character with a white silhouette speckled with black circles has the power to control the interdimensional passage at will thanks to ebony circles launched like so many portals. Played by Jason Schwartzman (regular in Wes Anderson films), The Spot, at first glance, is a slightly disappointing choice, but the authors assure him: the more he masters his powers over the course of the story, “the more he will become a threat which could well plunge the entire multiverse into the abyss”. Other sketches and an animation test will finish pulling off a new burst of “Haaaa” and “Hoooo” from an audience applauding wildly at the end of the 45-minute presentation.
Behind the scenes, as revealed by Lord and Miller in Las Vegas, some thousand people have been working tirelessly for more than two years to make this Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Verse. That is 200 more than on New generation which, already, beat all records in terms of logistics. We dare not imagine the amount of computer tools and the degree of technology mobilized to provide a film responsible for blowing our hair as much as in 2018. The trio of directors admits that the cheers from Annecy had their little effect : “Wow, we could really use you some days at the office! Our musketeers declared on stage. And Joachim Dos Santos confides in us at the end of our short interview: “This ovation was a real shot of vitamins that reassured us that we were going in the right direction, to do our job well. I can’t wait to show you the sequel. And we discover it.