How ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Benefited From 3 Different Directors

When Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse swings in theaters later this month, it will be the culmination of a years-long effort at Sony Pictures Animation. The movie reportedly used over a hundred animators and it features an ensemble cast of voice actors.

Into The Spider-Verse also features three directors — Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman — a move which benefited the production dramatically, according to producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord.

In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian, Miller and Lord explained the process behind bringing three directors on board an animated movie.

“Often it can be if people are trying to make a different movie, right?” Miller said. “This is a situation where the movie was so ambitious, it was trying to do so many groundbreaking things in its visual style, in its storytelling style, in its cinematic style. Everything about it … The sound mix was probably going to be groundbreaking, so it required a lot of work.”

“Every version of these movies is a collaboration of hundreds of filmmakers working together, and in the best versions people are contributing their creative ideas, and the people, the directors, and the producers are the ones that get to decide which of the things fit the road that you’re going down.”

Lord went on to call the directors superheroes, saying they each brought a superpower to the table.

“Each of those guys had their own superpower,” Lord said. “I think it’s our preferred way to make movies is to bring a lot of talented people together and collaborate. It’s the most fun. You learn the most, and I think you get the best work.”

Though the trio appeared to work well with the producers, Miller made sure to point out any production that hires three directors will have a certain amount of creative differences.

“It wasn’t always easy because obviously with a bunch of opinionated, creative people, there’s going to be moments where you’re like, ‘Well, I think it should be this way to solve this thing that we’re trying to do,’ but it was a slow and sometimes painful process, but ultimately the best idea would win, and we were able to make something that we all knew was something special,” Miller reflected.

As of this writing, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is still rocking a perfect 100% Fresh rating on the review-aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes, which has taken 50 reviews into account.

Are you looking forward to Into The Spider-Verse in a few weeks? Which Spidey character are you looking forward to seeing most on the silver screen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse swings into theaters December 14th.