‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ VFX Supervisor Compares Film to ‘The Hollow Man’

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse became one of the highest rated films of 2018 and is already considered one of the greatest comic book movies ever made.

Thanks to Marvel’s upcoming art book, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -The Art of the Movie, we now know a little history behind the animated film. The new collector’s item features a “stunning collection of art”, which includes “concept art, final designs, and artist commentary plus previously unseen storyboards.”

During an interview with Danny Dimian, the movie’s visual effects supervisor, the artist compares the new animated feature to the creative journey of one of Imageworks’ earlier projects.

“This return to Spider-Man reminds me of our work on The Hollow Man (2000),” says Dimian. “Back then, what we were trying to do wasn’t really available off the shelves, so we had to rethink everything. This time, though, we are not writing the software from scratch. We are trying to find a new technique to tell the story.”

In case you missed it back in the day, The Hollow Man was a sci-fi/horror film that followed Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Caine, a scientist who volunteers to become the human test subject for invisibility, which ultimately goes wrong. The film also features Elisabeth Shue (Adventures in Babysitting, The Boys), John Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2), Kim Dickens (Deadwood, Fear the Walking Dead), and Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

The movie was directed by Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall (1990), Starship Troopers) and written by Andrew W. Marlowe (Air Force One, Castle). It wasn’t well-received at the time, currently locked in at 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, there’s no denying that the visual effects were unprecedented at the time of its release. In fact, it was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, but was beat out by Gladiator.

Not only is Dimiam a Sony Pictures Imageworks veteran, but this isn’t his first foray into the wide world of Spider-Man. He also worked on the visual effects team for the first Spider-Man movie back in 2002. Other notable works include The Polar Express, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania, and The Angry Birds Movie.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse follows multiple versions of the friendly neighborhood hero, including the iconic Peter Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson). The film stars Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Liev Schreiber, Nicolas Cage, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Lily Tomlin, Kathryn Hahn, Brian Tyree Henry, and Luna Lauren Velez.

You can catch the movie in theaters now!

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse -The Art of the Movie is available to own on February 1st, 2019. You can pre-order it on Amazon now!