‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Featurette Shows Nicolas Cage Going “Full Cage”

A new Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse featurette has made its way online, which peels back the curtain on one of the film’s breakout performances.

The featurette, which you can check out above, provides a bit of behind-the-scenes insight into Spider-Man Noir, who was portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the Sony animated film. The video shows Cage recording some of his dialogue for the Oscar-winning film, as well as a story about when the actor decided to go “Full Cage” with the role.

Spider-Man Noir was created in 2009 as part of the larger Marvel Noir universe. This take on Peter Parker was a reporter’s apprentice during the Great Depression, only to be bitten by an illegally imported spider. As with most iterations of Spider-Man, the bite gave Peter superhuman abilities, which he used to fight against crime in New York City. A collected edition of the Spider-Man Noir comics is set to be released later this year.

As it turns out, Cage was the very first person to join Spider-Verse‘s star-studded ensemble.

“We showed him some artwork we had created for the film and pitched the character to him and he was immediately in. Noir was a character that spoke to him. And the black and white costume was the icing,” co-director Bob Persichetti said in the film’s art book. “He was our first official lead cast because it felt so right. So we actually cast him over two years ago, but he couldn’t tell anyone.”

“He never took [his sunglasses] off, and never broke character. There was a palpable Humphrey Bogart energy that he brought into the room. It was really fun,” Persichetti continued. “We worked through his lines in three hours. He delivered awesome pulp magazine style line reads, and also comedy pulp style readings. He’s so good at it! Then we were done, he said his goodbyes, walked out of the room and that was it! No small talk, it was all business. He was just amazing.”

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is available on Digital HD, and will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD later this month.