SPIDER-NOIR Star Brendon Gleeson Describes His Character as a "Philosopher" Villain
Amazon Prime Video and MGM+'s Spider-Noir TV series is currently in production and Nicolas Cage is set to star in the series as the title character with Brendon Gleeson taking on the role of the villain.
Gleeson recently broke his silence on the role in a recent interview with Variety, and he offered some insight into the character that he’s playing.
When talking about meeting Cage, Gleeson said: "It was brief because it was just at a reading, but it was nice because it was enough to say 'Yeah, that's exactly who I thought it'd be.’
“He's great, he's really great, and I can't wait to get going. I've shot one thing and it wasn't a scene with him yet, but that's all to come so I'm looking forward to it."
When asked to describe his villain, the actor explained: "I think of him as more of a philosopher, he has kind of a drone-eye view of things, but he can be equally dangerous."
Spider-Man franchise producer Amy Pascal has also been speaking about the series and praised Cage while catching up with Deadline earlier this week.
"He's gonna be amazing playing that character. A broken down, busted Spider-Man. That will be great," she teased. "I'm working on the next Spider-Man movie and the next Spider-Verse movie. You can expect a lot of Spider-Man in the next couple of years."
In a separate interview with Yahoo, Pascal talked about visiting the Spider-Noir set: "We're really proud of that. I was on the set of it for Nic's first day and he looks fabulous. All things Spider-Man are good with me."
When the series was first announced, we learned that it would follow 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.”
It was also reported that Spider-Noir will not be Peter Parker, but instead, Ben Reilly. "Amazon Prime is set to bring a fresh twist to the Spider-Man saga with their upcoming show. Breaking from tradition, this series will feature Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly, rather than the iconic Peter Parker."
It was later revealed that Spider-Noir will find himself facing off with Silvio Manfredi, aka Silvermane, and Yuri Watanabe, aka Wraith.
Another description of the series reads: "We follow Ben Reilly, a PI, as he stumbles down a rabbit hole of corruption in 1933 New York City, while also establishing his past as a superhero.
“Reilly investigates the death of Edward Addison, which leads him to discover that the Mayor is up to something nefarious that involves crime boss Silvermane and femme fatale Yuri Watanabe."
Spider-Noir is being developed by Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot, who will also serve as co-showrunners and executive producers. They developed the series with the Into the Spider-Verse team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, all of whom will also executive produce.
Other cast members include Lamorne Morris, Lukas Haas, Abraham Popoola, Li Jun Li. Britton, Cary Christopher, Michael Kostroff, Scott MacArthur, Joe Massingill, Whitney Rice and Amanda Schull.