SPIDER-VERSE Composer Talks About Pressure of Delivering a Great Third Film - "You Don't Want to Godfather It"
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ended with a pretty big cliffhanger, and since then we’ve been excitedly waiting to see how the story will continue in the next film, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
The creative team is hard at work developing that third movie, and now the film's composer Daniel Pemberton has offered an update and some insight on the pressure that they are all feeling to deliver a great conclusion to the story.
Pemberton obviously isn’t going to share any details on the story, but he did admit that the team is hoping to avoid the mistakes that other film trilogies have made and explains that the don’t want to “Godfather it.”
He said: "They are beavering away on it as we speak and I think the main thing for everyone is we are so proud of what we have done on these movies and you want a classic trilogy, you don’t want to let it down, you don’t want to Godfather it. We are feeling added pressure - in capital letters, underlined, with a big exclamation mark at the end."
Pemberton added that he also wants fans to know that the next film continues to push boundaries and offer something new to audiences.
He said: "I think with these films we have always said 'what do we want to see, what do we want to experience, what will make us excited?' I always think about the audience but myself as the audience - how will I respond the best to this scene?
“If you do it in a way you have heard a million times before, it’s boring. I’ve seen that in so many films - you either reheat an old meal or make something fresh, and we are always trying to work out how to do the latter. But the high bar has been set."
The composer goes on to to about why these films and the scores resonate with audiences saying: "Another reason these films and scores have resonated so much with people is because it’s a universe where there is cohesion - so many of these superhero universes have different composers, directors, and approaches, so nothing links up musically but here it all does.
He continued: “Every choice in the score is a very considered one and there are musical clues about things, people, events, situations, and characters - they link from the first to the second film and hopefully into the third film. There’s secrets in there."
Pemberton goes on to admit that "there is pressure to add these details. If you have good base ingredients you can go to lots of places with them. That’s what’s been so interesting - like trying to find these character themes that are instantly recognizable in two seconds, and that’s another reason they have all taken off on TikTok because it’s so immediate.
“But I need to also write ones I know I can adapt and then find ways to adapt them. Like how do you turn Miles’ destiny theme into something else or how does the Spider-Man theme give you a different emotion? That puzzle is an exciting part of being a composer but also it’s satisfying for a viewer when it feels bigger."
Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller previously talked about this movie saying: "It will be a very satisfying conclusion. It goes even more emotionally deep into the relationships between Miles, Gwen, Peter B., [and Miles’] parents."
Lord He went on to talk about the cliffhanger ending of the second movie, which featured Miles stuck in the wrong universe facing off against a variant of himself, who happens to be the Prowler.
He said: "The big thing that’s interesting for Miles [in Beyond the Spider-Verse] is how do you deal with a sense of betrayal and turn it into something affirmative?
“And I think that the thing that we try to do with these movies is represent goodness and show how the love that the characters in the movie have for Miles translates into his growth and success."
Beyond the Spider-Verse was originally supposed to be released in 2024 before its release date was removed from the schedule. There’s no word on when it will be released right now.
Source: GamesRadar