Spider-Man: Brand New Day made Hollywood history this summer when it was released, and the biggest movie ever at the domestic box office is finally coming home. Now available on digital platforms and arriving on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD later this year, the home media release is filled to the brim with special features that go behind the scenes of the making of Marvel’s latest hit. Now, ComicBook has an exclusive look at one of these videos, showing off a hint of what went into filming the practical stunts on the movie and why it was so important.
“Webs, Wires, and Runaway Tanks” not only shows off how second unit director and stunt coordinator Peng Zhang and his stunt team worked with star Tom Holland and director Destin Daniel Cretton to bring the movement of Spider-Man’s world to life in camera. “We looked at all the Spider-Man movies,” Zhang says in our exclusive clip about the making of Brand New Day. “There’s a lot of beautiful CG moments, but a real move from humans. People can read it, people can feel it.” Get a glimpse of it yourself below.
Speaking with ComicBook in a previous interview about his work on the film, Zhang made it clear that working on Spider-Man: Brand New Day was a special one for him since it actually had its lead actor performing so many of his own stunts instead of handing off the responsibilities to a double.
“This one is quite special because when he [Tom] performs in the action, even with the mask on, you really feel how he acts in the suit with the action. So we actually really benefit from what Tom can do,” Zhang said. “We design something because Tom is so good, we don’t really hold back. It’s not, ‘Okay, this is Tom. Let’s design something easy.’ The things in the action we do with him are always the same as his stunt double or the same as everybody else. We set the bar pretty high. And he actually didn’t have a lot of time to train, but he can always do it. It’s our luck to have an actor who can physically do stuff like this.”
Zhang also revealed that the commitment by the Spider-Man: Brand New Day team to getting things done on set and in-camera rather than relying on visual effects did run into some challenges. He confirmed that the big set piece with the ninjas fighting Spider-Man in the prison was the most difficult for him to figure out, but not for the reason you think.
“We chose to shoot the sequence in a real location, which is a prison,” Zhang said. “It gave us a big challenge of how we’re going to do all that wire work because everything there is concrete and steel. It’s not like a stage [where] you can set up a wire, pick a point, and you can easily move your camera, but everything you saw in the movie is actually there. It’s nothing CGI, and it’s actually not a set. Everything’s real: steel bars and concrete for us to pull off those moves. It’s difficult enough on a stage; then when you go there all the wirework is people pulling the wire cannot even see the person.”
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is available now on Digital-HD platforms, and will be released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD December 15th, with collectible editions confirmed to be released alongside traditional versions.
