In recent days, you might have seen that Jason Schwartzman was cast to voice The Spot in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The surprise comes not in Schwartzman’s casting, but that The Spot is the big baddie this time. The Spot isn’t a very well-known villain, in fact, he pretty lame, but whatever alternate universe version we’re going to see will be a worthy foe.
Or so that’s the plan director Joaquim Dos Santos has for the character, whose body is covered in interdimensional “spots” that he can move across at will. He said in a recent interview…
“Pretty early on we knew the Spot was going to be our main villain. Without an awesome villain, who you sort of can understand with their through-line, you don’t really have a strong story for your main character. So he’s an awesome sort of opposite to Miles.”
“And his living ink really is just, I think we’ve all been saying, it’s not just an effect,” Dos Santos continued. “It’s artistry come to life. It’s something that can only really happen in animation.”
“You can imagine Spot as a dude in a sock suit in a live-action Spider-Man film. It’s not going to work. It’s just not going to work. So he’s art come to life. He’s the inkwell spilled on the page. It all goes back to sort of comic books and comic book art.”
“That’s not a costume, that’s his skin. It’s not a guy in a polka dot suit. That’s actually his skin. So you know, the arc of Dr. Ohnn Spot is one that does really complement, without giving away the story, the journey of Miles in this film really well”, said co-director Kemp Powers.
Schwartzman joins a voice cast that features Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, Issa Rae, Shea Whigham, and Jorma Taccone.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opens June 2nd 2023.
