At this point, it seems like calling Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse one of the most remarkable visual achievements in film is a pedestrian statement. The beauty of the film is well understood, but even within a movie that is beautiful, there are elements of it that are even more incredible, and the watercolor world of Gwen Stacy is one of them. The world changes with the emotions of Gwen Stacy and voice actress Hailee Steinfeld called the world a “mood ring.”
CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell had a chance to speak with the cast of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and he asked the voice of Gwen Stacy about Gwen’s world since it wasn’t something she was able to actually see until the film was completed. She was, however, told what the world would look like, or more accurately, how it would feel, and the filmmakers clearly nailed that goal perfectly. Steinfeld explained…
That was how it was first described to me by Kemp [Powers] and Lauren Miller they basically just said ‘To give you an idea of what Gwen’s world is it’s like a mood a ring. It will visually change as her circumstances change and the emotions that she feels, we will feel in the audience, on screen.
Miles Morales is still the ultimate protagonist of the franchise, but Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is just as much a Gwen Stacy movie, the primary character arc of the film is actually hers, as she grapples with decisions that she must make, and how those choices will impact the people that she cares about.
There’s an almost ethereal quality to the world of Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. While the world of Miles Morales feels more like our own, Gwen’s is much more abstract. Most of Gwen’s world that we actually see is her apartment, but even that changes from one scene to the next, and even one shot to the next, as Gwen’s emotions literally color her world.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gave us only the briefest glimpses of the different worlds that the various Spider-Man characters came from. Across the Spider-Verse takes Miles Morales out of his own world and lets him visit other places, which gives the animators the ability to create words as diverse as the characters that inhabit them.
Based on the critical response to Across the Spider-Verse as well as the film’s box office success, the bar has been set quite high for the final film in the trilogy. The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ending tells us where the next movie will begin, but there are few Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse details out there, so where it will go, and how it will top what has come before it, is anybody’s guess at this point.
