Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man Performance in ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ is Based on Humphrey Bogart

Nicolas Cage is playing one of several Spider-Men (and women, and robots, and pigs) in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. When it came to approaching the role of Spider-Man Noir, Cage drew on some surprising inspirations: Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. In other words, get ready to hear Nicolas Cage doing a old-fashioned gangster voice, everyone.

In an attempt to give Tom Hardy a run for his money in the goofy voice department, Nicolas Cage tells EW that he drew on classic gangster and noir films to nail down his Spider-Man Noir voice. Spider-Man Noir is one of several spider-people that appear in the upcoming animated film, which brings together spider-powered heroes from alternate dimensions. In the comics, Spider-Man Noir is a darker, gun-toting Spider-Man from the 1930s, and Cage decided to go all-in on the 1930s noir aspect of his character.

“My character’s Spider-Man Noir,” the actor and human meme said. “He’s really Peter Parker from the ’30s. I tried to channel those noir films with [Humphrey] Bogart, and have those kinds of sounds that he might make with [James] Cagney, or Edward G. Robinson, that kind of way of talking. I tried to give the character that. It was a lot of fun. I think it should be quite funny. The movie definitely has a sense of humor, and that’s a good thing because it’s good for the whole family.”

I heard a brief snippet of Cage’s Spider-Man Noir voice during Into the Spider-Verse footage screened at Comic-Con, and I can confirm he’s definitely going for a kind of classic gangster-y voice. I would expect nothing less from Cage, who always gives his all, and then some, no matter what performance or film he’s involved with.

This won’t be the first time Cage is turning to a kind-of impression to play a superhero character. In Kick-Ass, the actor employed an Adam West-like cadence, with amusing results. Here’s a video from 2010 of Cage talking about his Kick-Ass voice.

Nicolas Cage Doing Nicolas Cage Stuff

“[The Adam West voice] came out of a rehearsal, when [director] Matthew (Vaughn) wanted me to have a yellow belt,” Cage told Empire when Kick-Ass came out. “And it looked so much like the belt from the ‘Batman’ TV show that I thought, ‘Well, why don’t we just go the whole way and have [my character] be channeling Adam West?’ Because that’s his Jungian muse, to help him accomplish the things he accomplishes. Adam West, is for me, the only Batman. He found the humour in the character and found the charm that the original Batman comics always had.”

The fact that Cage throws out the phrase “Jungian muse” tells you all you need to know, really. He didn’t just sit down and say, “I’m going to do a silly voice.” He actually put a lot of thought into it. And that’s why Nicolas Cage is the best.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse opens on December 14, 2018.

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