May 29, 2026 • 21 mins
Spider-Man. Nicolas Cage. Film noir. Brendan Gleeson. Spider-Noir. A black-and-white detective story wrapped inside a Marvel universe.
Yeah, we’re doing that this week.
On this episode of Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon, I sit down with Nicolas Cage and Brendan Gleeson to talk all about Prime Video’s Spider-Noir, the stylish new live-action series based on one of the coolest Spider-Man variants ever created.
Nic shares how Spider Noir became one of the rare projects that turned out exactly the way he imagined it, the artistic influences behind his performance and which one of his iconic characters he’d throw into Spider Noir’s world just to watch the chaos unfold.
Brendan Gleeson joins me to discuss stepping into the role of Silvermane, why he decided to reinvent the character for this version of the story, working alongside Nicolas Cage and what makes Spider-Noir feel so different from traditional superhero fare.
Plus, I make my case for why you should absolutely watch the series in authentic black and white. I’m not saying I’m right… but I’m right.
If you’re a Spider-Man fan, a Nicolas Cage fan, a Brendan Gleeson fan, a noir fan or just someone who misses when comic book adaptations took weird creative swings, this episode is for you.
Let’s go.
If you dig the show, subscribe, rate, and share - and tell your friend who's always stealing your streaming passwords.
📍 Watch now on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast platform
🎧 Subscribe for more celeb interviews, streaming picks and pop culture deep dives!
🗣️ Want to be featured on the show? 📱 Leave a voicemail here!
📧 Become a degenerate and join the newsletter to get exclusive content, interviews & more once a week! Subscribe here!
--------------------------
Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming. Listen here!
--------------------------
Get all the Pop Culture Weekly podcast info you could want including extra content, uncut interviews, photos, videos & transcripts at Podcast.PopCultureWeekly.com
Read the latest at PopCultureWeekly.com
Get Social with Kyle on:
Kyle McMahon Facebook
Kyle McMahon Instagram
Kyle McMahon TikTok
Pop Culture Weekly YouTube
Kyle McMahon Website
Yeah, we’re doing that this week.
On this episode of Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon, I sit down with Nicolas Cage and Brendan Gleeson to talk all about Prime Video’s Spider-Noir, the stylish new live-action series based on one of the coolest Spider-Man variants ever created.
Nic shares how Spider Noir became one of the rare projects that turned out exactly the way he imagined it, the artistic influences behind his performance and which one of his iconic characters he’d throw into Spider Noir’s world just to watch the chaos unfold.
Brendan Gleeson joins me to discuss stepping into the role of Silvermane, why he decided to reinvent the character for this version of the story, working alongside Nicolas Cage and what makes Spider-Noir feel so different from traditional superhero fare.
Plus, I make my case for why you should absolutely watch the series in authentic black and white. I’m not saying I’m right… but I’m right.
If you’re a Spider-Man fan, a Nicolas Cage fan, a Brendan Gleeson fan, a noir fan or just someone who misses when comic book adaptations took weird creative swings, this episode is for you.
Let’s go.
If you dig the show, subscribe, rate, and share - and tell your friend who's always stealing your streaming passwords.
📍 Watch now on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast platform
🎧 Subscribe for more celeb interviews, streaming picks and pop culture deep dives!
🗣️ Want to be featured on the show? 📱 Leave a voicemail here!
📧 Become a degenerate and join the newsletter to get exclusive content, interviews & more once a week! Subscribe here!
--------------------------
Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming. Listen here!
--------------------------
Get all the Pop Culture Weekly podcast info you could want including extra content, uncut interviews, photos, videos & transcripts at Podcast.PopCultureWeekly.com
Read the latest at PopCultureWeekly.com
Get Social with Kyle on:
Kyle McMahon Facebook
Kyle McMahon Instagram
Kyle McMahon TikTok
Pop Culture Weekly YouTube
Kyle McMahon Website
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, It's all about
Spider Neir. I speak with Nicholas Cage and Brendan Gleeson.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from iHeartRadio
your pop culture news, views, reviews and celebrity interviews on
all the movies, TV music and pop culture UKRABE Weekly.
Here's Kyle McMahon.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Nick no Net, Hello, and welcome to pop Culture Weekly
with Kyle McMahon. I of course am Kyle McMahon. And
this is the show where sometimes your friendly neighborhood Spider
Man is less friendly neighborhood and more emotionally exhausted detective
(00:47):
smoking in an alley while jazz music plays in the background.
And to be honest, I'm into it. Today's episode, Degenerates
is all about Spider Noir, the brand new prime video
series that brings one of Marvel's coolest alternate Universe Spider
(01:08):
Verse characters into live action. And if you're a longtime
comic fan, you already know people have been wanting this
for years.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I have so a little history.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Spider Noir first appeared back in two thousand and nine
as part of Marvel Noir which was like a special
series which reimagine classic Marvel heroes and like darker, grittier
worlds inspired by pulp crime fiction and you know, old
school detective stories from the thirties and forties. So instead
(01:43):
of like bright colors and Spandex and Avengers level spectacle,
Spider Noir's world is all shadows and corruption and danger
and morally ambiguous characters. I think, like Spider Man by
way of old detective movies and classic film noir.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
This version of Spider Man exists.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
In an alternate timeline where New York is crawling with
gangsters and crooked politicians and crime bosses rather than like
giant alien invasions every other Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And visually the character is just so dope.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
That trench coat, the fedora, the black mask with the
white glowing eyes. The whole esthetic of Spider Noir looks
like somebody threw Spider Man into a rain soaked detective
movie and was like, you know, good luck out there, buddy,
and Spider Noir got a huge popularity boost in Spider
(02:45):
Man into the Spider Verse, where Nicholas Cage voiced the
character with this kind of like dramatic old Hollywood style
seriousness that made everybody, including me, like instantly obsessed. He
literally legit was delivering lines about Rubik's cubes and the
wind and Nazis like he was starring in the most
(03:07):
important movie ever made, and it was completely amazing. And
now we finally get a full live action series on
Prime Video with Nicholas Cage stepping into the role physically
this time around, and it's like one of those projects
that should exist, Like, I'm so glad it's finally here.
(03:30):
Superhero fatigue has arguably become a real thing lately because
so much of that genre, you know, has become a
little bit identical. But Spider Noir has a very distinct identity.
It's very stylish, it's very stylized, it's very atmospheric. It's
(03:51):
less like save the multiverse everybody, and more solve the
murder before you know the city eats itself alive crime bosses,
which is a very cool vibe. And the series, the
Spider Noir series on Prime Video is so awesome. I
love stylized work. You know The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio,
(04:16):
three hundred, you know Sin City. I love that kind
of stylized thing. And Spider Noir delivers it in droves.
The cast is really great. Oh and what's cool. You
can watch it in black and white like a real
you know, noir project, or in true hue ful color.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I watched it in black and white, which they call
authentic black and white, and I really feel that this
series should be watched in authentic black and white. It
was filmed to be watched in black and white, you know,
it was filmed as a project specifically for black and whit.
(05:00):
So like that's where it really really shines. The true hue,
full color version is there for you. You know, if
for some reason you're like I can't watch black and white,
you know you have that option. But take it from me, degenerates,
I watch it in authentic black and white, and I
think that's the way to go. But you do you
(05:20):
and let me know, you know, if you feel differently.
Today we are talking to two absolute legends that star
in prime videos Spider Noir, Nicholas Cage and Brendan Gleeson.
So first up, Brendan Gleeson joins the Spider Verse as
(05:41):
Silver Main. And if you know Brendan Gleeson's work, whether
it's in Bruges or honestly fifty other incredible performances. You know,
this man brings gravitas to everything he does. And then
later I talk with Nicholas Cage himself about becoming Spider
Man in Spider Noir live action, why the character resonates
(06:05):
with fans and so much more so you ready, let's
get into it. Brendan Gleeson is one of those actors
who somehow makes every project instantly more interesting the moment
he appears on screen. You know him from his Oscar
nominated performance in The Banshees of Insurance, his unforgettable role
(06:28):
as mad Eye Moody in the Harry Potter films. You
know him a huge potterhead, his terrifying turn in Twenty
eight Days Later, and brilliant performances in films like in Bruges,
Gangs of New York and Brave Heart. Brennan could be terrifying, hilarious,
heartbreaking and intimidating, depending on what the role and scene
(06:51):
calls for. And now he is entering the Spider verse
as Silver Maine, which is like one of the iconic
crime figures connected to the Spider Man.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Lord.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
We talked all about it and here It is my
conversation with Brendan Gleason. Hey, Kyla, you know good, thank you,
so congrats on the series. I really love it, and
you know, I wonder you have played everything from hardened
criminals to you know, deeply emotional, complex, dramatic characters.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
There's something really fun.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
For me to see you, you know, in this world,
this dark noir comic book world.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
What drew you to Spider Noir.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Just that the world, the whole world of it, and
the possibility to go into a kind of an earlier
mode of movie making, learning what you loved from it,
getting to have a go at all that stuff, and
at the same time being involved in something that was
so technologically advanced that you could kind of do it
and do it different respect of on it, that you
(08:00):
could show the color version of it, and that you
can have guys swinging around between buildings, and you can
do all the special effects that are possible at cinematically
these days.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
So there was that, and then the writing of it was.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Really sharp, and working with Nick Cage was a huge
drug because I wanted to work with him, you know,
I just love his I love everything about the way
he approaches the work.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
And all that stuff.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
So there were so many things honestly drawn me into it,
and it was kind of one of those things that
worked out pretty much the way I was hoping it would.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, your character is such a classic Spider Man, you
know character, this version obviously is much more grounded and
noir inspired.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
How did you approach how did you approach building him
for this particular universe?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
If you will, Well, I have to be honest with you.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I didn't really refer back to the original character very
much because it's he came as a kind of an
you know, match with Italian mob boss type of guy
was the way he was written, and I wanted to
kind of move away from that if possible. And I
had a chat early on at the process before we
decided whether this was a good idea or not, with
Orn and Steve and the guys to say, look, I
(09:16):
you know, my Italian is questionable.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
How would you feel about it?
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Because there were a lot of Irish mob bosses around
that time that we go this guy.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
We have a new iteration.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Of a new basically that we start from scratch almost,
So I have to be honest, and I know, possibly
a lot of the people, the officionados might be a
bit disappointed.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
But I didn't really.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
I didn't feel there was any point in going back
into something because he had arrived at such a different
kind of a character, you.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, And also the fact that nore itself really is
just such a different challenge, and the fact that it
was grounded and he wanted to he wanted to be
real in a way that was kind of very earthy,
so underground him and stuff that I could access myself,
you know.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
I made him into a Dublin gangster.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
We kind of gave him a backstory from extreme powerty,
which was true of Dublin at the turn of the
century and all that, and sort of gave it a
little bit of veracity that you kind of dig into
that was kind of instinctive for me rather than learned. Okay,
So that's that's to be honest, That's that's what's kind
of the decision.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
And I have to be honest.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Sometimes I felt I should have gone full Edward g
Robinson on this. I should have kind of you know,
I would have loved to really buy I just think
he's I kept thinking I couldn't get his him out
of my head. And at times even in the shooting,
I say, I wonder if I should have been that
kind of you know, classic American gangster, and I kind
of thought maybe no, because like Nick was doing a
(10:45):
lot of that stuff in terms of his his his
stuff that he was doing. It was he was kind
of buying into all that Cagny stuff and whatever whoever
he was accessing. It was just and I said, well,
maybe it's no harm to have a little bit of
a different thing thrown in mixed there.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, I think you did it perfectly.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I can't wait for everybody to see Spider Noir so
I can freaking talk about it to people.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
Thank you, Brendan, Thanks a lot, Thanks, thanks a lot.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Have a great day you too.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Brendan Gleason. Seriously, what a phenomenal actor. And I love
hearing him talk about Spider Noir, like it's such a
cool role, it's such cool projects, such a cool you
know everything about it. I just freaking love So it
was cool to hear him talk about that. And in
(11:35):
a superhero landscape where everybody's trying to top the end
of the Universe every year, it's kind of refreshing that,
you know, Spider Noir just kind of lives here. All right,
We're gonna take a quick break to pay the bills.
But when we come back, Nicholas Cage joins me to
talk Spider Noir, stepping into live action with this character,
(11:57):
and so much more.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Don't Go Anywhere, be back in.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Sixty Welcome back to Pop Culture Weekly. Thank you for
supporting our sponsors who allow us to bring the show
to you each and every week. All right, let's talk
Nicholas Cage. Like what else could be said about Nicholas
(12:22):
Cage at this point? He is his own genre. Whether
you know him from Leaving Las Vegas, Mandy Face Off,
Long Legs, or like nine thousand other wildly different performances.
Nicholas Cage is one of the most fascinating actors working
today because you really don't know which version of Nicholas
(12:46):
Cage you're about to get. The man can do action, horror, comedy,
prestige's drama, surrealism, full chaos, gremlin energy, sometimes all in
the same movie. He's an Academy Award winner, and he's
a national treasure literally and figuratively, and Spider Noir feels
(13:06):
perfect for him. Fans loved his performance and into the
Spider Verse because he fully committed to the old school
noir detective energy in a way that only Nicholas Kate could,
and now he is bringing that same energy into the
live action version. Here he is the one and only
(13:28):
Nicholas Cage.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Thank you so much, Nick for joining me.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
Thanks Kyle, thanks for having.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Me, of course. So first of all, congratulations on the series.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I absolutely love it, and I you know, you have
played so many iconic, kind of larger than life characters
throughout your career, but I feel like there's something especially
perfect about you stepping into this kind of dark, pulpy
Spider Man universe. What was the thing about Spider Noir
that I hooked you into this?
Speaker 6 (14:02):
You know, I'm glad you brought that up, because I
can tell you that this is one of the rare
times when a vision I had in my imagination manifested
exactly as I had hoped it would, And it doesn't
happen often, and I wasn't entirely sure it was going
(14:22):
to get there until I finally saw all eight episodes
and I went but it was scary. I had this concept,
you know, I like to take from other art forms,
whether it's music or painting, I get an idea or
a feeling, or an aura or an essence. And I
had done that with Warhol, and while at heart what
(14:44):
he would do with these icons like Elvis and with Liechtenstein,
Roy Liechtenstein specifically, I was always interested in how he
had the guts to take the comic book style, the
graphics of the comic and ansmographied into a kind of
pop up fine art expression down to the little printing
(15:06):
press pointillism. And I thought, well, what would that be like?
As an actor? What can I do where I can
have a genuine emotional performance but then coalesce it with
or collide it with old style film acting like a
(15:30):
Howard Hawk's Big Sleep style, any of these actors that
I like so much growing up, Bogart, Orcagney or Edward G. Robinson,
and mash it with Stanley's masterpiece Spider Man. And what
would that create? The hope was that it would create
that kind of Liechtenstein electricity that would be unlike anything
(15:51):
anyone would have thought about, you know before. And I
wanted to do something brand new, and I knew it
was not without risk. But it was worth it. It
was it was worth going in and just and and
everybody was on board, which is amazing. You know that
they had the guts and the trust and and the
love to to allow me to to to find this
(16:12):
fantasy of what could be done, especially with television.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, I love that, and I think it's been executed perfectly.
So kudos to you and the team for that. You
first voiced, you know, this version of the character in
into the Spider Verse, which obviously myself and fans absolutely loved.
What was the challenge, if any, for you to kind
(16:39):
of you know, you're taking this character that was animated and.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Then living fully in this real life world. Was there
a challenge? There is?
Speaker 6 (16:50):
There were many challenges and and one of the challenges
it was, I don't want to wear out my welcome.
I'm doing this. I'm gonna take that manner of speaking
and that fast paced, kind of old world style of acting,
and I'm going to do it for eight episodes. And
(17:10):
then how do you make that real? When you're playing
a character that's as indos idiosyncratic as Ben Riley, you
also have the challenge of having genuine emotion and drama
and comedy, you know, informing it, informing the style. This
is an extremely stylized performance to fit in the black
(17:36):
and white format. I like watching it in black and
white because I designed my performance to look like, hopefully,
transport you to that New York and another dimension black
and white style from the thirties. And I had a
great director of photography really lit it that way, and
great wardrobe with Tracy. Everybody was on board with this
(18:01):
idea of transporting you to another old world dimension. So
the challenges were, how do you make that communicate authentically
and emotionally m m.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And if you could, you know, fun for a moment,
if you could pull any one Nicholas Cage character from
any of the you know, films and universes that you've
done into Spider Man, into Spider Noir's you know world
as his maybe chaotic sidekicker or whatever. Who would you
be choosing for that?
Speaker 6 (18:37):
That's a remarkable question.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
I love it.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
I you know me, I'm always gonna go for the counterpoint, right,
I'm gonna go try. We call it the egg and
the crutch, two things that don't go together, but you'd
love to see what would happen. I'm gonna go with
the Donald Kaufman from adaptation Charlie Kaufman's younger brother or
twin brother. He's acting like the younger brother. I want
(19:03):
to see Donald Kaufman and Ben Riley in a scene together.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
I'm at it.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, that's that's amazing. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I'm so excited for everybody to see Spider Noir.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
It is so great. Thank you for talking with me,
Thanks for having me. Have a great day, you too,
Nicholas Cage.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Honestly, Spider Noir is like one of those perfect creative
matches where the actor and the character collide in the perfect, perfect,
perfect way.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Like it is perfect casting for Nicholas as Spider Noir.
It is perfect casting for Brendan Gleeson as Silver Maid.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
It really is such an awesome, fresh, different show that
I just I love. I really really do love it,
and I can't wait to see more from the series. Hopefully,
you know, hopefully there's more tales to tell here. Huge
thanks to Nicholas Cage and Brendan Gleeson for joining me
today on the show. All Right, Degenerates. That's it for
(20:14):
this episode of Pop Culture Weekly. Be sure to subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.
You can also watch the video interviews, reactions, deep dives,
and all kinds of pop culture chaos over on our
pop Culture Weekly YouTube and make sure you're signed up
for the newsletter where every week I break down what's
coming out and all the other stuff that you need.
(20:37):
As always, thank you so much for listening, and remember,
somewhere out there Nicholas Cage is dramatically staring out a
rainy window and a fedora talking about justice and to
be honest, good for him. I'll see you next time.
I love you.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
We thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. Here
all the latest to at pop culturewekly dot com.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Nicholas Nicholas, Nicholas Case, Nicholas Nicholas, Nicholas Ca, Nicholas Nicholas,
Nicholas Nicholas Nicholas Nicholas Ca
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, It's all about
Spider Neir. I speak with Nicholas Cage and Brendan Gleeson.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from iHeartRadio
your pop culture news, views, reviews and celebrity interviews on
all the movies, TV music and pop culture UKRABE Weekly.
Here's Kyle McMahon.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Nick no Net, Hello, and welcome to pop Culture Weekly
with Kyle McMahon. I of course am Kyle McMahon. And
this is the show where sometimes your friendly neighborhood Spider
Man is less friendly neighborhood and more emotionally exhausted detective
(00:47):
smoking in an alley while jazz music plays in the background.
And to be honest, I'm into it. Today's episode, Degenerates
is all about Spider Noir, the brand new prime video
series that brings one of Marvel's coolest alternate Universe Spider
(01:08):
Verse characters into live action. And if you're a longtime
comic fan, you already know people have been wanting this
for years.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I have so a little history.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Spider Noir first appeared back in two thousand and nine
as part of Marvel Noir which was like a special
series which reimagine classic Marvel heroes and like darker, grittier
worlds inspired by pulp crime fiction and you know, old
school detective stories from the thirties and forties. So instead
(01:43):
of like bright colors and Spandex and Avengers level spectacle,
Spider Noir's world is all shadows and corruption and danger
and morally ambiguous characters. I think, like Spider Man by
way of old detective movies and classic film noir.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
This version of Spider Man exists.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
In an alternate timeline where New York is crawling with
gangsters and crooked politicians and crime bosses rather than like
giant alien invasions every other Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And visually the character is just so dope.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
That trench coat, the fedora, the black mask with the
white glowing eyes. The whole esthetic of Spider Noir looks
like somebody threw Spider Man into a rain soaked detective
movie and was like, you know, good luck out there, buddy,
and Spider Noir got a huge popularity boost in Spider
(02:45):
Man into the Spider Verse, where Nicholas Cage voiced the
character with this kind of like dramatic old Hollywood style
seriousness that made everybody, including me, like instantly obsessed. He
literally legit was delivering lines about Rubik's cubes and the
wind and Nazis like he was starring in the most
(03:07):
important movie ever made, and it was completely amazing. And
now we finally get a full live action series on
Prime Video with Nicholas Cage stepping into the role physically
this time around, and it's like one of those projects
that should exist, Like, I'm so glad it's finally here.
(03:30):
Superhero fatigue has arguably become a real thing lately because
so much of that genre, you know, has become a
little bit identical. But Spider Noir has a very distinct identity.
It's very stylish, it's very stylized, it's very atmospheric. It's
(03:51):
less like save the multiverse everybody, and more solve the
murder before you know the city eats itself alive crime bosses,
which is a very cool vibe. And the series, the
Spider Noir series on Prime Video is so awesome. I
love stylized work. You know The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio,
(04:16):
three hundred, you know Sin City. I love that kind
of stylized thing. And Spider Noir delivers it in droves.
The cast is really great. Oh and what's cool. You
can watch it in black and white like a real
you know, noir project, or in true hue ful color.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I watched it in black and white, which they call
authentic black and white, and I really feel that this
series should be watched in authentic black and white. It
was filmed to be watched in black and white, you know,
it was filmed as a project specifically for black and whit.
(05:00):
So like that's where it really really shines. The true hue,
full color version is there for you. You know, if
for some reason you're like I can't watch black and white,
you know you have that option. But take it from me, degenerates,
I watch it in authentic black and white, and I
think that's the way to go. But you do you
(05:20):
and let me know, you know, if you feel differently.
Today we are talking to two absolute legends that star
in prime videos Spider Noir, Nicholas Cage and Brendan Gleeson.
So first up, Brendan Gleeson joins the Spider Verse as
(05:41):
Silver Main. And if you know Brendan Gleeson's work, whether
it's in Bruges or honestly fifty other incredible performances. You know,
this man brings gravitas to everything he does. And then
later I talk with Nicholas Cage himself about becoming Spider
Man in Spider Noir live action, why the character resonates
(06:05):
with fans and so much more so you ready, let's
get into it. Brendan Gleeson is one of those actors
who somehow makes every project instantly more interesting the moment
he appears on screen. You know him from his Oscar
nominated performance in The Banshees of Insurance, his unforgettable role
(06:28):
as mad Eye Moody in the Harry Potter films. You
know him a huge potterhead, his terrifying turn in Twenty
eight Days Later, and brilliant performances in films like in Bruges,
Gangs of New York and Brave Heart. Brennan could be terrifying, hilarious,
heartbreaking and intimidating, depending on what the role and scene
(06:51):
calls for. And now he is entering the Spider verse
as Silver Maine, which is like one of the iconic
crime figures connected to the Spider Man.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Lord.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
We talked all about it and here It is my
conversation with Brendan Gleason. Hey, Kyla, you know good, thank you,
so congrats on the series. I really love it, and
you know, I wonder you have played everything from hardened
criminals to you know, deeply emotional, complex, dramatic characters.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
There's something really fun.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
For me to see you, you know, in this world,
this dark noir comic book world.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
What drew you to Spider Noir.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Just that the world, the whole world of it, and
the possibility to go into a kind of an earlier
mode of movie making, learning what you loved from it,
getting to have a go at all that stuff, and
at the same time being involved in something that was
so technologically advanced that you could kind of do it
and do it different respect of on it, that you
(08:00):
could show the color version of it, and that you
can have guys swinging around between buildings, and you can
do all the special effects that are possible at cinematically
these days.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
So there was that, and then the writing of it was.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Really sharp, and working with Nick Cage was a huge
drug because I wanted to work with him, you know,
I just love his I love everything about the way
he approaches the work.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
And all that stuff.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
So there were so many things honestly drawn me into it,
and it was kind of one of those things that
worked out pretty much the way I was hoping it would.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, your character is such a classic Spider Man, you
know character, this version obviously is much more grounded and
noir inspired.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
How did you approach how did you approach building him
for this particular universe?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
If you will, Well, I have to be honest with you.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I didn't really refer back to the original character very
much because it's he came as a kind of an
you know, match with Italian mob boss type of guy
was the way he was written, and I wanted to
kind of move away from that if possible. And I
had a chat early on at the process before we
decided whether this was a good idea or not, with
Orn and Steve and the guys to say, look, I
(09:16):
you know, my Italian is questionable.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
How would you feel about it?
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Because there were a lot of Irish mob bosses around
that time that we go this guy.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
We have a new iteration.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Of a new basically that we start from scratch almost,
So I have to be honest, and I know, possibly
a lot of the people, the officionados might be a
bit disappointed.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
But I didn't really.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
I didn't feel there was any point in going back
into something because he had arrived at such a different
kind of a character, you.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, And also the fact that nore itself really is
just such a different challenge, and the fact that it
was grounded and he wanted to he wanted to be
real in a way that was kind of very earthy,
so underground him and stuff that I could access myself,
you know.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
I made him into a Dublin gangster.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
We kind of gave him a backstory from extreme powerty,
which was true of Dublin at the turn of the
century and all that, and sort of gave it a
little bit of veracity that you kind of dig into
that was kind of instinctive for me rather than learned. Okay,
So that's that's to be honest, That's that's what's kind
of the decision.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
And I have to be honest.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Sometimes I felt I should have gone full Edward g
Robinson on this. I should have kind of you know,
I would have loved to really buy I just think
he's I kept thinking I couldn't get his him out
of my head. And at times even in the shooting,
I say, I wonder if I should have been that
kind of you know, classic American gangster, and I kind
of thought maybe no, because like Nick was doing a
(10:45):
lot of that stuff in terms of his his his
stuff that he was doing. It was he was kind
of buying into all that Cagny stuff and whatever whoever
he was accessing. It was just and I said, well,
maybe it's no harm to have a little bit of
a different thing thrown in mixed there.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, I think you did it perfectly.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I can't wait for everybody to see Spider Noir so
I can freaking talk about it to people.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
Thank you, Brendan, Thanks a lot, Thanks, thanks a lot.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Have a great day you too.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Brendan Gleason. Seriously, what a phenomenal actor. And I love
hearing him talk about Spider Noir, like it's such a
cool role, it's such cool projects, such a cool you
know everything about it. I just freaking love So it
was cool to hear him talk about that. And in
(11:35):
a superhero landscape where everybody's trying to top the end
of the Universe every year, it's kind of refreshing that,
you know, Spider Noir just kind of lives here. All right,
We're gonna take a quick break to pay the bills.
But when we come back, Nicholas Cage joins me to
talk Spider Noir, stepping into live action with this character,
(11:57):
and so much more.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Don't Go Anywhere, be back in.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Sixty Welcome back to Pop Culture Weekly. Thank you for
supporting our sponsors who allow us to bring the show
to you each and every week. All right, let's talk
Nicholas Cage. Like what else could be said about Nicholas
(12:22):
Cage at this point? He is his own genre. Whether
you know him from Leaving Las Vegas, Mandy Face Off,
Long Legs, or like nine thousand other wildly different performances.
Nicholas Cage is one of the most fascinating actors working
today because you really don't know which version of Nicholas
(12:46):
Cage you're about to get. The man can do action, horror, comedy,
prestige's drama, surrealism, full chaos, gremlin energy, sometimes all in
the same movie. He's an Academy Award winner, and he's
a national treasure literally and figuratively, and Spider Noir feels
(13:06):
perfect for him. Fans loved his performance and into the
Spider Verse because he fully committed to the old school
noir detective energy in a way that only Nicholas Kate could,
and now he is bringing that same energy into the
live action version. Here he is the one and only
(13:28):
Nicholas Cage.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Thank you so much, Nick for joining me.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
Thanks Kyle, thanks for having.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Me, of course. So first of all, congratulations on the series.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
I absolutely love it, and I you know, you have
played so many iconic, kind of larger than life characters
throughout your career, but I feel like there's something especially
perfect about you stepping into this kind of dark, pulpy
Spider Man universe. What was the thing about Spider Noir
that I hooked you into this?
Speaker 6 (14:02):
You know, I'm glad you brought that up, because I
can tell you that this is one of the rare
times when a vision I had in my imagination manifested
exactly as I had hoped it would, And it doesn't
happen often, and I wasn't entirely sure it was going
(14:22):
to get there until I finally saw all eight episodes
and I went but it was scary. I had this concept,
you know, I like to take from other art forms,
whether it's music or painting, I get an idea or
a feeling, or an aura or an essence. And I
had done that with Warhol, and while at heart what
(14:44):
he would do with these icons like Elvis and with Liechtenstein,
Roy Liechtenstein specifically, I was always interested in how he
had the guts to take the comic book style, the
graphics of the comic and ansmographied into a kind of
pop up fine art expression down to the little printing
(15:06):
press pointillism. And I thought, well, what would that be like?
As an actor? What can I do where I can
have a genuine emotional performance but then coalesce it with
or collide it with old style film acting like a
(15:30):
Howard Hawk's Big Sleep style, any of these actors that
I like so much growing up, Bogart, Orcagney or Edward G. Robinson,
and mash it with Stanley's masterpiece Spider Man. And what
would that create? The hope was that it would create
that kind of Liechtenstein electricity that would be unlike anything
(15:51):
anyone would have thought about, you know before. And I
wanted to do something brand new, and I knew it
was not without risk. But it was worth it. It
was it was worth going in and just and and
everybody was on board, which is amazing. You know that
they had the guts and the trust and and the
love to to allow me to to to find this
(16:12):
fantasy of what could be done, especially with television.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, I love that, and I think it's been executed perfectly.
So kudos to you and the team for that. You
first voiced, you know, this version of the character in
into the Spider Verse, which obviously myself and fans absolutely loved.
What was the challenge, if any, for you to kind
(16:39):
of you know, you're taking this character that was animated and.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Then living fully in this real life world. Was there
a challenge? There is?
Speaker 6 (16:50):
There were many challenges and and one of the challenges
it was, I don't want to wear out my welcome.
I'm doing this. I'm gonna take that manner of speaking
and that fast paced, kind of old world style of acting,
and I'm going to do it for eight episodes. And
(17:10):
then how do you make that real? When you're playing
a character that's as indos idiosyncratic as Ben Riley, you
also have the challenge of having genuine emotion and drama
and comedy, you know, informing it, informing the style. This
is an extremely stylized performance to fit in the black
(17:36):
and white format. I like watching it in black and
white because I designed my performance to look like, hopefully,
transport you to that New York and another dimension black
and white style from the thirties. And I had a
great director of photography really lit it that way, and
great wardrobe with Tracy. Everybody was on board with this
(18:01):
idea of transporting you to another old world dimension. So
the challenges were, how do you make that communicate authentically
and emotionally m m.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And if you could, you know, fun for a moment,
if you could pull any one Nicholas Cage character from
any of the you know, films and universes that you've
done into Spider Man, into Spider Noir's you know world
as his maybe chaotic sidekicker or whatever. Who would you
be choosing for that?
Speaker 6 (18:37):
That's a remarkable question.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
I love it.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
I you know me, I'm always gonna go for the counterpoint, right,
I'm gonna go try. We call it the egg and
the crutch, two things that don't go together, but you'd
love to see what would happen. I'm gonna go with
the Donald Kaufman from adaptation Charlie Kaufman's younger brother or
twin brother. He's acting like the younger brother. I want
(19:03):
to see Donald Kaufman and Ben Riley in a scene together.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
I'm at it.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, that's that's amazing. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I'm so excited for everybody to see Spider Noir.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
It is so great. Thank you for talking with me,
Thanks for having me. Have a great day, you too,
Nicholas Cage.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Honestly, Spider Noir is like one of those perfect creative
matches where the actor and the character collide in the perfect, perfect,
perfect way.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Like it is perfect casting for Nicholas as Spider Noir.
It is perfect casting for Brendan Gleeson as Silver Maid.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
It really is such an awesome, fresh, different show that
I just I love. I really really do love it,
and I can't wait to see more from the series. Hopefully,
you know, hopefully there's more tales to tell here. Huge
thanks to Nicholas Cage and Brendan Gleeson for joining me
today on the show. All Right, Degenerates. That's it for
(20:14):
this episode of Pop Culture Weekly. Be sure to subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.
You can also watch the video interviews, reactions, deep dives,
and all kinds of pop culture chaos over on our
pop Culture Weekly YouTube and make sure you're signed up
for the newsletter where every week I break down what's
coming out and all the other stuff that you need.
(20:37):
As always, thank you so much for listening, and remember,
somewhere out there Nicholas Cage is dramatically staring out a
rainy window and a fedora talking about justice and to
be honest, good for him. I'll see you next time.
I love you.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
We thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. Here
all the latest to at pop culturewekly dot com.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Nicholas Nicholas, Nicholas Case, Nicholas Nicholas, Nicholas Ca, Nicholas Nicholas,
Nicholas Nicholas Nicholas Nicholas Ca
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