Last August, a group of fellow journalists and I went to London to visit the set ofSpider-Man: Far From Home. In the upcoming sequel, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and his friends are going on a European vacation. InSpider-Man: Homecoming, Peter couldn’t wait to do more Spider-Man stuff, but this time around, he’s looking forward to a break from his responsibilities. Unfortunately, those responsibilities follow him across the Atlantic where he’s recruited by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to stop “elementals” that are popping up across the globe.
When we arrived on set, we spoke with executive producerEric Carrollwho gave us a quick rundown of the movie. We were shown a sizzle reel and then Carroll explained how Peter and his friends are on a school field trip to Europe. But as you’ve seen in the trailer, that gets interrupted by Nick Fury.
Plot Details
Costume Department
The Venice Backlot
The Venice Backlot is ridiculously well done. There are shops and restaurants and blue-green water. There are even gondolas. Blue screens are up for compositing the sky. I’ve never been to Venice so I can’t tell you if it’s an accurate recreation, but it at least feels convincing and fully formed. It all feels completely real until you touch a bannister and feel plaster instead of stone.
Right now they’re doing second unit filming for a stunt scene. The first pass with have Holland with no cast and no bridge. The second pass with have no Holland and they’ll blow the bridge. The third pass with have Holland and a blown bridge. There’s some rehearsal in the scene. In the story, Peter has just bought a piece of jewelry for MJ and in the filming they’re going through the motions so they can add VFX so he’s miming like he’s doused and hiding.
Next up they’ve got no cast on set and they’re going to blow the bridge and some of the water (the elemental destroying this stuff will obviously be added later). However, they can’t blow the bridge until the clouds get out of the way. With the clouds blocking the sun, the lighting won’t be right, so you’ve got this entire crew just waiting for clouds to move. The magic of movies!
They only get one shot with the bridge, but they make it count. It’s always cool when you get to visit set on a day with some practical destruction and they blow the bridge apart and into the water. We want to cheer, but we wait until they’ve said “cut” to admire how cool that was.
Closing Thoughts
While everyone was very tightlipped about the film in relation toAvengers: Endgame(remember, this is August 2018 whereEndgameis still calledAvengers 4), on its own merits,Far From Homelooks like the perfect palette cleanser to the epicEndgame. They’ve lost none of the vibe fromHomecomingand yet they’ve also expanded the canvas. It looks like the sequel should be a lot of fun and I’m eager to see where they take it.
Spider-Man: Far From Homeopens July 2nd.
