When filmmakers create live-action projects, it’s very easy to do alternate takes, extra scenes, and whole new set-ups. The fact that it just means re-positioning actors, filming longer takes, and such makes it so that the average film could be 3+ hours before being cut down to normal size. However, with animation, that’s not really the case. Everything is so thoroughly planned, once a film is fully animated, so much thought has been put into it, that there’s hardly any deleted scenes.
That being said, as we’ve discussed before, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” isn’t your average animated film. And thus, apparently, there were plenty of extra scenes. Enough for a whole new cut of the film.
Fresh off its Oscar win for Best Animated Feature, ‘Spider-Verse’ is almost ready to make its debut in homes around the world. And while the home release will feature a ton of behind-the-scenes content, perhaps the most exciting is what is being dubbed by the directors as the “Alt-Universe Cut.”
Speaking to CinemaBlend, directors Rodney Rothman, Bob Persichetti, and Peter Ramsey discussed the unusual fact that their animated feature had quite a bit of footage that ended up on the cutting room floor. Enough to make a brand-new cut of the film.
“[‘Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse’] had an unusual amount of material at every stage of production,” explained Rothman. “So, an insane amount of storyboard material, like insane, like break your high end edit systems insane. An insane amount of layout, an insane amount of finished animation that didn’t make it into the movie… an unusual amount. So the Alt-Universe Cut contains a bunch of that stuff that we chose not to put in the movie, but that in an alternate universe easily could have ended up in the movie. So, uh, that’s kind of the premise behind it.”
READ MORE: ‘Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse’ Wins Top Prize At 2019 Annie Awards
And it would appear that most of the footage that was cut out of the film featured ‘Spider-Man’ comic book favorite Ganke Lee, Miles’ roommate and LEGO-collecting best friend. Sadly, all this footage was cut due to the fact that Marvel Studios beat ‘Spider-Verse’ to the punch by releasing “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” which featured supporting character Ned, who was very, very similar to Ganke. Thus, to avoid confusion and similar material, ‘Spider-Verse’ had its Ganke scenes cut.
“The alt version is more beholden to the idea that Miles and Ganke were buddies and roommates, and there’s a lot more of roommate stuff happening,” revealed director Bob Persichetti. “And what we ended up running into was just to two things. It was just like, ‘Oh, wow. Homecoming, Ned – very similar to Ganke.’ Really. And then, ‘Well, maybe it’s actually better if Miles experiences these things without a really well-educated Sherpa holding his hand through all the powers coming on and everything,’ and it ended up helping us out for that place where Peter comes into the movie.”
READ MORE: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, & Tom Holland Almost Made Appearances In ‘Spider-Verse’
SlashFilm actually adds, in its report, that Ganke would have been voiced by Peter Sohn. While that name doesn’t hold the same star power as Jake Johnson, Nic Cage, or John Mulaney, Sohn is a Hollywood powerhouse, nonetheless. You probably would know him as the Pixar director, storyboard artist, voice actor, and animator who has worked on films like “Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles,” and “Finding Nemo,” just to name a few.
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” hits digital today and will be released on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 19.