There's a guy who plays Spider-Man in the giant Toys-R-Us in Times Square. He plays the part in a way I've never seen before--instead of striking all kinds of signature Spider-Man poses for the cameras, this guy kind of plays it for realism. You don't get the sense that he's agile at all until he's doing something that requires agility. He crouches up on railings and jumps around quite a bit, sure; but when he walks from one place to another, he just walks, like a regular guy. This is pretty weird, given the fact that he's wearing a Spider-Man costume. In fact, it's kind of creepy. On top of all this, he does a lot of clowning around, just like the real Spider-Man (that's right). He doesn't crack jokes, but he does all kinds of physical gags, dropping out of frame when customers are trying to take his picture; tapping people on the shoulder, then twisting out of their line of sight; and so on.
I think this guy understands the source material really well. Furthermore, he made me, a long-time reader of the comic, finally realize why everyone in Spider-Man's New York, cab drivers, newspaper editors, and even his own aunt don't really want to share a city with Spider-Man. Spider-Man is kind of annoying!
1 comment:
I was going to comment, but this seems like a perfect post on its own.
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