by Gill Pringle
“I saw the character on TV and I looked in the mirror and I felt like someone took a photo of me and animated my face,” says Shameik Moore about the first time that he was introduced to the character of Miles Morales on an animated episode of Spider-Man. “He looked just like me. I just felt like that was me. It wasn’t just that he was black. It was me.
“Later on, I wrote it in a journal while filming the movie Dope,” he continues referring to the American indie which was his main breakthrough role. “And Chris [Miller] and Phil [Lord], the directors or the writers [of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; producers and writer] or however that works… they went to Sundance [Film Festival, where Dope was a major hit – picked up by Sony Pictures, interestingly enough, which is also behind Spider-Verse] the first time Dope was screened. And they were the ones that had the yay or nay decision on Miles Morales and who was going to play him. And they saw the movie and they liked me. And I wrote that in my journal.”
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is all about empowerment, or as Jake Johnson puts it: “Everybody’s got the power to change the world and make it a better place, and you ought to do it.”
“I looked at an earlier version of Miles Morales and I felt like I was looking at myself,” adds Shameik Moore. “I can imagine that there’s a 14-year-old kid in Brooklyn with curly hair that’s half black and half Puerto Rican that will look at this and be like, ‘Wait a second, that’s me.’ And even if not, somebody might be just like Peter [Parker]. Somebody might be just like Gwen [Stacy].”
“I think this movie is about inclusion,” chimes in Jake Johnson. “If you’re a young girl and you love this franchise and you go, ‘Well, I don’t want to be Spider-Man girl.’ Well, you could be Spider-Gwen because she’s coming too and she’s cool. The heart of this movie is that anyone can wear the mask and that once you take on that mask, you have a lot of great power and with great power comes great responsibility…”
This is exactly the ethos that Stan Lee worked with when he co-created the comic book, and now it is taken to an extreme in this latest ground-breaking animated feature film.
“I think right now, there’s a lot of talk that this is as bad as it’s ever been,” continues Jake Johnson. “The more history you read, you realise it’s always been pretty bad, and it’s always been pretty good. I think it’s always very important for people to try to do right just like it was 100 years ago and 200 years ago. And I think young people are doing it. And as a guy who’s not a young person anymore, I want to follow what those millennials are doing…”
“I didn’t know you were that old,” adds Shameik.
How much of your respective personalities did you bring to each role?
Shameik: I think we both did a good job of bringing ourselves into the character. Jake is very witty. He can look at us and just make all of us laugh on the spot.
Jake: Thank you, Shameik. And also, Miles, at first was way more timid and Shameik is a confident guy and he’s got a very likable energy about him. The writers changed Miles towards more of that personality. He was really scared and nervous around people but Shameik’s not that guy. And so, they kind of brought that likeability into Miles.
Shameik: They did have me more shy and less confident… Miles, he’s going through a rough time honing his powers and owning it and knowing how to use them but he’s not questioning whether or not he’s worthy of the power. He’s fighting for it instead of not even wanting it…
Did you ever wear a superhero costume growing up?
Shameik: I never owned a costume.
Jake: I’m sure I did but I can’t really remember. I remember I loved ET a lot, so I used to throw on the Michael costume.
Shameik: I never even got to celebrate Halloween. I was in a military all-boys Christian school. It was a tight upbringing, just like my house.
Where did you grow up?
Shameik: Atlanta.
Jake: But it was similar to Miles in that you had to go to a school that you didn’t want to go to?
Shameik: It wasn’t a boarding school. Young Marines was more of a program that went on the weekends and after school. And it’s a bunch of men just, ‘stay in the pushup position …’ And you’re crying and whatnot. It’s like …
Jake: A nightmare.
Shameik: Yeah, it’s a nightmare. For me, I’m a creative… I didn’t even need to be there, but my mom’s like, ‘I’m sending you there for discipline, that’s all.’
Did it help?
Shameik: I feel like I’m pretty hard, yeah. I feel like I’m well mannered.
Jake: Well, look what he’s doing now. He’s under 25 years old, he’s Miles Morales. Something worked. Me, at your age, I was not sitting at this table, I’ll tell you that.
Would you consider playing these characters in a live action movie?
Jake: I don’t have a lot of interest in playing live action. You get to wear a lot of spandex… You’re spending 12 hours a day in the harness where your crotch is getting yanked around. I think it’s wonderful as animation.
I did The Mummy with Tom Cruise where I did three months of stunts with that man and we were down in Africa jumping off buildings as they exploded… And although that was fun and intense, there were really terrifying life moments where I felt, ‘We’re all here making a movie, man…’ There was one sequence where we had to run across the building. And there were explosions everywhere. We’re on the third floor… And I say, ‘It’s just me and Tom.’ And I kept waiting for the people who run the studio… This is a $100 billion man next to me and I’m like, ‘Where are the wires man? What happens if it explodes and we fall?’ And he goes, ‘Well, then we die.’ Then I go, ‘Well, I don’t want to die, my man, so what do we do?’ And he goes, ‘Well, don’t fall.’ Then they called action and we did it. And as we’re running… and this was not written in the script; my character is running like this [covering his face] because these things were exploding in my face. And Tom laughed at me, he’s like, ‘Did you cover your face.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, because wood was flying at it.’ So, I love animation.
Shameik: I do think you get to do more in an animation as far as what it looks like at the end. But as long as I’m young enough to do it and as long as there’s an opportunity for it to happen, I plan to attach my face with the name Miles Morales, for certain.
Jake: As a paid audience, I wouldn’t want to see a different Miles Morales.
Shameik: I don’t even have to wear the mask to do the flips and stuff, you know what I’m saying?
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in cinemas from December 13, 2018
Read our interview with Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
