How the movie "Spawn" was filmed: footage from filming and 12 interesting facts about the film (14 photos)

In 1997, when comic book films were not yet in such demand, the famous “Spawn” was released. The film did not become a breakthrough, but it found its audience.





1. Spawn initially appeared on the pages of Image comics back in 1992. Spawn comics by Todd McFarlane became so popular that they sold tens of millions of copies. Therefore, it is not surprising that a film adaptation of this comic was released a few years later.



Initially, Columbia Pictures was interested in the film adaptation of Spawn, but the author of the original comics, Todd McFarlane, refused this offer, since under the terms of acquiring the rights he would not be able to control the filming process. And without this, he was not ready to give his brainchild to be torn to pieces by film makers.



But the New Line Cinema company made these concessions, which is why it started film adaptation. Moreover, Todd McFarlane sold the film rights for just $1, but received control over the filming, which is what he sought.

2. By the way, Todd McFarlane himself once worked on comics about Spider-Man, but he was not involved in its creation. But Todd had a hand in creating such a character as Venom. It was he who Sam Raimi turned to for advice before filming Spider-Man 3: Enemy in Reflection.

Well, over time, he decided to leave Marvel to work on his own project, which was Spawn. By the way, don’t you think that there is still some similarity between Spawn and Venom?

2. According to Martin Sheen, who played the main villain - CIA head Jason Wynn, who killed Al Simmons, his grandson was simply delighted when he learned that his grandfather would star in the film adaptation of one of his favorite comics.



3. The hellish clown costume worn by John Leguizamo weighed about 10 kilograms. John himself was so pleased with this costume that he periodically stood in his trader and simply stared in the mirror, admiring the work of the make-up artists.



But if John Leguizamo was delighted with his appearance, then wearing such a suit was quite uncomfortable, and even more so to stay in it for a long time, since sweat flowed from him in a stream, which caused severe discomfort. In addition, because of the costume, John's entire body was literally covered with blisters and chafing after filming.



Once during filming, Leguizamo became so ill because of the costume that filming was stopped, and costumers and make-up artists began to urgently pull the actor out of this outfit. True, this procedure took a lot of time.

4. In the scene with Al Simmons setting fire, there were no stuntmen. Leading actor Michael Jai White took the brunt of the blow. To film this scene, his hands were coated with a special gel, which lay in the freezer for 4 hours.



After the scene with Simmons being set on fire was filmed, crew members immediately ran up with fire extinguishers to put out the burning actor.

5. In addition to the usual computer graphics and effects, the film used motion capture technology, which was not yet very common at that time. Actor Michael Jai White put on a special suit with sensors and acted out all the movements, after which this image was digitized, and then graphics specialists took over.



This technology was used mainly for action scenes. This made the fight scenes look truly alive.



6. Initially, such actors as Will Smith, Samuel L Jackson, Wesley Snipes and other actors were considered for the role of Spawn. But in the end the role went to Michael Jai White. But a year later, Wesley Snipes appeared in the form of another anti-hero from comics - Blade.

7. Initially, the role of director was offered to Tim Burton, who was already famous for adapting the superhero film “Batman” and its sequel. But he refused. Next, director's post bwas offered to several other candidates, but they did not take up directing the film "Spawn".



Then newcomer Mark Dippe, who had not directed a single film, but who worked on visual effects for such cult films as “Jurassic Park,” “Back to the Future” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” sat in the director’s chair.

8. Initially, Cagliostro, played by actor Nichol Williamson, was supposed to have a long beard, just like in the comics. But the actor himself refused to grow a beard or wear false props. And since Mark Dippe had no weight in the director's world, since this was his first film, he made concessions and did not demand anything from the actor.



I think that if Tim Burton had taken on the job, he most likely would have found a more accommodating actor. Or maybe not.

9. Nowadays, African-American actors appear in superhero films every now and then. You understand - the agenda. But at the time, seeing an African-American actor in a superhero costume was rare. And the film "Spawn" was one of the first where the main superhero character was played by an African-American.



10. The maggots in the pizza that the desecrating clown ate were real. And actor John Leguizamo actually stuffed them into his mouth. I wonder what take this scene was filmed in? After this, I would definitely show everyone what I ate for breakfast (if you know what I mean).



11. With a budget of $40 million, the film earned $87 million at the worldwide box office. This, of course, is not a failure, but this film did not bring any profit to the film studio. And by the way, 30 million out of 40 were spent on special effects and computer graphics.

12. Michael Jai White could have played Jax in Mortal Kombat 2, but he turned down the offer in favor of Spawn. In principle, I did the right thing. Mortal Kombat 2 was a very bad movie, to say the least. And here the film is better, and also the main role.



But still, a little later, Michael played Jax in the series “Mortal Kombat: Legacy”.