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Spider-Noir: Li Jun Li Reportedly Joins Nicolas Cage-Starring Series

Sony Pictures TV and Amazon MGM Studios' Nicolas Cage-starring Spider-Noir has reportedly cast Li Jun Li (Wu Assassins) as a series regular.

Published Fri, 19 Jul 2024 10:37:09 -0500

by Ray Flook

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We've got more casting news for Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios' upcoming Nicolas Cage-starring "Spider-Man Noir" series (now Spider-Noir). Deadline Hollywood is reporting exclusively that Li Jun Li (Wu Assassins) has joined the streaming series as a series regular – with Li reportedly tapped to play a singer at the premier nightclub in New York. Along with Cage and Li, the cast also reportedly includes Lamorne Morris (New Girl, Fargo)and Brendan Gleeson (Mr. Mercedes, The Banshees of Inisherin).

Cage plays an aging and down-on-his-luck 1930s New York private investigator who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city's one and only superhero. Morris's Robbie Robertson is a driven, hard-working, and a man who won't take no for an answer, Morris's Robertson is a dedicated journalist trying to make it with the odds stacked against him as a black professional in 1930s New York. He takes on riskier stories that no one else would touch in order to catch attention and a paycheck. He is willing to do whatever is necessary for his career. Gleeson has reportedly been tapped to play the series' villain, though specific details are being kept under wraps.

Nicolas Cage Talks "Spider-Man Noir"/"Spider-Noir"

Speaking with The New Yorker for an interview that went live earlier today, Cage had some additional details to share on what he notes will be an eight-episode series. Describing the series as being "more of a Pop-art mashup, like a Lichtenstein painting" that has "some sparkle to it," Cage notes that the violence in the series is more "fantasy" and that "Monsters are involved."

For Cage, Television Allows More Time to Tell The Story: "What interested me was the time I could take expressing something. I saw Bryan Cranston in 'Breaking Bad' stare at a suitcase for half the episode. Just him on the floor looking at a suitcase, thinking, 'What's in it? Do I do this? Don't I do it?' I thought, 'We don't have time to do that in movies.' So that, to me, seemed like an opportunity to open it up a little. I don't know if the project that I'm exploring has room for that. I think this is a much more sort of popcorn-entertainment episodic television.

One Thing Cage Already Likes About "Spider-Man Noir": "I know that the phone's going to be ringing off the hook to play serial killers after 'Longlegs' [Cage's upcoming horror film]. And that's not really what I like to do. I don't like violence. I don't want to play people who are hurting people. One of the things that I like about this potential show is that it's fantasy. It's not really people beating people up. Monsters are involved.

Cage also noted during the interview that he was heading out to have his body scanned for Spider-Man Noir and another project, and reaffirmed his fears that "They're just going to steal my body and do whatever they want with it via digital A.I. … God, I hope not A.I. I'm terrified of that." The actor has been very vocal about his fears regarding the impact that A.I. could have on the creative, artistic experience. "It makes me wonder, you know, where will the truth of the artists end up? Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where's the heartbeat going to be? I mean, what are you going to do with my body and my face when I'm dead? I don't want you to do anything with it!" he added.

Series co-developers Oren Uziel & Steve Lightfoot also serve as co-showrunners and executive producers. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal also co-developed the series and will serve as executive producers (Pascal, via Pascal Pictures) – with Harry Bradbeer executive-producing and directing the first two episodes. Spider-Man Noir will debut domestically on MGM+'s linear channel – with a global launch from Prime Video to follow.

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