Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been getting all the praises online ever since it released this month, but now the film has come upon a behind-the-scenes snag that could tarnish its otherwise sparkling reputation.
Apparently, multiple artists from the film have opened up to Vulture to claim that they have been overworked for the film, with some doing 11-hour days, seven days a week. It got so bad that over 100 people were said to have left the project because of the working conditions.
The sources for the article haven’t been named, but the name of producer Phil Lord has been pointed out as one of the major problems during production, with Lord having final say over every sequence being worked on, and him apparently constantly changing his mind—resulting in overworked artists.
One source claimed:
“It is not as though Phil is unfamiliar with how animation works. His and Chris Miller’s work speaks for itself. Obviously, they are successful, and the work that they produce is good. Even I was a fan of their work; I would still say that I am. But because it’s successful, because it’s award-winning, he doesn’t have a lot of people stopping him from making the changes he wants to make. The thing is, Phil and Chris are incapable of committing to an idea. They don’t really have a clear vision. What they’re good at is slowly and incrementally making things better through trial and error.”
Because of the producers’ alleged indecisiveness, multiple sequences had to be pushed back, and when approval finally came, that’s when a lot of artists ended up getting overworked, trying to reach the deadline. This isn’t even the first time the two have been criticized for not being able to make a decision; it was said that it was also indecisiveness that got them kicked out of Solo: A Star Wars Story while they were in the middle of making the film.
Though Beyond the Spider-Verse is expected to release next year, this news has led fans to believe that we may have to wait until 2025 to see the release. The wait will be excruciating, but it’s a lot harder to think that they’re going to overwork a bunch of artists again just to release the film on time.
For now, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now showing in theaters.
