If you were to go on the set of a Marvel film, chances are you’d find an overwhelming sea of green and blue screens. A lot is left to the actors imagination and to the skilled VFX artists’ hands to pencil in. But what happens when you need to capture the flavor of a famous city? The unique sights and sounds? You have to film on location and that’s exactly what Spider-Man: Far From Home did.
In tandem with Peter Parker going on a high school trip abroad for the Spidey sequel, the cast and crew travelled to Italy, Prague, London and Spain to make Far From Home. During the huge action sequence in Prague where “Night Monkey” saves Ned and Betty from dying on a Ferris wheel from the Elementals, Jacob Batalon and Angourie Rice were actually on one. In Rice’s words:
For the Ferris wheel scene, for sure. It definitely helped that Jacob and I were actually stuck on top of the Ferris wheel. The only way we were going to get down was if someone pressed a button down on the ground. That definitely added this level of excitement. It was also really fun because, usually, when you film a scene, you are taken out of it for a new setup or because there are lots of people running around and moving things. But, if you’re stuck in a little passenger car on a Ferris wheel, it’s actually really chilled out because there’s nowhere to go and there’s nothing to stress about — you’re just sitting in the same spot. So, it was really nice because I don’t think you get that on productions a lot. I always find location filming stressful because it’s a new environment, but filming in those magnificent location spots in Prague and Venice was just incredible.
Well that’s one way to provide believable performances – placing your actors in the specific situation of the characters. Vacation sweethearts Ned and Betty were actually up high during the sequence stuck on a Ferris wheel. And as Angourie Rice says, it helped inform the buzz and energy of the scene. At the same time, the 18-year-old actress found their spot during the sequence nice because they got to be above the rest of the action.
It’s refreshing to hear a big-budget film such as Spider-Man: Far From Home using actual locations for the movie. The more practical scenes allowed for the audience to be transported to foreign places along with Peter Parker and his high school class. This makes it the perfect summer movie too. Being transported to a European vacation and action-packed superhero film. It was a nice change of pace from the massive battle sequences of Endgame, too.
The scene will perhaps be best remembered for the joke where Ned tells Betty that Stealth Suit Spider-Man is a European rip-off of the New York hero and goes by Night Monkey. Without hesistation, Betty loudly calls out to Night Monkey and the pair are saved by him. Angourie Rice told THR yelling the funny alter-ego was one phrase she had to work extra hard on mastering. The Australian actress said yelling a phrase in another accent is always a struggle.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is currently avalaible to own on Digital and Blu-Ray. Time to check out all the cool Easter Eggs you probably missed!
