SPIDER-MAN Writers Talk Changes and Challenges

SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK writers Roberto Aguire-Sacasa and Glen Berger recently sat down with Hollywood Reporter to discuss the challenges of revamping and streamlining the once-troubled show.

During a New York Comic Con panel SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK writers Robert Aguire-Sacasa and Glen Berger discussed the challenges of revamping and streamlining the once-troubled show, according to Hollywood Reporter.

Berger recalled how plans to use holograms in theater aisles had to be axed and the duo also explained to the audience how time and budget constraints kept the beloved story about the origin of Spider-Man out of the Broadway show.

One question from the New York Comic Con audience was why it doesn't contain a popular burglary story that was also part of the first Sony Spider-Man movie.

"We all love the burglar story - it's the quintessial Spider-Man origin story," Aguire-Sacasa said.
"When we reconvened to revamp the show, we all had a wish list of stuff we wanted to put back in. We all wanted to put the burglary back in. But there was such a limited amount of time and, at that point, budget that it was basically impossible."

"We really were looking at the latest holographic technology," Berger said. "What we had in mind was these supervillains would be popping up next to you in the aisles. We thought that was possible, and it's not [yet]."

Aguire-Sacasa added that another focus was finding the humanity of characters and making people care about them.

"The more technology there is on stage, the harder it is to connect with the human beings on the stage," he said.

Several fans told the writers that they really enjoyed the expanded role of The Green Goblin in the show's revamp.

"From the beginning, he had a comic and violent streak that was reading well on stage," Berger said about the character.

"Glen kind of was the de-facto voice of The Green Goblin, because he can just channel this crazy at a moment's notice," added Aguire-Sacasa.

Berger then explained how he channeled the character. "Originally, it came from Bono describing meeting Ted Turner for the first time," he told fans. While the two were walking around fields outside of Atlanta, Turner pointed out a snake in the grass and suggested it was not poisonous snake, but his assistant corrected him, Berger recalled.

"Ted had already picked it up and said hell, you are right, it is [poisonous]," he said. Inspired by that story, The Green Goblin character for him became about transplanting that bundle of energy and personality into a scientist, he explained.

A couple of fans also asked about the reduced and refocused role of Arachne in the current version of the Broadway show.

Berger said that originally Taymor wanted to add another female voice to the musical.

The production "asked Marvel if we could make a nice powerful composite," he said. "That was the idea. It wasn't working as well as it should have and could have."

Aguire-Sacasa said that he was confused by the Arachne. "I thought what is this character," he told fans. "But when you do a musical incarnation, you do want something unique and new. It makes it specific to Spider-Man on Broadway...so that it isn't just the first movie on stage."

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