Superhero Shorts: Who Is Miles Morales?

Welcome to another edition of Superhero Shorts where I share a superhero short film and ask a few questions of its creators. This time I’m talking with director Wes “Wuz Good” Anderson who has spent a lot of time directing music videos for hip hop artists such as Flo Rida and T-Pain, but he also made a Superhero Short featuring the new Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales. You can watch it below, or at Wuz Good’s official website.

This is a great short, it gets right to the heart of the concept right away with the spider bite, the shaky imagery, and the jumpy nature of the editing. The special effects are pretty straightforward, but look very well made and highly polished. The choreography especially during the brief fight scene was impressive with some great acrobatic moves and a nice Spider-Man-esque pose to cap it off. Even though it’s extremely short clocking in at just over 2 minutes excluding credits, it covers a lot of ground and is a great take on Spider-Man, especially the new Spider-Man who I didn’t even realize until watching this short had a couple different powers than Peter Parker. But enough from me, let’s hear from the director himself, Wuz Good.

Bubbawheat: Ive talked to many different types of people that have made fan films, but I’d never thought I’d end up talking to someone known for making rap and hip hop music videos. Is there much of an overlap between the two fanbases?

Wuz Good: With filmmaking, I believe there is always some sort of an overlap. To me – It really depends the concept and whether the execution will match up.

BW: What sort of experiences that you learned making music videos do you think helped to create this Miles Morales short?

WG: Well, honestly my goal has been always to either be in front or behind the camera when it came to superhero-esque pieces. I have always looked at music artists as super heroes, mainly because they can do something nobody else could. When I look at the Miles Morales piece, I feel in some instances it kinda lends itself to a music video flow.

BW: What sort of goals did you want to accomplish when you first decided to make this short?

WG: The goal I wanted to accomplish when putting this together was really to get this out my system lol. My writing partner Corey Nobody and I had been sitting on this idea for about 5 months before Rita & Donnie approached me.

BW: When the Amazing Spider-Man came out, one of the big arguments was that it was too soon to reboot the series, do you think they could ever reboot the series again using Miles Morales’s Spider-Man on the big screen?

WG: When The Amazing Spider-Man Came I did think it was too soon to reboot the series, I was such a big fan of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, as much as everyone hated the last one I was still mesmerized by it. (I’m weird like that) Do I think Miles could ever be on the big screen… hmmmm… Yes, maybe one day, but for now I see him as a Saturday morning series. Think about when you were growing up and you just new Saturday morning was going to be EPIC because of all the shows!!!! YUP!!!! That’s the exact feeling I get every time I watch it.

BW: I like that idea, from what little I’ve seen of Miles Morales’s Spider-Man, I think it would make a good transition into a cartoon series. When I first looked up your video, I found the YouTube link which had been taken down. I had always been under the impression that Marvel generally allowed fan films without many restrictions, do you have any idea why yours was targeted?

WG: I thought the same thing, there are so many of them out there. As to why it was taken down I have a few Ideas.

1. It was EPIC!!! ( lol)
2. It was timed perfectly to the Amazing Spider-Man release and was picking up traction very fast.
3. The other producers (Donnie & Rita) went to Comic-Con to promote Miles Morales – we ended up at the Amazing Spiderman Panel, where all the writers of the Comic Book Series as well as a few Marvel Executives were holding a Q&A. I believe I was one of the last to go up, and the question I asked was “What are your thoughts on taking comic books and making them live action, is it frowned upon, and is there a department at Marvel that would be interested in development?”

   At first they were a little stumped by my question. I then went on to say I just directed a live action short on Miles Morales & the crowd of 200 – 300 people erupted with cheers. The Marvel executive excitedly spoke over the mic asking ”WAIT, YOU MADE THAT!?!?!? Dude, that has been circulating around our offices for the past week!!!” He invited me up on stage an wanted to speak after the Q&A. (that was probably the most epic moments ever)

4. When it was taken down we spoke with Marvel’s legal department and apparently someone from Sony made a complaint and when it gets to legal… well you’re pretty much screwed.

BW: There are very few minority superheroes that have made it to the big screen, and most of them ended up with awful movies. What hero do you think could take the lead in a movie, and who do you think would best be able to pull it off, either as a writer, director, or actor?

WG: That’s a great question!!! I really have not given this one much thought. To start off though, directing would be me… HANDS DOWN. Writing I would stick with Corey Nobody and acting… there are so many great ones out there, it would really come down to the character.

BW: What sort of projects to you have planned for the near future?

WG: Right now the team and I are in development for a Dragonball Z photo shoot to match with the March 30th Release of the new movie Battle of Gods.

BW: I hate to say that I’m not personally a fan of Dragonball so I hadn’t heard of the new movie before now. I know it’s got a huge fanbase and the movie looks like it will be a great match for the fans. Finally, what’s your favorite superhero movie?

WG: Right now its Avengers!!! It was seriously was my childhood mashed into two hours of pure legendary epicness…Joss Whedon Killed it!

Thanks for the great questions!!!!

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Thanks for taking the time out to talk with me, I really appreciate it and will keep an eye out for you to take on some big projects in the future. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.