New Girl star Jake Johnson plays a broken down superhero in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse

Actor-comedian Jake Johnson plays Peter Parker in the eagerly anticipated, animated Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse, but it’s like you’ve never seen him before

US actor and comedian Jake Johnson is best known for his role as Nick Miller on the sitcom New Girl, which wrapped up this year after seven seasons. He has also appeared in the action blockbusters The Mummy and Jurassic World — and worked with producer directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller in The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street. Lord and Miller asked him to play a middle-aged Peter Parker from an alternative universe in their visually spectacular animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse

 

JW: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is pretty out there — all these different versions of Spider-Man coming together from different dimensions — what did you make of it when producer Phil Lord explained the concept and your being Peter Parker to you?

JJ: I thought it was brilliant. I also think it’s very contemporary in a way I find exciting that anyone can wear a mask. I liked that in introduces Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen but in introducing these new Spider heroes it still pays tribute to Peter Parker. Even though Peter Parker is 40 in this movie and not in as good shape as he used to be he is still Spider-Man and still has all the same powers. So it feels really cool to introduce new while paying honour to the original.

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JW: Phil Lord and Chris Miller have quite a track record with The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, how much were they a part of your decision to do this?

JJ: They were a huge part. My way of getting into this was that Phil wrote me an email and said he was thinking about me for a part and I was in long before I knew it was Spider-Man. So anything that Phil Lord and Chris Miller — and these guys know it because I have told them — I don’t think I can think of a more talented duo and anything they are involved in I know is going to be thoughtful and smart and funny and with a ton of heart and those are the projects I love to be part of.

JW: The animation is like nothing we have ever seen before — did it match what you had in your head while you were in the recording booth?

JJ: It far exceeded it. I have never seen animation quite like this. In my head I had imagined it more as animation the way I was used to so the look of this movie genuinely blew me away.

JW: You and Shameik Moore (Miles Morales) recorded together in the booth, which is quite unusual — did that make a difference?

JJ: I thought it made a huge difference because it allowed me to form who Peter Parker was in this iteration. So much of his story is tied around Miles to seeing how he reacted to him — it’s one thing to do that alone, but it’s another thing when I am actually acting opposite Shameik and hearing his energy and feeling his rhythms, we then started forming our characters around how the other guy played it.

Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), in a scene from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse.

JW: It’s a very different Peter Parker in this movie — what did you make of a jaded, slightly broken down, middle-aged superhero?

JJ: What I didn’t want to do is make Peter Parker a joke because he is not one. Peter Parker is Spider-Man so what I really liked is the humanity and the fact that he still has all the powers he had before, he just hasn’t been using them and he is kind of bored of it. And I think for this movie his whole arc was remembering how much he loves being Spider-Man and how great it is to have this ability.

JW: Your rule of thumb for playing characters is that they need to be people you’d like to hang out with for an hour and a half — what did you like about Peter?

JJ: Absolutely. I need to have something I can really relate to and what I liked about Peter for this version of him — and it’s something I have seen in my life with people, actors who are really at the top of their game, when you have a conversation with them, they have that moment of doubt ‘is this something I want to keep going?’ There is a part of their life where they are questioning everything. So what I liked about this Peter was that he is never saying he doesn’t want to be Spider-Man any more. The reality is I think when Peter goes back into his own universe, he is back to being Peter Parker as we know him. I do believe, the older you get, and the more you get to understand your skills and your talents and the smarter you are at using them.

JW: He’s also something of a reluctant mentor, but in the end he helps Miles find his own path — can you relate?

JJ: I haven’t been asked to be a mentor too often, but when I have, I haven’t been too reluctant especially if I see something in the younger person that I really like and respect. I like working with younger actors who are good and hungry because it fires me up. But I am a believer that in the end you have to find your own path so in that way I do relate to Miles. You can get all the advice you want but at a certain you just have to take responsibility for yourself and just go out and do it.

Jake Johnson, Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld. Photo: Getty Images

JW: You dropped out of school for year when you were 15 and got a day job — and then went back. What did that experience teach you about finding your own path?

JJ: I thought everything was going to be fine and I didn’t care that much about learning about things like math or spending time in school and I saw how real the world gets without an education and how quickly hard work comes at you. So I fought to get back in school and then I fought really hard learn things. And even to this day I am going through a big reading stage because I realised I probably haven’t read enough of the classics. So I learned from that experience the importance of learning and growing — because it’s your own responsibility to make your life interesting and try to do good things.

JW: There’s a black kid, a white woman and an Asian woman all wearing the Spider-Man mask in Into the Spider-verse. Is that diversity a sign of progress in Hollywood?

JJ: I hope so. I honestly think Hollywood and pop culture are all business oriented so I think that this town will go where the money is going. So if audiences want to see this — and obviously they do then there will be more movies in that direction. But I am also really excited that in a movie like this, Peter hasn’t been changed. He is still Peter Parker as we know him because as there is an importance to represent all different cultures and genders — I am really excited about Spider-Gwen — white men are still here too and I am really glad that Peter has a nice role in this as well.

JW: The late, great Stan Lee has his customary cameo — did you get to meet him?

JJ: No, unfortunately I didn’t. I was really hoping to meet him at the premiere of this one. But I do feel very honoured to be part of playing in his imagination a little bit. It’s nice to play a character that he created all those years ago that is still living and breathing and to this day I am still doing press for it. It feels neat to be part of that legacy.

— Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse opens tomorrow