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It’s pretty much common knowledge that Tom Holland has been doing a lot of his stunts for the Spider-Man franchise since he was 19 years old. But, when the actor can’t, I figured it was pretty easy for the production to sub in a stunt man or bring in a digital rendering of Spidey in high-swinging action. However, as CinemaBlend recently learned, it’s a lot more complicated than that.
When CB recently spoke to Spider-Man: Brand New Day Visual Effects Supervisor Chris Waegner at Sony Pictures Imageworks, I learned why it’s not so simple to film Spider-Man stunts. As the VFX professional shared during our interview:
Anytime we have to do a digital suit replacement, it’s pretty expensive in the sense of man time, because we have to do a photo-real rotomation frame-by-frame of Tom Holland. Then we have to apply the wrinkles to it, and we have to apply muscle simulation. And, I think a lot of people take a lot of things for granted when you see it is if you don’t have those super fine details like muscle twitches and the wrinkles and things like that, it just doesn’t look correct.
Needless to say, pulling off such feats isn’t easy. Waegner added:
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It is a very time-consuming approach for the artist, because you have a reference of him in a suit, and then you’re applying a digital suit.
For context, rotomation refers to an advanced 3D digital model of an actor. Much like an animator might have a 3D model of a character one can adjust in the movements they need for a film, the same is the case for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. As Waegner said, when they weren’t using in-camera stunt work by the now-30-year-old Spidey actor or one of his stunt men, there was a ton of work being done to make it all look seamless.
My jaw dropped when the VFX expert told me this, because I never thought of everything down to the “muscle twitches.” Still, they certainly make all the difference, as they ensure that an audience feels like they’re watching the wall-crawler come to life in every scene. Waegner also said:
Anytime we have something captured in camera, it’s amazing reference. And, we try to use as much of the practical swinging and things as we can, but there are always times where we’re gonna have to either transition out of practical swinging into digital Spider-Man or vice versa. You start with a practical Spider-Man. But, as he hits the ground or as he hits a parked car or something like that, we don’t want the stuntman to get injured. So, at some point, we end up taking it over digitally.
For some reason, I thought it would actually be easier to use the digital suits in a movie like Brand New Day, but the VFX supervisor’s comments made me realize how much work it is to replicate reality. No wonder Holland and Zendaya were lifted 110 feet off the ground for one swinging sequence they performed together! Waegner said this as well:
We will always try to use what they’ve spent the time trying to capture on camera because Tom is a unique actor that does a lot of his own stunts. I think he has a tremendous control over his body because of his history with gymnastics and the things that we all have seen behind the scenes. He has very good muscle control and the ability for him to get into these Spider-Man poses naturally, which I think lends itself to us wanting to use the [live-action] photography as much as possible.
I love learning this BTS information about Brand New Day because it really makes me appreciate both the practical and VFX components of crafting this Marvel Cinematic Universe installment. And, while a character like Iron Man might be easier to have a digital suit for, Waegner makes a great point about how advanced BND had to be on a technical level. This is because it’s more of a skin-tight suit where a lot more is happening as we see the superhero move.
All of that hard work paid off, as Brand New Day remains the most successful movie on the 2026 release schedule. The Destin Daniel Cretton-directed film had a record-breaking domestic opening weekend and six straight weekends at No. 1. It’s an excellent film for a number of reasons, but it’s particularly great due to the way it balances character and spectacle, with the latter having been very well done by Chris Waegner and co.
You can learn even more behind-the-scenes details on Spider-Man: Brand New Day by checking it out on VOD now, or pre-ordering the Blu-ray, which comes out on December 15. Believe me when I say the additional information will change the way you look at the film (in a good way)!
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