10/08/2026
“Shooting Spider-Man: Brand New Day means so much more than I could ever describe. I was a projectionist at my local theater for a few years after high school, and I have a core memory of projecting Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. To have shot a movie within that same franchise, and to have made it with a dear friend and collaborator like Destin, couldn’t make me any happier.”
Cinematographer Brett Pawlak discusses re-teaming with director Destin Daniel Cretton for the latest big-screen adventure of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler. Pawlak shot the movie with modified Panaspeed lenses that helped inform the design of the new Primo 65 lens series.
“I found myself really inspired by a lot of the comics, particularly the way the Spider-Man suit was depicted on the Amazing Fantasy cover. His suit has these incredibly saturated reds and blues, but the majority of the suit falls into almost complete black. That idea of pairing rich, saturated color with deep blacks and shadow became one of the foundations of the look.
I always start each project by going into Panavision and looking at lenses. I absolutely love anamorphic, but for some reason I kept gravitating toward spherical. I appreciate lenses that have character, falloff, and all the things that Panavision is great at giving its cinematographers, but instinctively I was looking for something cleaner. I had a brief conversation with Dan [Sasaki] one afternoon. I told him I was shooting on the [Alexa] 265 and described my hope for a well-performing lens that still had a classic ‘Panavision look.’ I even said, ‘I think I’d shoot this on Primos if I could.’
One of the things that has been most inspiring about working on Spider-Man has been the collaboration. Destin is a very generous collaborator, allowing everyone he brings on to do their ‘thing.’ Whether you’re presenting an idea or receiving one, everyone builds on it until it becomes everyone’s. I think that’s one of the most inspiring things about filmmaking.”
Read more at the link below, and see Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theaters now! 🕷️
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment
Photos by Jay Maidment, Matthew Towers, & Laura Radford
