Italian Spiderman
Italian Spiderman is an Australian short film parody of Italian action–adventure films of the 1960s and 1970s, first released on YouTube in 2007. The parody purports to be a "lost Italian film" by Alrugo Entertainment, an Australian film-making collective formed by Dario Russo, Tait Wilson, David Ashby, Will Spartalis and Boris Repasky.
A trailer was released, followed by a full-length short feature composed of ten mini-episodes.
Plot
Italian Spiderman faces a stranger in a game of blackjack. The stranger suggests raising the stakes and threatens to kill Italian Spiderman if he loses, to which Italian Spiderman agrees. The stranger draws a king and an ace, and, believing he has won, prepares to shoot Italian Spiderman. However, Italian Spiderman draws the same cards and immediately attacks the stranger's henchmen with a shotgun. The stranger is revealed to be the supervillain Captain Maximum, who escapes by transforming into a snake as Italian Spiderman flees the scene on his motorcycle. Meanwhile, an asteroid from a distant galaxy crashes on Earth, where Professor Bernardi discovers it. Upon researching it, he discovers that it contains a substance that can create duplicates of any living being and decides that Italian Spiderman is the only one who can have it. A crocodile-themed supervillain named Coccodrillo breaks into Italian Spiderman's home, but Italian Spiderman kills him before traveling to Professor Bernardi's laboratory to get the asteroid.Captain Maximum, who is interested in using the asteroid for his plans, attacks in an attempt to steal it. After failing, he transforms the Professor into a snake. Captain Maximum later intercepts Italian Spiderman and steals the asteroid, but gives him the chance to win it back if he can beat him in a surfing contest. After realizing that Italian Spiderman is better at surfing than he is, he tries to win by cheating, but fails when Italian Spiderman summons penguins to help him win. When Italian Spiderman returns home, Captain Maximum's henchmen attack him and shoot him with a tranquilizer dart.
As Italian Spiderman awakens in Captain Maximum's lair, Maximum shoots Professor Bernardi. As he dies, Bernardi gives Italian Spiderman a potion made from the asteroid. Italian Spiderman attacks Captain Maximum's headquarters and, despite having the potion, overpowers his henchmen with guns and his superpowers alone. He later returns home with the Professor's niece, Jessica. When a gigantic Captain Maximum lays siege to the city, Italian Spiderman finally drinks the potion and grows to his size to fight him.
Crew
- Director – Dario Russo
- Producer – Dario Russo
- Writers – Dario Russo, Tait Wilson, David Ashby, Will Spartalis, and Boris Repasky
- Director of Photography – Sam King
- Production Design – Tait Wilson
- Costume Design and Makeup – Sophie Spalding and Chloe Spalding
- Prop Builders – Bluey Byrne and Brad Maddern
- Sound Design & Score – Will Spartalis
- Original Music – Dario Russo, Will Spartalis and Josh Van Looy
- Editor – Dario Russo
- Gaffer – Sarah Macdonald
- 1st Camera Assistant – Vivyan Madigan
- Grip – Henry Smith
- Squirrel Grip – Matt Veseley
- Production Assistant – Sarah Bond
- Stills Photography – Lucy Spartalis
Project history
In May 2010, Alrugo Entertainment announced its dissolution.
Due to the success of Italian Spiderman, the Special Broadcasting Service contacted Dario Russo and David Ashby expressing interest in creating a television adaptation, but copyright issues caused the project to be dropped. In its place, the SBS commissioned them to create the show Danger 5 with a budget of 1.5 million Australian dollars.
In 2018, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller expressed interest in including Italian Spiderman as a character in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, although this never came to fruition. According to Joaquim Dos Santos in 2023, the character could not be used because he was not owned by Marvel. He stated: