We enjoyed the sprightly, newly Marvel-ized Spider-Man: Homecoming, which ditches the whole radioactive spider backstory in favor of much more propulsive narrative motion. This is helpful, because viewers have endured many Spider-Man origins over recent years, and it’s more exciting at this point to see him thrown into new situations.
Perhaps this is why, beginning in 2015 but lingering today, one of the most quietly lingering punchlines online is that of a poorly filmed Spider-Man slapping another Spider-Man’s ass in a hotel room. A brief primer, courtesy KnowYourMeme:
You get the idea.
New York tracked down the film’s director for a surprisingly heartwarming tête-à-tête. Joe Naylor “created, shot, directed, edited all 65 of” Pig Daddy Productions’ films before it went defunct, including Psy-Cloned, the movie featuring the iconic ass slap. His detailing of how the movie came to be is pragmatic:
In the early 2000s, it was pretty much that I wanted to make movies. And believe it or not, it was easier to make porn movies than it was to make legitimate movies. Each one was just born out of “Hey, I haven’t made this yet’” or “I haven’t made that yet.” I was just coming up with different ideas on how superheroes would get into trouble and get into some sort of compromised position.
He also had no idea the clip had gone viral, saying he had to have a friend explain what the term even meant. But he’s happy about it!
Despite making “zero out of any of this,” Naylor sounded thrilled to hear that his low-budget porno had taken on a life of its own. “I think that’s so cool, taking someone’s idea and expanding upon it. Or making something new out of it. That’s totally awesome.”
As for the spank itself? It was improvised. Art is full of mysteries, and so is the internet.
Check out the whole article for much more. Or, just watch this: