Spiderhead

The writers of Spiderhead discuss the new Netflix movie's long road to the screen, working with Chris Hemsworth, and more.

“It was a short story that had appeared in The New Yorker that they wanted to exploit as a feature film,” explains Reese. “And we fell in love with it. “Chris is brilliant in the movie,” says Paul Wernick about the MCU star, whose Thor: Love and Thunder arrives next month. But in any case, we wrote it on spec and then ultimately sold it to Netflix. Once Joe was attached, and we started to get a path toward a cast, that’s when Netflix finally bought the script.” Controlling those experiments as Steve Abnesti (renamed slightly from the story) is Chris Hemsworth, who brings an unsettlingly superficial good cheer, a suffocating self-regard, and the threat of a monstrous ego at work to the role. There he becomes one of the subjects of a scientist named Ray Abnesti, who has developed a series of drugs that can control the emotions and behavior of whoever has the drugs in their system. “This was about a 10-year process,” Reese tells Den of Geek on a Zoom chat witth Wernick by his side.

Based on a short story in The New Yorker by George Saunders, the new film stars Chris Hemsworth as a prison warden testing behavior-altering drugs on ...

Saunders, who began writing for the magazine in 1992, was named a National Book Award finalist for “ Tenth of December,” the short-story collection in which “Escape from Spiderhead” was later published. “More and more these days,” Saunders told Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker’s fiction editor, when “Escape from Spiderhead” was first published, “what I find myself doing in my stories is making a representation of goodness and a representation of evil and then having those two run at each other full-speed. Shot in the country’s northeast during the pandemic, the film co-stars Miles Teller, who is currently appearing in theatres in “Top Gun: Maverick,” as the prisoner who narrates Saunders’s story, and Jurnee Smollett, an Emmy nominee for “Lovecraft Country,” in a role that has been added for the film.

"Spiderhead" toggles between brutal, abrupt violence and a redemptive happy ending a long, long way from the short story's. The actors do what they can en ...

The script for “Spiderhead” makes a rookie mistake: It lets the audience get too far out ahead of the Teller character’s moral and narrative awakening. The facetious use of obvious pop hits (”She Blinded Me With Science,” et al.) belongs to “Deadpool” wise-assery, not this premise. It’s fair game for a movie to go its own way, but director Joseph Kosinski toggles between brutal, abrupt violence — there’s a flashback to a body flying through a windshield we really don’t need to see twice — and a redemptive happy ending a long, long way from the short story’s. “Spiderhead” takes its time revealing what’s up with these experiments, and whether there’s a way out of this pharmacological hell. In the control room, aka Spiderhead, aided by a morally queasy assistant (Mark Paguio), Hemsworth’s character takes smug delight in administering, via an app on his phone, strategic doses of un-inhibitors to his subjects. Teller plays one of the inmates, haunted by a fatal mistake behind the wheel years earlier; Smollett portrays his lover and fellow inmate, likewise trying to shut out her own personal tragedy.

Spiderhead movie review: Director Joseph Kosinski's second film of 2022 also features Miles Teller, but it comes across as a pandemic project that he made ...

And both vehicles that can connect the isolated facility to the mainland—a plane and a boat—are positively vintage, as is the film’s old-school rock soundtrack. Jeff’s redemption arc is genuinely moving, although—and this is emblematic of the film—it would’ve been even more arresting had his crimes been more morally complex. As a character, Steve is too thinly drawn, and the film’s dedication to project him as the protagonist of the story is a pointless distraction that gets in the way of you forming a bond with Jeff. And the tone is all over the place. But while the characters in Tron Legacy, Oblivion and Maverick embodied a more literal solitude, Spiderhead is the the first time that Kosinski is actively addressing these anxieties via plot. Of course, there’s a catch to why the inmates at Spiderhead are left relatively unchecked. Jeff, for instance, was involved in a drunk driving accident that killed his buddy—a plot point that mirrors something that really happened to Teller, leaving him with emotional wounds that he occasionally talks about in interviews, and facial scars that will now also be a part of any character that he ever plays.

"Spiderhead" was made for promos -- Chris Hemsworth! Miles Teller! The director of "Top Gun: Maverick!" The writers of "Deadpool!

Still, it's more of a gift to the Netflix marketing department than it is to viewers who brave its web. Because this is one of those movies that's forgotten almost as soon as it ends, and it doesn't even require any chemical intervention in order to erase the memory. Meanwhile, a more conventional bond begins to form between two of the inmates, Jeff (Teller), who seems to be one of Steve's favorite subjects; and Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), who like Jeff is nursing scars from the outside world.

George Saunders is legendary in the literary community. He's one of the few authors who has made a name for himself almost entirely on short stories, ...

Jeff, in the story, killed a friend in a drunken fight as a teenager. The regret eats at him, and when Heather dies and he faces the prospect of condemning Rachel to the same fate, he thinks, “It was like all I had to do to be a killer again was sit there and wait.” Jeff’s “escape” is his resistance to complicity. Saunders borrows the language of advertising and the ambitions of institutions to grapple with their dehumanizing effects. Erecting a monumental frame for his parable could, as I’m sure the filmmakers argued, heighten the scope of the pharma company’s power in the narrative, a visual symbol of their unstoppable plutocracy, but I couldn’t help but think of how expensive it all looked, how only a major studio could afford to build it. In Kosinski’s adaptation, it’s the developing love between Jeff and Lizzy that motivates them to fight back against the corporate juggernaut. After rereading the story in preparation for the film, I wondered how they would turn what essentially adds up to a bottled parable into a big-budget film, and to my surprise, Kosinski and his screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (who also scripted the Deadpool films) pretty faithfully stick to Saunders’s plot. The whole moral point is that the goodness of humanity persists even when it’s clinically proven that there isn’t love there. In one experiment, Jeff is introduced to Heather. They are both asked what they think of each other, attraction-wise, and they both reply that they’re mostly indifferent. In the testing room sit Heather and Rachel, who don’t know that they both, earlier that day, fell in love with and had intense sex with the same person who at this very moment is watching them behind the two-way glass. He now teaches at a highly respected MFA program at Syracuse, but in the bio of his first book, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (1996), it says that he “works as a geophysical engineer” and that “he has explored for oil in Sumatra, played guitar in a Texas bar band, and worked in a slaughterhouse.” He was 38. To start, here is a summary of Saunders’s original: a man named Jeff is a prisoner in a facility that tests out some pretty high-concept drugs. But when the drug wears off, Jeff retains absolutely none of these emotions, and neither does Heather.

What they sacrifice as punishment is their brain chemistry for science, which is toyed with by Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), following the orders of a ...

A lot of “Spiderhead” relies on the curiosity of its premise, which is teased by watching Hemsworth push Teller through different procedures, creating a friendship that this movie treats as its light stakes. The movie can be so backwards that even its lead can seems out of place—it’s initially interesting to see Hemsworth play someone as disarming as he is manipulative, but he becomes a heavy-handed expression of the movie’s limited statements about science, power, control. It’s motivated to depict how the American prison system could be more humane, but then the plot's larger reveals about what's really going on are as close to an anti-surprise as you can get. The literal act of Abnesti turning them different ways becomes almost a conceit of a movie that itself is forcing its power, its vague reason to exist. “Spiderhead” imagines a different kind of prison system—one with an open-door policy that allows the incarcerated to have their sense of self, to cook for themselves, to work out when they want to. “Spiderhead,” the latest film from Joseph Kosinski after last month’s “ Top Gun: Maverick,” agrees with me, because with its many similarities it even has its mad scientist—played by a winking Chris Hemsworth—grooving to pop music.

Chris Hemsworth's latest Netflix movie is a '70s throwback with very 21st century flaws.

While it’s understandable that Netflix would want a genuine A-lister to headline a high-profile film like Spiderhead, however, this is not a role suited to a star who – in a previous life – would have been described as a matinee idol. Netflix should be applauded for continuing to make the sort of mid-level movies that no longer make it into theaters – and Spiderhead undeniably has a decent stab at capturing the minimalist paranoia of a ’70s thriller. It’s as if Netflix’s algorithms told them audiences would be reluctant log on to a prison drama that didn’t also have laughs, and nobody knew when to stop. This device – clearly designed to look like medical equipment Nintendo would make if it gets bored of videogames – is capable of delivering carefully monitored doses, rigorously controlled by a bespoke smartphone app. New Netflix movie Spiderhead has similar aspirations, but it’s a little too quirky and self-aware to truly keep you on the edge of your seat. In many ways it’s a throwback, a reminder of what sci-fi movies looked like before Star Wars turned effects-laden blockbusters into the gold standard.

Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Jurnee Smollett come together in this intriguing sci-fi thriller. Here's how you can stream Spiderhead.

Twelve Monkeys (1995): Twelve Monkeys is a science fiction film about a convict, who volunteers for a mission where he has to travel back in time to gather information and find out the main reason behind a man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population. The film stars Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan, Ally Ioannides, and Katie Aselton. Synchronic is available for streaming on Netflix. Jeff (Miles Teller) is one of the subjects of his latest experiment and he is administered a new drug called N-40 alongside the other inmate volunteers. Of course, this system causes those on the top levels to eat as much as they can while those on the ground level get almost nothing, causing conflict in the prison. Like Spiderhead, Twelve Monkeys is about a prison inmate who volunteers for a dangerous mission. Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick, Tron: Legacy). Based on The New Yorker short story, “Escape From Spiderhead,” by George Saunders. The residents are fed via a food platform that drops downward, initially filled with food on the top floor but gradually reducing as the food descends through the tower’s levels. In February 2019, it was announced that a film adaptation of the short story was in the works. The trailer introduced us to Mr. Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), who runs a state-of-the-art penitentiary called Spiderhead. Abnesti is a brilliant visionary who experiments on his subjects with mind-altering drugs. Spiderhead stars Chris Hemsworth, Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country), and Miles Teller (Top Gun: Maverick). Hemsworth also produced the film alongside Reese and Wernick, Eric Newman, Agnes Chu, Geneva Wasserman, Tommy Harper, and Jeremy Steckler. The story was subsequently published in Saunders’ collection of short stories titled Tenth of December in 2013. Netflix and Chris Hemsworth are fast becoming a match made in film heaven.

Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth) has his very own experiment set up on Spiderhead, an island that takes prisoners from incarceration and sets them up as test ...

He goes from fear, to laughter, and finally to serenity as the Luvactin kicks in and he sees a surreal glow in the distance. Lizzy and Jeff are still feeling the after-effects of their experiments as they speed away from Spiderhead on a boat. Throughout the movie, Ray was hunting for ‘Shit-Finger’, a mystery prisoner who was smearing faeces on the walls of the complex. Instead of intentionally crashing his plane to avoid the consequences, it appears to be a result of a faulty MobiPak, which is pumping all manner of drugs into his system. Jeff clearly feels guilt for the accident that caused Emma’s death, and his updates on her answering machine is certainly a way of communicating that. He heads to his plane and, as he ascends, his MobiPak goes haywire, giving him a cocktail of all the drugs he’s used in his experiments. Throughout the movie, we see flashbacks of the event that caused Jeff to get locked up. He eventually gets Jeff to make a decision by lying to him and telling the prisoner that the board have told him to press on with the experiment. Jeff has called in the police and manages to save Lizzy and escape the island by boat. It’s explained that Steve has been using it throughout the movie as a means to test how far the subjects would really go against the people they love. The Luvactin overpowers him, and he mistakes a rockface for a beautiful ray of sunlight, crashing his plane. Jeff grows closer to another prisoner, Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), and the two fall in love.

The new movie "Spiderhead," starring Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller, distorts a great George Saunders story into an empty good-versus-evil tale.

A couple of new, auxiliary drugs feel true to the story, and the original bits of the score are effective. “Escape From Spiderhead” builds on motifs he developed in other stories, like corporate involvement in law enforcement (“My Flamboyant Grandson”) and medicated captive research subjects (“Jon”). Some of his protagonists must respond to methodical violence by joining in or paying a price (“Ghoul,” “ Elliott Spencer”). By personalizing the story’s threat in Abnesti, the writers remove the existential dilemma on which Saunders hung his plot. “Escape From Spiderhead” is one of Saunders’ most horrific tales, but its run-of-the-mill bureaucracy invites reader identification. But Kosinski leans heavily on a handful of glam, New Wave and soft-rock songs to signify — what, exactly? On the other, they have unsupervised access to knives (never mind belts, glass vessels, underwire bras, etc.; this Spiderhead is crawling with contraband). In another sense though, the prison-industrial complex is a constant human experiment: How young can we lock people up? One can only dream of what a surrealist like David Lynch or Josephine Decker would have done with the scenes. Yet in “Spiderhead,” the adaptation by Joseph Kosinski (“ Top Gun: Maverick”) that opens this week, Saunders’ work is little more than a prop. George Saunders’ “ Escape From Spiderhead” is the stuff of nightmares, or at least of mine: torture, mind control, lifelong regret. Despite a charade of consent, subjects are aware that if they refuse to cooperate, the experimenters can fax Albany for permission to use an obedience drug. Sparing Jeff the tough choices, the writers shunt moral transformation onto a minor character. The film’s writers, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (“Deadpool”), fundamentally misconstrue Saunders’ story.

Miles Teller and Chris Hemsworth go head-to-head in a prison that tests mind-altering drugs in the new 'Spiderhead' sci-fi movie streaming on Netflix.

Spiderhead keeps the acid tone of the story (though sadly missing a lot of the bizarre flowery language), as its characters are subjected to more and more manipulative treatments. The creepy premise is adapted (by Deadpool guys Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) from George Saunders' story "Escape from Spiderhead," which was first published in The New Yorker in 2010, and, if you've never read him before, is a perfect introduction to Saunders' ability to weave together the funny and the macabre. The facility is built on a remote tropical island apart from civilization, but things seem to be happening in the world outside that are connected to the drugs. Jeff and his fellow inmates have been fitted with "MobiPaks," mechanical cartridges attached at the base of their spines that hold vials of different types of liquid, within which are prototypes of mind-control drugs with marketable nicknames like "Verbaluce" and "Laffodil." Daily, Jeff visits an observation room run by Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), the guy in charge of the facility who carries out various experiments on the somewhat willing participants, testing the efficacy of the company's new drugs. Jeff (Miles Teller) lives in the Spiderhead, a high-tech private prison facility housing a group of convicts who have volunteered to participate in an experimental program rather than wait out their sentences in a state-run prison. Whether they're set in the far future, a few weeks from now, or an alternate version of the past, even the weirdest and darkest science fiction stories are mirrors to our own present.

Chris Hemsworth ponders musingly, or muses ponderously, in the foreground of a barren concrete Image: Netflix. Happy Friday, Polygon readers! This week brings a ...

It is now available for rent at a reduced price of $5.99. In this one, the Crawley family travels to France after a mysterious inheritance. This South African crime thriller comes from French director Fabien Martorell, who previously worked on documentaries and short films. Unlike the 1950 version with Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor, or the 1991 movie with Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, and Kimberly Williams, the new adaptation focuses on a Cuban American family. Nearly 30 years in the making, VFX artist-director Phil Tippett’s Mad God is a nightmarish odyssey through a dystopian world of Boschian grotesqueries and phantasmagorical landscapes. She brings across her character’s conflicted state in captivating ways, with an alluring effervescence and genuine personality. The third film in what’s been described as director Joachim Trier’s “Oslo trilogy,” The Worst Person in the World is a romantic black comedy centered on Julie (Renate Reinsve), a medical student stumbling through an underwhelming love life and a troubled career path. Morbius is what happens when there’s a studio desire for another Venom, but without much thought as to how Venom connected with anyone. Audiences do turn out for characters they love, but they also show up for characters played by people, by actors who give them weird quirks and specific mannerisms. And now you can rent it at the reduced price of $5.99. “Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski and the writers of Deadpool team up to adapt a dystopian short story by George Saunders” is a real description of a real movie that really exists. This time out, he’s working with Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and the writing team behind the Deadpool movies and 6 Underground on a cerebral sci-fi.

Here you can find the complete, Yacht Rock-filled soundtrack to Netflix's 'Spiderhead,' including a song idea that Chris Hemsworth came up with himself.

"I liked the notion of Steve programming a background music playlist for the Spiderhead that gave the whole facility a sense of calm, relaxation, and safety—like a dentist’s office," Kosinski tells Men's Health. "It would serve to mask the true nature of what is going on inside its walls." But one thing that's clear is that these experiments are not always of the pleasant variety. Director Joseph Kosinski has already been behind the camera for 2022's biggest blockbuster yet— Top Gun: Maverick—and now he's trying to make it a winning streak with Netflix's Spiderhead. Based on a short story by George Saunders, Spiderhead boasts a star-studded cast that rivals if not exceeds that of Maverick, but contains a decidedly more intimate story.

This article contains Spiderhead spoilers. It looks almost blissful. That serene sunset Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth) imagines he's flying toward might as ...

So being asked to let Jeff go free and destroy his life’s work is a bridge too far, and one that gives Steve the free will to fight back. At the end of the movie, Jeff commands Steve to open the doors to Spiderhead and help him destroy the scientist’s life’s work. The short and obvious answer is that Jeff appealed to Mark’s sympathies. It is Jeff’s self-loathing guilt, his new pampered lifestyle, and the B-6 that all influence his decisions. Once perfected, Steve intended to sell it to businesses (and governments?) under the name O-B-D-X (Obediex). What sort of authority wouldn’t want something that “could get you to follow an order antithetical to your deepest values and emotions?” So Steve would try to pump Jeff up with “love” for Heather (Tess Haubrich) via N-40, but the experiment wasn’t to prove that it would make folks become infatuated with one another—even to the point of ripping their clothes off right in front of voyeurs! However, Jeff still was consenting to things he might not have otherwise—like eventually giving Heather the Darkenfluxx. Was he broken down by Steve’s pressure?

Spiderhead director Joseph Kosinski and producer Eric Newman address the truth behind their new Netflix thriller.

To do it in an American accent, to be so charming and funny and entertaining, but also have the starkness and just the complexity of this almost sociopathic character to me was such a fun thing to see on set every single day and I’m really, really excited for people to see it.” “I don’t think there’s anything in this film that isn’t in the not-so-distant future for us. While the film does have a futuristic feel to it with the minimalist facility and technology used to administer the drugs, both insist that the events of Spiderhead are closer to reality than you might think.