Interview: Jack Huston Dives Into His Portrayal of Flint Marko in ‘Spider-Noir’

The character of Flint Marko, also known as the Sandman, has a rich history throughout not only the Marvel comic books, but also in animated television, and live-action film, as he was previously portrayed by Thomas Haden Church in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 and Jon Watts‘ Spider-Man: No Way Home.

For Spider-Noir, however, he has been reinterpreted both inside the context of a film noir and the historical setting the show is examining, during the Great Depression following World War I. For actor Jack Huston, who spoke to Awards Radar during a Zoom interview, this felt like a great opportunity to do something new with the character, even if the Sandman has been interpreted in so many ways throughout Marvel comics:

“I’ve been a big fan of the films that have come before it, but I wasn’t privy to the comics and the whole Spider-Verse. When I read the scripts, [Showrunner] Oren Uziel said something really interesting early on. He was watching many old film noirs, specifically watching Humphrey Bogart, and he thought to himself, “What if Humphrey Bogart were Spider-Man?” That was his take on it. When I read the scripts, Spider-Man, or The Spider, felt like a second thought rather than the driving force of his character. We’re invested in the private detective world, and it felt very true to film noir. 

When I read Flint, he came across as his own character. He didn’t feel like I had to adhere to anything that had come before or anything that might come after. He felt very independent. The greatest struggle or conflict this character faces is internalized, partly due to time and circumstance. We’re post-World War I. These guys have come back to a world that has forgotten them. I was really excited to explore that character beyond his powers and the ones that are actually killing him. He’s already going through this amazing conflict, both externally and internally. It was daunting, just because I know how important this world is to so many people, but also quite liberating, in the sense that I was able to create something completely new. It was a beautiful character to dive into.”

What’s most fascinating about the character of Flint Marko, throughout his history, is how three-dimensional and nuanced he is. That essence is kept when it came to reinterpreting him for Spider-Noir, which Huston explains that, as an actor, he is “always looking for three-dimensional characters, characters that have a lot more going on under the surface. I think he’s tragic. He’s not a villain, he’s an anti-hero. Good people in desperate situations can do bad things. It doesn’t mean that they’re bad people. That was very important to me to portray that. Flint is doing what he can with what he has. He’s like all of us: in a desperate situation, life-and-death in many ways. He’s madly in love. He didn’t think he would ever find something like this in his life, and he probably feels he doesn’t deserve it, as many people do, believing they don’t deserve a good life or happiness. Maybe it’s something in their past, maybe it’s something that they’ve done. 

He was sort of beautiful to me, because I really got to craft something rather unique. I love a character that has a real arc, where every episode is a discovery. You get to go a little deeper. While reading the scripts, I couldn’t stop because I wanted to know where he was going and what was happening to him. It was just so exciting to me. I found the writing so brilliant that, with or without the superhero context, this show works. It’s a very complex story, and the way it was crafted felt unlike anything I’d seen or read before.”

Watch the full interview below:

[Some of the quotes in this article were edited for length and clarity]