Nothing Funny About Falls Church Director's 'Comic' Documentary of New York Landmarks

As this weekend approaches, smash-hit super-hero movie Spiderman 2 has already surpassed $350 million at the box office. Film critics such as Roger Ebert have insinuated that part of the reason for the film’s immense popularity stems from the fact that Spider-Man 2’s central character is so life-like, so easy to relate to, so real. This Sunday, the Travel Channel is hoping to cash in on another sort of super-hero reality — the landmarks of New York City as portrayed in the pages of Marvel Comics with a documentary titled Marvel Super Heroes’™ Guide to New York City.

The program, which debuts at 8 p.m. Sunday on the Travel Channel, is the culmination of a project that started more than a year ago when Travel Channel producer and comic-fan Karen Kraft pitched the idea to Travel Channel General Manager Rick Rodriguez of a program documenting some of New York’s prominent locations and buildings made famous through their appearances in Marvel Comics series such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Avengers and the Punisher. Holding the directorial reins of this project is 32-year-old Molly Hermann of Falls Church, a Supervising Producer at the Discovery Channel.

“The interesting thing about Marvel comics is that they actually say that these stories take place in New York,” Hermann says. “DC, the other large comic company, uses imaginary locales like Gotham City and Metropolis, which you assume to be New York, but they never come out and say it.”

Marvel on the other hand openly displays actual landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge, where the Green Goblin kills Spider-Man’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy in the comic series, or the Frick Collection, the building on which comic guru Stan Lee modeled the Avengers’ Mansion. Both sites are among those profiled in the special.

“We wanted to find recognizable sites in New York that ended up being featured in comic books,” Hermann says of the location search. “We wanted the sites to have good stories behind them. Not just one shot sort of things.”

While the program includes various New York locales and landmarks, it also focuses on the history comic books have played in New York as a whole, including Marvel’s treatment of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

“I’ve never liked the movement to edit the Twin Towers out of movies and TV shows,” Hermann says. “I’ve always thought it better to talk about it. Marvel addressed it in its comics and I thought that was really brave.”

Though the treatment of 9-11 demanded particular sensitivity, the crew went to great lengths to ensure the entire project was as authentically New York as possible.

“We used a lot of New Yorkers in the shoot,” Hermann says. “We really felt were able to soak up the character in the shoot. I feel like I really know New York now. Live I’ve lived there for a month.”

Hermann excitedly awaits the program’s debut, not only because it marks the largest project of her career to date, she also directed, produced and co-wrote “The Making of Extreme Engineering” in 2003, but also because of it marks a divergence from the standard fare of the Travel Channel.

“This is really exciting because most travel shows now are about Vegas or are some kind of top-ten list,” Hermann said. “Hopefully people will enjoy watching something a little different.”

While the documentary contains none of the high-tech special effects found in feature films like Spider-Man, the special is far from devoid of effects shots. It simply meant that the crew had to get creative with the tools they had

“We shot this with the idea of making it feel like a comic book,” Hermann says, lauding the work of director of photography Rob Lyall who was responsible for much of the creative camerawork.

In order to give the viewer the sensation of flying through the city, the crew swung a camera between buildings from a 30-foot jib. But it wasn’t just the equipment that faced hazardous situations during the course of the shoot.

While attempting to simulate comic character Submariner surfacing from the water River, the crew attempted to submerge a camera in a plastic bag in the East River. However, the trapped air in the bag kept the camera from sinking.

“We’re out there in October along the East River in the nether-regions of New York and our camera man just strips off his shoes, his socks, his pants and wades into the East River,” Hermann recalls laughing. “He got the shot, but he also ended up with a piece of glass in his foot.”

Hermann dealt with her own physical dilemma, as she was seven-months pregnant with her daughter Greta during the shoot. Ironically, the pregnancy didn’t quite present the hurdle that Hermann thought it might.

“I’ve never been on a better shoot,” Hermann says. “People were always incredibly nice to me. They’d bring me chairs, tell me to drink something. And I never had to carry anything heavy. I didn’t know how easy a shoot could be when you don’t have to carry heavy boxes around.”

Hermann delivered Greta in January and already her early life is being shaped by her mother’s recent directorial experience.

“I want my kids to be into comic books,” says Hermann, whose interest in comics centered on Archie and Betty and Veronica when she was growing up. “I’m going to be like, ‘Turn off the TV! Go read a comic book!’”

Well, maybe not this Sunday night.