The Maverick Behind the Men Beneath the Masks

There’s an intimate moment in the feature documentary “With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story” where Marvel Comics bigwig Stan Lee and his wife of over 60 years, Joan, banter about what really motivates him to work so hard in creating hundreds of comic book characters: the fact Joan “gleefully” spends all of his money.

Filmmakers Terry Dougas, Will Hess and Nikki Frakes infuse archival footage, comic book ephemera (that pops out like a 3D film) and interviews with Marvel illustrators and comic book aficionados including Nicholas Cage and Kevin Smith to narrate Lee’s legendary ascension from what Dougas describes as, “Seeing a guy start with nothing and become a global force.” The sprightly and fun-loving 89-year-old will be bestowed with the Producers Guild Vanguard award this weekend and will make an appearance in Park City, Utah next week in support of the film’s premiere at Slamdance Film Festival. Speakeasy chatted with Mr. Lee and co-director/co-producer/editor Frakes about the film’s five-year long process and Lee’s superhero-esque life.

When I first read about the documentary, my first thought was how come this is the first full-length documentary made about Stan? Had anyone approached you before about it?

Stan Lee: You mean why haven’t they’ve done documentaries about me all during the years? Preferably one each year? It should be an annual event. But I guess everybody was busy doing other things, and finally our little group got together to do the documentary. And I was very flattered.

How did it happen?

I met Nikki and Terry, of course, and Will and they suggested this and Terry mainly, he said, “Hey we ought to do a documentary about you.” I said, “You’re kidding.” He said, “No, really.” “You must’ve run out of other people to do documentaries on.” But anyway, they were convinced they wanted to do it, and I certainly wasn’t going to say no. It was a very flattering prospect. They had been working on it. I must say they’ve done a lot of work. I haven’t been able to help much because I’m busy with the other things we do here at POW! Entertainment but they put in a lot of time on this. I’m very grateful. I think it looks good what I’ve seen of it. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Nikki, this is your first feature, right?

Nikki Frakes: I’ve done previous documentaries for Will. This is the first documentary with Terry. We all brought different things to the table and it was a great collaboration. I think, obviously in the comic book world, and in the world in general, Stan is a huge superhero and known to many, many fans. When we got to know him personally, we became even bigger fans. I mean, Stan is really the superhero behind his heroes, behind his characters. He is an incredible person and the documentary works to unmask the superhero that is Stan Lee, who he is behind the scenes. And I think you’re going to see a lot of heartfelt moments that you haven’t seen in any of the media to date.

How did you approach making a film about someone’s entire life? Is the personal journey what you specifically focused on?

Frakes: We did. There have been some TV shows on Stan and a lot of them focus on the characters and the stories behind the characters, but we very much focused on Stan’s life. It’s really a story of The American Dream unfolding. I think a lot of people forget all the hard work that Stan’s put into this. He started out and it wasn’t an easy task by any means, and he really persevered among so many trials and tribulations. I think he’s very much a parallel to the success of his characters and his own life.

Stan, what was your reaction to watching your life flash before you on the screen?

It’s quite an experience to see yourself as the subject of a documentary. There were a lot of things that were mentioned that I had almost forgotten about. I have this little archive at the University of Wyoming. You may wonder why I picked that university, but when they asked if I would archive my material there, they said that Jack Benny, he had his archive there, and I was a big fan of Jack Benny’s and I figured if he’s there I want to be there. So anyway, Nikki, and Will and Terry, they used that resource at the University of Wyoming. The archives had so many things about my life, things that I had forgotten. And when I saw them on the screen it was really quite a kick.

Frakes: in addition to the archives, Stan and Joan invited us into their house. We went through photo albums from when Stan was a child up until today, and we learned about so many personal stories and how they affected Stan and his writing. The more we got to know Stan, we realized how much of a superhero he is in his own right.

Lee: To know me is to love me.

Nikki, what kinds of things has Stan taught you?

Frakes: Actually, I emailed him and asked him what three pieces of advice he would want to pass forward or what meant a lot to him. One was always do what you enjoy. It’s really important to do something that you love and I think that’s a reflection of what he is and what he does. He loves what he does and that’s why he’s such a success at it. A lot of people think it was an overnight success; it wasn’t an overnight success. Stan went through very embarrassing and humbling times. And he persevered it. And if he wasn’t able to have the strength of character that he has, we wouldn’t have the characters on the screen and in people’s comic books today. His second piece of advice was don’t let anyone or anything shake you. Keep pushing forward, and I think that’s also a testament to who he is and what he’s done and how these characters came to life for us.

Stan, do you ever stop and think about what an incredible impact you’ve made on the culture of the world?

Lee: Very honestly, dear, that thought has never occurred to me. When we do a project, we just hope that people will enjoy whatever we’re doing. As is everyone else out here, we’re in the entertainment business and it’s our job to entertain people. And what we do primarily, we try to do projects that we ourselves would enjoy looking at on the screen, or enjoy reading or seeing on the computer or on our iPhone, or whatever it is. And we feel if this is something that excites, something that we’re excited about, then we’re not that different than most other people. Hopefully, the public will like these things, too. That’s the whole thing. We don’t think about our impact on world. If we have an impact, I’m delighted, but all we’re thinking about is we hope that everybody will enjoy the projects we put before them.

Stan, you’ve made cameos in a lot of films. Do you like doing that?

Lee: I have a number of cameos in a number of shows and movies. I get a real kick of doing that.

Are you appearing in “The Avengers” and “The Amazing Spider-Man?”

Lee: I’ve already done the cameo. Wait ‘till you see it. It’s incredibly funny. I can’t tell you what it is.

What’s your favorite cameo?

Lee: I think I have a lot of them that I like. I think in the “Fantastic Four” where they wouldn’t allow me into the wedding and they wouldn’t believe I was Stan Lee. That’s probably my favorite.

Of all the Marvel characters, which ones that haven’t been made into a movie yet would you like to see get their own movies?

Lee: I can’t wait until they do The Black Panther and I’d also would like to see Dr. Strange. I think those two would be great. They’ll get around to them sooner or later.

Stan, what have you learned the most through your career and life?

Lee: I’ve learned to have great respect for the audience whether the audience is a viewer or a reader or a listener because people are really pretty smart. And never write down to them, never play down to them. But as I mentioned earlier, I simply do things that I think I would enjoy and I hope that enough people think the way I do and they’ll enjoy those things also, if I’m lucky.