stan lee gets documentary produced by belle chase native

Which is trickier, saving the world from a megalomaniac with super powers or trying to encapsulate the incredible career of the most famous creator in comics, Stan Lee?

The new documentary “With Great Power: the Stan Lee Story” tackles the arduous task of revealing the secret identity of a man whose name appears on over a billion comics around the world.

The team who put the film together -- writer and co-director William Hess, a Belle Chasse native, co-writer and director Nikki Frakes and producer and co-director Terry Dougas -- took six years to complete the massive project. As fans of Lee’s characters know, sometimes big things have small beginnings.

“The idea popped into my head because Stan’s office was right down the street from ours in Beverly Hills. He was literally three blocks away,” Hess said.

The recent surge of interest in comic books made Lee a prime target for a documentary, and Hess and Frakes knew what they were getting into. Their research took them all over the country in search of interviews and archives. They spoke with actors, comic book artists and even some of Lee’s co-workers from the good old days in the famed Marvel Bullpen where his greatest creations -- including Spider-man, The Hulk and Iron Man -- were born.

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“We had over 300 hours of footage and thousands and thousands of documents, so it was challenging,” Frakes said.

Although they were bona-fide experts by the time they finished making the film, neither Hess nor Frakes identified as comic book nerds. However, they felt that this allowed them to approach their subject with a more balanced perspective.

“What we wanted to do was tell the story of Stan Lee, not the story of his creations. In that sense, we were able to focus on who he is. So instrumental for me was seeing him behind the scenes. What is he like at home?” Frakes said.

Hess agreed that their film would be very different from a documentary made by a long-time fan of Lee’s. He and Frakes wanted to give Lee the same treatment he gave his superhero creations -- namely, a warts-and-all approach.

“We weren’t going into it lopsided. As far as we could, we tried to be objective and illustrate his weaknesses as well as his strengths,” Hess said.

Frakes and Hess got a good peek at the man behind the myth during their many interviews. They met Lee’s wife, Joan, who he claims he has spent his lifetime trying to impress. They learned that Lee still tries to set aside time to write every day, that he likes to lead with a joke and that he is surprisingly grounded.

“He’s a humble guy. That’s what’s really nice about him in the end,” said Frakes. “He really takes time and attention for every single person that he crosses paths with, and that’s not something that you get all the time in Hollywood.”