Spider-Man is swinging off to Europe.
In this week’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” the web-head travels across the Atlantic on a field trip, but instead of bringing the real criminals to justice — the chefs at British Air, bad French-pop singers — the hero (Tom Holland) is recruited by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to battle villains whose powers are based on the four elements.
The story takes him and his friends to several cities across the continent, an idea that arose from the global press tour for 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Capturing so many locales — some of which are iconic — proved challenging, and the production used a combination of sets as well as on-location shooting.
For the behind-the-scenes scoop, The Post asked production designer Claude Paré about three of Spidey’s destinations.
Venice
The Italian city is the site of an epic battle, as Spider-Man and his friends are attacked by a water elemental.
The production built a set at the Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios, north of London, complete with palazzi, a section of the famous Rialto Bridge and a giant water tank subbing for a canal.
One of the more difficult tasks proved to be correctly matching the color of Venice’s canals.
“The water in the canals is like a blue-gray color and it’s opaque,” the production designer says.
To achieve the effect, the crew slowly added gallons and gallons of a liquid similar to food coloring.
Filming the scene required all sorts of unusual specialists, including a boat wrangler who looked after the gondolas imported from Italy, wave makers, and several divers in the water, who helped steer the boats during filming and provided a safety net in case anyone fell into the tank.
“It was mayhem,” Paré says.
London
The film’s climatic battle takes place on one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks, the Tower Bridge.
The production was allowed to shoot on the bridge early one weekend morning for a limited amount of time, but was not allowed to stop traffic.
Instead, much of the action took place on a replica of the bridge’s upper walkway built at the UK studio.
Getting the look of the steel beams right was a must. The production had to make sure to age their replica to look like it had been painted dozens of times.
The crew added sawdust to their paint so that the set’s texture was lumpy and corners were rounded, not sharp.
“Thank God I paid attention to these details,” Paré says. “It’s so embarrassing now with IMAX 3-D, because what you see on screen is so magnified.”
Prague
“Far From Home” was reportedly the most expensive production to shoot in the Czech Republic in a decade.
The country rolled out the red carpet, allowing the film to use Prague’s iconic Charles Bridge, closing it to tourists.
“I don’t know if the president would have shown up to shake hands with Tom Holland, but people are starstruck by the business,” Paré says.
One location they couldn’t secure was Prague’s Old Town Square. It was simply too large and expensive.
Instead, the filmmakers found a stand-in in Liberec, a city an hour and a half north of Prague.
“We spent two weeks in Liberec doing night shoots in their square,” Paré says. “They were such good hosts.”