Cornered during an appearance on the current Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, Anthony Russo – one of the two (with his brother Joe) directors of 2014′s Captain America: The Winter Soldier – has opened up slightly about the project, offering tantalizing hints of what’s to come… and all manner of things that he’s not allowed to say just yet (For example, “Marvel would shoot me if I answered” whether or not there are other Avengers appearing in the movie, he says).
When asked if the movie is based on the existing Ed Brubaker story, Russo answered with “In a way. I mean, they’re all sort of rooted in what’s come before, but they’re all also their own jumping-off point as well,” circling back to say that the script was what attracted him to the movie in the first place:
Well, we like the [story]. I can’t talk too much about specifics, that’s the way Marvel handles things. I can say in general that there’s sort of a darker, edgier sensibility at work there that we found appealing, and that is going find its way into Captain [America] in the modern day.
He also adds that he and his brother are “going to have lunch with Brubaker soon,” and that “certainly everybody is aware [of what's in the comics], has read everything, is aware of all their other material. But [Marvel Studios does] like each thing to be its own, organic process, which is nice.”
Amongst other avoided spoilers, Russo ducked the question of whether Hayley Atwell will make an appearance as Sharon Carter, whether we’ll see another side of SHIELD (Although he admitted, “I’m very interested in that, but yeah, I can’t really say more”), and whether or not we’ll see some more flashbacks to the 1940s (“Certainly, Cap has this complicated history,” he says).
He also addressed the nervousness some may feel about two directors more known for their relationship with NBC’s Community than anything else being hired for the movie:
There’s a little-known side to my brother and I, which is, we didn’t start out as comedy directors. We started out in the mid-’90s — we made this credit card movie that made the festival circuit in ’97, that Steven Soderbergh saw at the same time he [was showing] “Schizopolis” on the festival circuit. He loved our movie and offered to produce something for us, so we went into a cycle of writing — we wrote three scripts, only one of which was a comedy. That was “Welcome to Collinwood,” and when he formed his company with George Clooney, he wanted to make something with us, so we showed him these three scripts and he picked “Collinwood,” and from that point forward, we were comedy directors. And we’ve loved doing it, but we’ve always had another side to ourselves… Marvel is this incredible machine with all these amazing people who work there. That’s part of their confidence and why they can go outside the box [in choosing] directors, because they have people there who know everything. They said to us early on in the interview process, “We don’t expect you to know anything [about special effects and so forth] — you don’t have to know everything about this stuff, because we’re here for that.” They’re very respectful of directors. They’re an amazing company to work with.
And don’t worry; they’re also fans of the source material, just like us:
We were comic book geeks from a young age and big fantasy geeks. We got to talk to [Marvel] in detail about that history. They knew that we understood the brand really well and the characters really well. It was a long process, actually, of talking to them over and over again, through a series of meetings over a long period of time. And I think they just — we were really passionate about the movie, incredibly passionate about the movie. They felt that, and they felt like it was the right match.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is due for release in April 2014, with production due to start next year.
July 25th, 2012 at 9:41 am
Everyone who works on these projects always says they are ‘comic book geeks’. Doesn’t mean its true.
July 25th, 2012 at 10:15 am
Matt, that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
July 25th, 2012 at 10:19 am
Man, “darker” and “edgier” are two words I did not want to be involved with Captain America.
July 25th, 2012 at 10:45 am
“Darker” and “edgier” would make sense seeing that Cap is now in a darker and edgier world. As opposed to the flag-waving 1940s. The world’s more complicated now.
July 25th, 2012 at 11:05 am
I think the contrast (as was seen in the Avengers a little) of a ‘little old fashioned’ in today’s cynical world will be good.
July 25th, 2012 at 11:58 am
So if you are really going to do The Winter Soldier, it has to be edgy. The trick is to get the same balance Brubaker had, in keeping Cap essentially a a beacon of hope and light while facing some pretty dark things.
I have to say, after several years of fluffy Marvel films, I want to see something edgier and riskier. Not Dark Knight level edgy, but at least like the current Spidey film, which I loved.
July 25th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
So, why not not, some more WWII action would be funny, (even as flashbacks). I really wanted to know how Zemo’s costume would work on screen.
He looks in a way ridiculous.
July 25th, 2012 at 8:32 pm
Hollywood people (and apparently Marvel Studios people) believe that “dark and edgy” will be far more commercially viable. The next Thor movie is also called “The Dark World”. I really don’t need all this darkness, either. Superheroes should, by default, have brightness to them. When there are ten movies with each character, *then* they can do a cool, dark and edgy installment, sort of like Spidey’s “Kraven’s Last Hunt”. To make the heroes dark from almost the beginning will only make the franchise that much shorter, because they won’t know what to do next.
July 26th, 2012 at 1:05 am
“Dark and edgy” doesn’t have to mean it’s gonna be a Predator film or something. The solo movies will have to be darker, more character-driven than the main line Avengers films anyway, to make the big team-up that much more important. Cos if the team-up isn’t important, then it’s just another Superhero film. I doubt Iron Man 3 is going to be particularly dark/edgy, so you’ve got that to look forward to. Cap (and Thor) need some darkness in their lives to show their own light. As someone said above “a beacon of light”. I’m looking forward to Cap2, even now, 2 years out from release and 1 year out from production. lol
July 26th, 2012 at 10:21 am
I’ll put it this way, Captain America was my kids’ favorite superhero movie and “dark and edgy” means that I don’t even know if I can take them to see the sequel.
March 16th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Where there is a superhero, there is always a dark force for him to fight. It is not surprising to see why dark and edgy becomes commercially viable. People are curious about what the dark side will bring into the scene.