Russos Reveal How Marvel Creative Committee Shake-Up Impacts CIVIL WAR and INFINITY WAR
Next year’s hotly-anticipated Captain America: Civil War will be not only the first movie in Marvel’s forthcoming “Phase Three” slate, but also the first movie released since the studio escaped from its controlling CEO, and axed (or rather diminished) its Creative Committee’s influence over the films. And with Civil War directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, expected to helm two more big Marvel films, Avengers: Infinity War – Part I and Part II, the sibling filmmakers were recently asked how exactly will these new behind-the-scenes studio changes affect them personally or professionally, if at all.
“To the audience, I don’t know if they’ll see a difference in the quality of the movies,” assured Joe Russo. “That’s for sure because Kevin Feige is still the brains behind Marvel, and that hasn’t changed. I just think, from a political standpoint, the machinations of the studio have become more streamlined. Does that make for a better creative storytelling? Yes, absolutely because it’s easier for my brother and I to sit in a room with Kevin and discuss storytelling, and to come to creative decisions, and move through those decisions much quicker.” As to whether the efficiency will improve the quality, Joe says, “We’ll see how people respond to Captain America: Civil War.”
When asked about rumors that the Marvel Creative Committee has restricted directors’ visions, which reportedly made Edgar Wright leave Ant-Man, the Russos suggested that that hasn’t been the case for them and wouldn’t be the case even if the group’s influence hadn’t changed recently. “Just to speak to our experience on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we didn’t have a whole lot of interaction with the committee,” admitted Anthony Russo. “So, for us on a personal level, I don’t know if it will be that different because we’ve never engaged with them that much anyway. Maybe other directors have had a different experience, but for us, we had a very limited interaction with the committee. We deal with Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. That’s how we made Captain America: The Winter Soldier and that’s how we made Captain America: Civil War. For us it’s a very similar process.”
Joe Russo then echoed his brother, adding that, “We had a very streamlined experience. For us, working with Marvel has been as easy as any work experience we’ve ever had in our careers. They’re a very efficient and very bright collection of people, extremely creative, and they know their material. Again, we probably couldn’t speak to this stuff as much as other people could regarding the politics of it, but just know that we still feel the storytelling is very strong and we’re very happy with where Civil War is.”
