The Russo brothers have directed some of Marvel Studios' biggest and most successful films in the entire MCU, but like any film in the long-running cinematic universe, the studio plays a crucial role in terms of how the final cut turns out. Now, Joe Russo has explained why Marvel Studios gets involved too much with directors and their creative visions.
The Russo brothers were first hired to direct 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a film that is now regarded as one of the Marvel Studios' best. They would continue the success by helming Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and the climactic Avengers: Endgame, all of which received rave reviews from critics and fans.
Sitting down with Empire, Russo shared where some of that studio interference with the directors comes in, adding that if Marvel Studios is not pleased with a project, they'll step in, which most times leads to weeks and weeks of reshoots. "Where I’ve seen issues is when a director’s cut gets delivered and it’s not what they were expecting or it’s not working," Russo explained. "Then Marvel turns it on and they come in and start to work with the filmmaker in a much heavier way to develop fixes for the movie and then go into extensive reshoots."
Russo would also go on to share that early in production is when the directing duo and any writers involved would collaborate with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige quite often by pitching various ideas to one another. Once filming is set to begin, however, Marvel Studios becomes very hands-off until a first cut is ready to be presented. “And so we had a fantastic time working with them because we had a great level of control. Again, we’re not afraid of collaboration so all Kevin ultimately cares about is, can he come in a room with you and hang out. He’s amazing at pitches… and like, pitch on what you’re working on. So you had us, and my brother, Markus, McFeely, and Kevin, and he would come in every two or three weeks and he’d just sit for the day…," Russo shared.
"And then when you go off to make the movie, they’re very hands-off. It’s your bed to make in a lot of ways. And Marvel really sort of, where those famous stories come from about people getting put on the sidelines or them coming in post, it’s really about how you deliver your director’s cut," the director would continue, "the director gets a cut, then a producer comes in and a producer comes a part of the process with you." It's clear that more so than any other studio, Marvel Studios definitely has major influences on many directors' work in the MCU, but it makes sense due to having a whole cinematic universe where most if not every project intertwines with one another and continuity is crucial.
According to Russo, who worked with his brother Anthony to have a polished director's cut on each of their films before submitting it to Feige, there wasn't a lot of friction when it came to the projects they worked on. Russo would imply that it comes down to finding that fine line to walk on in terms of the studio interfering with a particular project and the director being granted creative control. Whether it's Taika Waititi's revitalization of Thor in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, or more recently Sam Raimi's injection of bizarre, horror elements in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, fans can most definitely see many of the directors' voices in the MCU films they work on. Now moving forward further in phase four, it will be interesting to see what refreshing elements new creators can add to the MCU as well as what that process will look like working with a company like Marvel Studios.
Source: Empire