Anthony And Joe Russo Talk About Landing CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Anthony And Joe Russo Talk About Landing CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo discuss how they landed the job of directing a Marvel Studios film and express their excitement about working with Kevin Feige.

By MarkJulian - May 28, 2013 06:05 AM EST
Source: Clevland.com

While known mostly for their comedic efforts (Community, Arrested Development) the sibling director duo of Anthony and Joe Russo are an Emmy winning ensemble. You don't win such a prestigious award unless you're highly skilled at your craft. However, the duo acknowledge that it was a fight to land the directing gig for Marvel Studios' Captain America: The Winter Soldier. "We were working on the third season of 'Community,' and we got a call from our agent saying [Marvel President] Kevin Feige was a big fan of the show and wanted to know if we would come into meet to talk about the next 'Captain America' movie," said Joe. "I think Kevin had seen the paint ball episode we did on 'Community' and thought, these guys should be directing action movies."

Anthony added, "The one thing Marvel does is think outside the box, going all the way back to Ang Lee with that first 'Hulk,' and the same thing with Jon Favreau ['Iron Man] and Kenneth Branagh ['Thor']. They like to go outside the genre. It's a very smart thing that they do and it's a way to keep it fresh with audiences. It's not easy to do something like that. Only someone like Kevin Feige can pull it off. You need to know how to manage something like that."

Because of the success Marvel Studios is having at the moment, Anthony acknowledged that the duo had to fight for the job. A few other directors were up for the job including George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) and F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, Law Abiding Citizen), two directors most would think as being better suited for a film that's described as a political thriller. But being big comic book fans as kids, Anthony closed, "But we fell in love with the script and we really wanted to do this film so we went after it hard and ended up getting it."



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Running Time: Filming in progress
Release Date: April 4, 2014
MPAA Rating: This Film Has Not Yet Been Rated
Starring: Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Toby Jones,Jeremy Renner (rumored), Emily VanCamp
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Written by: Christopher Markus (screenplay), Stephen McFeely (screenplay), Joe Simon (comic book), Jack Kirby (comic book), Ed Brubaker (concept and story)

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” picks up where “Marvel’s The Avengers” left off, as Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and teams up with Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, to battle a powerful yet shadowy enemy in present-day Washington, D.C. Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Georges St-Pierre, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Emily VanCamp and Maximiliano Hernández with Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Redford, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is directed by the team of Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1941. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing the film. Executive producers on the project include Alan Fine, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo and Stan Lee. The creative production team on the film includes director of photography Trent Opaloch, production designer Peter Wenham, editors Jeffrey Ford, A.C.E. and Mary Jo Markey, A.C.E. and three time Oscar®-nominated costume designer Judianna Makovsky. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is set for release on April 4, 2014."
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SageMode
SageMode - 5/28/2013, 7:06 AM
Bring it on!
CaptainObvious
CaptainObvious - 5/28/2013, 7:08 AM
Am I the only one here that has seen You, Me, and Dupree?
DaenerysTargaryen
DaenerysTargaryen - 5/28/2013, 7:08 AM
I still dont trust these guys to make a good movie
rocky
rocky - 5/28/2013, 7:12 AM
Well they are right in that Marvel has made a lot of unconventional choices for directors but I think they have mostly worked even if they haven't all overwhelmed.

Looking forward to this but GOTG is my biggie next year. Mostly because it's so out of left field.
AlanWarlock
AlanWarlock - 5/28/2013, 7:12 AM
I suppose the advantage with the movies is that there isn't a forty plus year history of Cap thinking Bucky died before bringing him back as the Winter Soldier....but I've always felt that Bucky is one of those characters that (A) Should have stayed dead, and (B) Didn't need a "retrofitting" with that back story that Brubaker gave him to state that Bucky was already kind of a ruthless assassin even before the Soviets captured him.
ParisSun
ParisSun - 5/28/2013, 7:16 AM
@Intruder, I know a ton of people who love Elf. It's one of those movies that's not very good (to me) but people love so much about it and can quote line from it.

I'm telling you this because Jon favreau must have done something right with that movie. I have yet to meet anyone who loves You Me and Dupree, an utter piece of crap movie.
AmazingFantasy
AmazingFantasy - 5/28/2013, 7:18 AM
Perhaps- cheap, easy and wont get in Marvels way...

OR it could be fantastic choice
BatsFan
BatsFan - 5/28/2013, 7:18 AM
I trust them, Cap is the phase 2 movie I'm the more interested to see. The paintball episode was great and what they did on AD also.
AmazingFantasy
AmazingFantasy - 5/28/2013, 7:19 AM
I'm leaning towards fantastic choice
Bit of an oddball, nethertheless..
BlanketMan
BlanketMan - 5/28/2013, 7:39 AM
Translation: We required the fewest zeroes on our paycheck... ;)
Greengo
Greengo - 5/28/2013, 7:40 AM
Meh.
This is more live "Steve Rogers: Agent of Sheild, and the Winter Soldier"
StupidSexyLockon
StupidSexyLockon - 5/28/2013, 7:42 AM
Its a shame but I'm expecting this movie to be shit. Thor looks like dirty lotr crap with fight scenes and IM3 wasn't good enough. So that only leaves GOTG and Avengers 2. Phase 2 is going to SUCK.
Greengo
Greengo - 5/28/2013, 7:45 AM
I sure hope Marvel is not on the decline.

IM3 is successful but imo a very disappointing movie.

Phase 2 has started poorly. I hope THOR gets it back on the right track.
marvelstudios
marvelstudios - 5/28/2013, 7:49 AM
If Feige has faith in them so do I. MCU has been great so far. Can only go up from here.
SageMode
SageMode - 5/28/2013, 7:51 AM
ELF also holds an 84% on RT.
JohnLamb
JohnLamb - 5/28/2013, 7:55 AM
I still don't know if these guys could do the job. Maybe a trailer will change my mind.
SageMode
SageMode - 5/28/2013, 8:03 AM
COMMANDER Steve Rogers. Like a boss!

rocky
rocky - 5/28/2013, 8:04 AM
It isn't like Feige flipped a coin on whether or not to hire them
Feige does his homework and interviews these guys
gets a feel and their vision
and he has been pretty good at it thus far

If nothing else I give him the benefit of the doubt
capcyclopsftw
capcyclopsftw - 5/28/2013, 8:13 AM
SOOOOOOOOO MUCH IGNORANCE ON THIS BOARD!

Holy shit people....Do some damn homework before you make terrible, ignorant comments.


Go watch Welcome to Collinwood, another great movie directed by The Russo Brothers. It's pretty [frick]ing brilliant.

Community is the smartest comedy tv show out there, and it's big ensemble shows these guys know how to handle a big cast.

I liked You, Me, and Dupree, there is actually a ton of witty comedy in there, however I'm not going to say it's a brilliant piece of work. But hey guess what, give a director who has a 100% track record? And don't even [frick]ing say Nolan (TDKR, The Prestige IMO).

Arrested Development is one of the most lauded comedies of our time. So much so that there was enough demand to bring the show back on TV.

The Russo Brothers are HUGE Cap fans, they aren't in this just for the small paycheck, they want to do right by our main man Cap.

These guys deserve our respect until they show otherwise. Most of us are American here, where you're innocent until proven guilty right?
BANNER78
BANNER78 - 5/28/2013, 9:22 AM
Well i heard MARVEL is getting back with ANG LEE and he's doing a "Brokeback Mountain 2,The fire from the STAR"...Featuring North Star and Bryan Singer!...Whatever thats all about?
thenerdicon4
thenerdicon4 - 5/28/2013, 9:40 AM
Joss Whedon wrote Alien Ressurection,which was shit. Just saying, don't judge people on the ONE [frick] up they have done. Plus the Russo Brothers didn't even write You, Me and Dupree. People do realize the difference between a writer and director and their jobs right? They realize the writer writes, and the director puts the script on screen? If you have a shit script, doesn't matter how good a director you are, you are gonna have a shit movie.
Jwe75
Jwe75 - 5/28/2013, 12:49 PM
Alien 4 was Ok. Whedon said that he wanted different ending, on earth etc. They also killed that pirate leader too early in the movie. I mean that French actor Dominique? Is great :)
EdgyOutsider
EdgyOutsider - 5/28/2013, 2:38 PM
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is going to be better than, Captain America: The First Avenger a.k.a the best solo film thus far. It's my most anticipated lead up movie in Phase Two, my most anticipated of next year and I hope Captain America gets a "Dark Knight" type trilogy where there isn't a movie less than great in it.
KnobGoblin
KnobGoblin - 5/28/2013, 7:35 PM
No, MARVEL likes to hire easy to control yes men that'll do what they're told. If a monkey could yell action, they'd hire one.
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