CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 Co-Writer Says WINTER SOLDIER Equates A 'Product of Corrupt Practices'
Producer Kevin Feige, the directors and co-writer of Captain America: The Winter Soldier lengthily discuss the decision to make the sequel a political thriller, reveal '70s influences and more. Check it out!
According to Stephen McFeely, the decision to make the Winter Soldier the villain really contributed to the direction Marvel was headed, with the character being “a product of dubious, corrupt practices that don’t make you feel good when you drag them into the light.” He adds that “everything kept pointing to something like Three Days Of The Condor.” Marvel president Kevin Feige agrees. “In our attempt to make all of our films feel unique and feel different we found ourselves going back to things like Condor,” says Feige. “Also the other political thrillers of the ’70s: The Parallax View, All The President’s Men. This was a time that Cap existed in in the comics. He found himself in the swinging ’60s followed by the Watergate era followed by the Reagan era followed by where we are today. In the comics it was a hell of a journey for Steve, And we couldn’t take him through those years because in our cinematic universe he was asleep,” he says. “But we wanted to force him to confront that kind of moral conundrum, something with that ’70s flavour. And in our film that takes the form of S.H.I.E.L.D..”
Joe Russo also talked with Empire about Marvel's political thriller direction for The Winter Soldier, which was decided before he and his brother, Anthony Russo, came on board to direct. “We knew that they wanted a thriller, which was an idea we loved, but they have been incredibly supportive of how different in tone we’ve made this compared to the first film,” he says. “I don’t know that we’ll ever work again with a company like this. Kevin is a uniquely creative executive producer. We’ve had the least amount of interference and the most amount of support that we’ve ever had on a movie. There are layers to this film. It makes the characters more interesting. I think when people see this film they’ll realize how unique this Captain America franchise is. This is a radically different movie than the first.” While Anthony Russo chimed in on the political aspect (here), he revealed there are several 1970s influences for the Marvel sequel especially for its set-piece car chase. In addition to the work of Alan J. Pakula, the Russos studied The French Connection. “We’ve been studying it over and over in slow motion. Why is that car chase so effective? Because you care about who’s in the car. The Conversation, Blow Out for a kind of tone; how sound design helps to build the paranoia. So we’re building things into the back speakers that you kind of don’t hear. We’re both real fans of [Michael Mann’s] Heat and the heist sequence in that, the vérité style,” concludes Anthony Russo. What do you think?
After the cataclysmic events in New York with The Avengers, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” finds Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, living quietly in Washington, D.C. and trying to adjust to the modern world. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow, Captain America struggles to expose the ever-widening conspiracy while fighting off professional assassins sent to silence him at every turn. When the full scope of the villainous plot is revealed, Captain America and the Black Widow enlist the help of a new ally, the Falcon. However, they soon find themselves up against an unexpected and formidable enemy — the Winter Soldier. 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 & 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.