Chatting lengthily with SuperHeroHype in anticipation of Iron Man 3, Kevin Feige addressed, once again, the rather “unconventional” decision to hire Anthony & Joe Russo to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier. When asked if the duo will bring humor to the film’s darker material, Feige says:
“We always like to break and up until people started seeing the new “Iron Man” movie, people were accusing us of going “All Dark Knight” with it and I kept saying, “That’s not what we’re doing.” It’s sort of how we were advertising it, but in the same way, we really believe that humor is necessary and to have a whole range of emotions over the course of a movie. You can get frightened, you can get deeply emotionally attached, but all those things happen more if you’re laughing and engaged throughout the journey. That being said, the Russos are incredibly talented filmmakers and have that full range. You don’t get Robert Redford if you don’t have a vision that can explain to him before he signs up to your movie. This is on top of Scarlett Johansson and Sam Jackson and Chris Evans. Everyone now as we’re in the middle of our fifth week of production and it’s going extremely well, they’re bringing a lot to the table.”
“I like that our unconventional choices, they’re only unconventional until the movie comes out and then every studio in town hires our filmmakers and they go onto bigger tentpoles from there. I’m very happy when that happens. Kenneth Branagh is starting his second post-“Thor” franchise at Disney now with “Cinderella” and he finished “Jack Ryan” for Paramount and when we were hiring him, people were wondering what was going on. The Russos I think will surprise a lot of people but they’re just incredibly hard-working, incredibly talented and keeping their heads down five weeks into making a great movie.”
“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. In addition to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Marvel Studios will release a slate of films based on other iconic Marvel characters including “Iron Man 3” on May 3, 2013; “Thor: The Dark World ” on November 8, 2013; “Guardians of the Galaxy” on August 1, 2014; “Marvel's The Avengers” sequel on May 1, 2015; and “Ant-Man” on November 6, 2015!