Russo Brothers Talk CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER's Oscar Chances
Anthony and Joe Russ talk here about why they believe Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the comic book movie genre as a whole deserves to be recognised by the Academy and weigh in on how they think their sequel might fare come awards season...
Despite the critical acclaim some comic book movies receive and their financial success, it's a genre which is still snubbed come awards season. The Dark Knight Trilogy was proof of that (despite his incredible performance, would the Academy have recognised Heath Ledger had he not tragically died?) and this is a subject which Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo feel very passionate about. "It’s strange that the comic book film genre is so often thought of only in terms of its economic merits. Yes, it’s shockingly popular and continues to grow, and , yes , the box office success of these films can often embarrassingly outweigh their merits, but as Christopher Nolan perhaps first proved, real and valuable filmmaking can be achieved with the genre. It’s sad that some poeple , seemingly soured by having to endure the massive cultural presence and expectations that even mediocre or poor examples of the genre can generate, react by trying to reject the genre as a whole," Joe Russo told Deadline in a recent interview.
"Snubbing comic book movies because of their ubiquity is akin to dismissing the western as matinee fodder," he adds pointing out a major flaw in how the Academy decide on movies which are worthy of being nominated. Even expanding the Best Picture category to include a larger number of releases has just resulted in more of the same being recognised. Of course, when you look at the likes of 12 Years a Slave or upcoming Awards Season favourites like The Imitation Game and Foxcatcher, it's understandable why they're highlighted, but do comic book movies not deserve the same level of recognition? Does Joe think Captain America: The Winter Soldier stands a chance?
"That’s a very interesting question. I think you look at all those awards ceremonies, there’s a whole process of advocacy for those awards, right? What is the value of the award (to Marvel)? And why should they spend the money required to go down that road? To create the boxoffice? They already have the boxoffice." Anthony meanwhile points out that despite being based on a comic book, their Captain America is different from a lot of comic book movies due to the fact it was influenced by the likes of The Manchurian Candidate and The French Connection. "It’s a real movie, real filmmaking , and it has really high aspirations , in terms of what cinema can be and what it can do , and what our experience of it is. It has every intention on the part of the filmmakers to reach audiences on the deepest level." What do you guys think?
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