It’s no great revelation to say that 2011 is the summer of the superhero, a wide variety of filmmakers and actors having labored to bring such divergent characters as Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern and the X-Men to cinematic life. And as we’re closing in on the first of those films’ release date, work is going on around the clock to make sure the final results are as strong as they can be. At the same time, there’s another side to all of this coming together – the covering of those films from the point of view of various entertainment journalists.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been conducting dozens of interviews regarding the various superhero films of summer and as chaotic as it’s been, I have to be honest and say I couldn’t be happier – conducting interviews, being allowed to be brought inside the process (and ultimately being able to share it as well), places me well within in my comfort zone and what I feel I was born to do.
While I haven’t covered Green Lantern as of yet, I’ve been fully immersed in the worlds of the other three and one of the most exciting aspects of it all is the sheer enthusiasm I’m feeling from the parties involved. Back in the ‘90s when Street Fighter became a live action movie, I had interviewed Jean Claude Van Damme and my first question was what had drawn him to the project. “The money!” he replied candidly, then, thinking about it for a moment, he decided to backtrack on that response. There was no question in my mind, however, that he was being serious. In the case of Thor, Captain America and X-Men: First Class, conversely, there seems to be genuine enthusiasm from all involved; the participants coming across not only as professionals, but fans as well.
For instance, James McAvoy, who portrays Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class, noted to me that the film’s recently released trailer was the first footage he’s really seen from it. “I felt a big surge of excitement when I saw the trailer for the first time,” he admitted. “Which was kind of fun, because I don’t think that I’ve seen a single scene from the movie except for the trailer, so it was quite exciting to see that.”
Among the topics I discussed with Chris Hemsworth were the physical demands of starring in Thor. “The training was a whole lot of hours in the gym, which I didn’t mind so much,” he said. “The problem was the eating. I had to eat truckloads of proteins and food, and it wasn’t the fun stuff. It wasn’t like I was sitting around eating pizza and donuts – it was rice, chicken, vegetables – anything that was plain fit the bill.”
Chris Evans, playing Captain America, admitted that his real goal is to get behind the camera as a director, which led me to muse that he must be a sponge on every film he works on. “If you’ve seen my movies,” he pointed out, “you’ve seen that a lot of them have been good, a lot more have been bad, and I’ve certainly seen how to do it and how not to do it. It’s tricky. I’m a very big control freak. I really like being in charge, so when I walk on a set, I just wish I could direct. When I read a script as an actor, I’m reading it more as a director. I’m seeing it in my head.”
And then there was Thor director Kenneth Branagh, who provided a sense of what his days are like at this point in the process: “Right now, there’s six weeks to go. I’m reviewing visual effects shots, five to six hours a day – version 79 of one of my 1500 visual effects shots, which we are cooking and refining until we get it to a super-duper level, and we’re mixing the soundtrack and we’ve recorded the music, and when I put the phone down here, I’m going to a review of 3D footage from the movie. I started this film because I really fancied telling the story of Thor, and then at this end of things, I’m involved in a logistical exercise which is massive and enormous. Exciting as well – but, definitely, I didn’t know what was coming my way.”
And while none of us knows for sure what’s coming our way in the form of these three films, there is one thing we can be certain of: these guys were not just in it for a paycheck. There’s obviously a hell of a lot more at work here, and I for one can’t wait to see how it all turns out.