Captain Marvel is now available on Digital HD, DVD, and Blu-ray and to promote the release of the Marvel Studios movie, I recently had the opportunity to talk to executive producer Jonathan Schwartz. He started working there way back in 2008 and as well as serving as an EP on the Brie Larson led release, he took on the same role for
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
We've brought you some highlights from this chat over the course of today (if you missed them, they can be found below) but we're now sharing our interview with Jonathan in its entirety.
From his journey from assistant to executive producer to his thoughts on James Gunn's jump to DC to helm
The Suicide Squad and whether we were ever going to see
Guardians of the Galaxy characters in
Captain Marvel, there's a lot here we think you'll enjoy.
I obviously want to say a huge thank you to Jonathan for taking the time to talk to CBM and be sure to pick up
Captain Marvel if you haven't already because it's an absolute cosmic blast!
You started off at Marvel Studios as an assistant to Kevin Feige and are now an executive producer on billion dollar blockbusters. Can you take us through what your journey through the MCU has been like as you've watched it evolve from the inside?
I had been working at a talent agency, William Morris, for a few years and knew that I wanted to get more into the production and development side of the business and I got a job as Kevin's assistant in 2008. Iron Man had just come out, The Incredible Hulk had already come out, and I was joining right in the very early days of development on Iron Man 2. Marvel Studios was a really small and very different place back then and it was very, kind of "Mom and Pop" in a way, but still producing huge movies with amazing creative producers like Kevin, like Jeremy Latcham, like Stephen Broussard, all great people to learn from. So, I was Kevin's assistant on Iron Man 2, the first Thor movie, and the first Captain America movie.
That was about two or three years and then I transitioned into a junior executive role on The Avengers. Jeremy Latcham was the executive producer of that movie and he and I were sort of a team; I learned a lot from him over the course of that. I joined him out in Albuquerque for shooting, and then Cleveland, New York, and was kind of around for post and eventually the two of us started working on the Guardians of the Galaxy film and prepped it together. Jeremy broke off at a certain point to work on Avengers: Age of Ultron and left me to see Guardians through. Jeremy was still there in a big and real way but I was kind of alone for a lot of the process [Laughs] in London and during post-production in LA overseeing that first Guardians movie with James [Gunn].
That seemed to come out pretty well, people seemed pretty happy with the process, and so when Guardians 2 rolled around, that was my first executive producer credit as the sole producer on a movie. After Guardians 2, I got involved with Captain Marvel as well in a very similar role starting it from the ground up. That's the short, short version of assistant to EP.
What an incredible journey. Talking of those franchises, were there ever any discussions about more Guardians of the Galaxy characters appearing in Captain Marvel, whether that was a teenage Star-Lord or even someone like Yondu?
You know, we talked about all those things. Yondu and his connection to the Kree and anything and everything that could possibly pop up. I think philosophically we wanted to give Carol her own corner of space in this cinematic universe which was part of the impetus to set the movie in the 90s. We wanted to be really judicious with the rest of the callbacks to the cosmic side of this world but definitely wanted to respect the mythology that had come before. Finding the right balance, I guess, of connections and freedom to build was an important part of the film.
Captain Marvel's production designer recently revealed that a comic accurate version of the Supreme Intelligence was set to appear so could you elaborate on why that ended up being cut from the movie? You know, the big green head in the jar!
[Laughs] Man, I love that big green head! When you have an actor the calibre of Annette Bening, it's tough to take the camera off her and I think that at the end of the day, we all responded more emotionally to the Supreme Intelligence when it was Annette and not this more alien creature. We did see it in various forms and iterations in concept art and it just didn't quite have the same heft as when it was a more human face.
We also get a very different take on Mar-Vell so could you talk about why the movie went down that route and whether there was ever a possibility of us seeing a version of the character closer to the comic books?
Well, it wasn't always the idea to go with Annette as both the Mar-Vell character and the Supreme Intelligence. That was something Anna Boden brought to the table relatively early in the process and it seemed to really graft to the structure in a great way. As for whether we considered the male Captain Marvel fulfilling a more comic accurate role, the answer is really no! Typically, when we develop these movies we tend to go down every road and have folders full of every possible version. One of the real North Stars of this film was that we didn't want to do that retro Captain Marvel thing where Carol Danvers wishes on the Psyche-Magnitron that she has the powers of Mar-Vell. It didn't feel quite like it was going to fly in 2019 so having a fresher take on that, that Kelly Sue [DeConnick] helped us with a lot, was really important to us.
Captain Marvel's biggest surprise was the Skrulls being heroic; was there ever a version of the movie where that wasn't the case, did you have any reservations about taking them in that direction, and was there a version of the movie where they were bad guys throughout?
I don't think there was a version where they were full on bad guys throughout but there were versions where there were more shades of grey. In the end, making them heroic was a much more unexpected choice that gave the movie a lot more emotion and texture, especially with Talos and for Carol who gets to fulfil the legacy of Mar-Vell in a much more real and direct way. It broke open a lot of cool stuff and there probably are fans out there who said 'They're not my Skrulls!' but I think we knew it was the right thing for the movie and we knew the audience would be there for it.
Goose being responsible for Nick Fury losing his eye is a very cool moment and I was wondering if you could shed some light on how that being the way it happens was decided on and any possible alternate ideas and were there any reservations about doing that?
There were a lot of ideas for it. It's a huge moment that the mythology has been building to for a long time so we wanted to make sure that we got it right and did something unexpected. There were more expected ideas like Nick Fury heroically losing the eye in battle and stuff in that vein but in the end, doing something that felt like a bit more of a zag made the movie more satisfying.
What are your thoughts on fans "shipping" Captain Marvel and Valkyrie and do you think there's a possibility Carol Danvers could be the MCU's first openly gay superhero?
You know, I think the important thing about finding the MCU's first openly gay superhero is making sure that it's done right in a way that honours the character and feels totally organic. We talked in the past about characters who could potentially be that character because we know how important that representation is to the community and the answer has really been that it has to be the right character and it has to be the right time. We can't take a half measure and we can't mess it up. I think everyone wants it and everyone wants it to be done the right way.
I'm sure you're producing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 so I was wondering how you felt about James Gunn's return to the franchise and what your reaction was to him making the leap to DC for The Suicide Squad?
I'm not sure that I am producing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 but I'm incredibly happy that James is back in the fold. He's an amazing filmmaker with a really unique vision for those Guardians movies who really understands those characters in a way that I think no one else ever really could who is really, really helpful, passionate and clear about those characters. I'm happy about that and I'm also happy that he's going to be in the DC world! I think he's a great filmmaker and I look forward to seeing the movie he makes both at Marvel Studios and out in the world. I think he's going to have a great perspective on Suicide Squad so I look forward to watching that movie as a fan.
With Captain Marvel sandwiched between Infinity War and Endgame, were there ever any plans for more direct links between this movie and those beyond that mid-credits scene?
I think honestly you'd probably have to ask Kevin about the Infinity War and Endgame of it all as I think he's probably a better source as far as that goes but I don't think we could have asked for a better tee up for this movie and a better passing of the baton than the pager at the end of Infinity War. Even just that symbol got people excited for this movie in a way I don't think we could have anticipated.