Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige Reportedly Changing His Approach To Hiring Directors

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige Reportedly Changing His Approach To Hiring Directors

A new report suggests Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige plans to take a different approach to the hiring process, turning to experienced filmmakers for future movies and TV shows. Read on for details...

By JoshWilding - Apr 17, 2023 07:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Studios
Source: The Hot Mic

While Marvel Studios' Phase 4 was far from a disaster, it still served as a difficult few years for the previously untouchable studio. As well as releasing its first "Rotten" movie in Eternals, the company found mixed fortunes on Disney+ too, proving that telling stories on the small screen requires a vastly different approach than those on the big one.

The number of "Certified Fresh" projects has also lessened, with many critics no longer as forgiving as they once were.

Throw in lower-than-expected box office numbers (the pandemic takes some of the blame for that), a poor start to Phase 5 with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and Victoria Alonso's recent departure, and we have to imagine Kevin Feige isn't feeling too happy right now. 

Disney CEO Bob Iger is thought to be key in making sure Marvel Studios returns to a quality-over-quantity approach to storytelling, and Feige may be prepping to make some changes too. 

According to Jeff Sneider on The Hot Mic podcast, Feige's plan is to adjust his hiring strategy by turning to already established filmmakers and creatives. He'd add, "Feige does want to hire more established talent behind the camera," suggesting the idea is to put future movies in the hands of more experienced directors. 

We're not sure what inspired this train of thought on Feige's part and nothing has been confirmed as of right now. 

However, this lines up with what Deadline's Justin Kroll said last year about the hunt for Fantastic Four's helmer. "Kevin doesn't want [to] oversee [the] entire shoot," one source revealed, "and after not having to worry about that with [Sam] Raimi, he is very game [for the] same outcome with this shoot.'"

Matt Shakman was ultimately chosen to direct Fantastic Four and, while he isn't as experienced as Raimi, he's a trusted talent who delivered a hit in WandaVision for Marvel Studios. 

Stay tuned for updates. 

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tmp3
tmp3 - 4/17/2023, 7:36 AM
would more established film-makers want to make mcu movies though? i guess he could mean more experienced journeymen guys like shawn levy
KWilly
KWilly - 4/17/2023, 7:47 AM
@tmp3 - Shawn Levy is not a real person. He's an AI
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 4/17/2023, 7:56 AM
@tmp3 - i think they will if marvel pays them more. ridley scott criticize that disney got to stop being cheap on directors and hire more experienced directors who can handled trouble productions. Problem is disney doesnt want to pay experienced directors 10 - 20 mil because it will reduce the film budget and box office overhaul. disney rather gambles on movie directors who cost less than 5 mil and just increase reshoot time and budget rather than pay experience directors they cant boss around or can get the film done quicker.
TheyDont
TheyDont - 4/17/2023, 8:23 AM
@KWilly - Like Josh Wilding?
bobevanz
bobevanz - 4/17/2023, 8:27 AM
@tmp3 - exactly, are they trying to tell us that all the top notch directors in the world weren't allowed before this? I'm sure they wouldn't be told no if they did. Raimi really felt like a placeholder "insert horror director" for MoM
DCfan84
DCfan84 - 4/17/2023, 8:33 AM
@tmp3 - The thing is though, these "established filmmakers" have to abide by Marvel's (Fiege's) blueprints! A lot of these directors would rather have a studio that let's them have their "Vision" for a film, and this is where the problems lie. Look at Edgar Wright for example. Marvel wants it their way, and sometimes it goes against what the Directors want to do with "Their" films.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 4/17/2023, 7:38 AM
It’s definitely a tricky balance and we’ve seen every variation of it with marvel .

From the artsy director to the hired gun that’s just a stand in for the shadow committee and what happens when you let a director go too solo (looking at you taika)

Russo bros might’ve been the best cause they were solo while very much knowing they had this was a tapestry / small piece of a bigger mural. Gunn is cool but GoTG is so isolated from everything that he can just ignore the rest of the MCU tbh

Let’s see what happens going forward
Goldboink
Goldboink - 4/17/2023, 11:06 AM
@ShimmyShimmyYA -
And the challenge is different when you are this scrappy upstart than when you are part of the biggest entertainment conglomerate in the solar system.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 4/17/2023, 11:32 AM
@Goldboink - exactly . Upstart can take the risk on both sides, largest franchise can’t they gotta keep the plane flying while trying to push the limits
Neo3
Neo3 - 4/17/2023, 11:35 AM
@Goldboink - first few marvel movies had more established directors than than later movies.
Goldboink
Goldboink - 4/17/2023, 12:04 PM
@ShimmyShimmyYA -
And there's a big difference for Feige to be looking after half a dozen projects and another thing entirely with the huge slate of films and shows in development. Bad decisions were made for sure.
Goldboink
Goldboink - 4/17/2023, 12:05 PM
@Neo3 -
They took a chance on the Russo's and scored but not all of the indy types have worked out as well.
Reginator
Reginator - 4/17/2023, 7:46 AM
hire better writers also.
Scarilian
Scarilian - 4/17/2023, 7:48 AM
It's less established talent and more that Disney are hiring people who are encouraged to disregard the very comics and media they are adapting from while in the process insulting the fans and shoving in modern day views.

A lot of the comics are surefire hits if you simply adapted them 1-to-1 to the big screen, however whether it is hubris or a desire to insert some modern day ideologies, they have repeatedly chosen not to do this.

It honestly is a repeat of how Marvel almost failed in the past, they are adapting the same poor quality characters and material they did before only finding new ways to give them the worst stories possible. Last time they were saved by Spider-man and the X-Men, only this time Spider-man is with Sony and X-Men has not been introduced and likely won't result in an increased reputation for the whole brand despite attempts to shove the TVA and potentially Kang into Deadpool 3.

WandaVision had a good premise, but beyond the episodes set in the past it was garbage and Fantastic Four is going to get a similar reaction especially if they end up doing race/sex swaps for the casting. At this stage people want comic accuracy with the Fantastic Four because we've had three prior iterations and the most accurate was unreleased.
Vigor
Vigor - 4/17/2023, 8:01 AM
@Scarilian - wild how you stretched this report to fit your anti diversity rhetoric. You've got some real talent
Origame
Origame - 4/17/2023, 8:55 AM
@Vigor - weren't you on a Harry Potter article calling out minorities for not liking the practice of forced diversity?
Vigor
Vigor - 4/17/2023, 9:03 AM
@Origame - yep that was me 👋🏾
But to correct you, I was calling out people using their own race as a pass to justify their anti-diverse viewpoints. It's tired and we can do better
That's like when people say "I can't be racist against Asians, my wife is Chinese" meanwhile they use and stereotype every Asian slur in the book.
Origame
Origame - 4/17/2023, 9:13 AM
@Vigor - ...except it's not like that at all WHEN YOU'RE IN THE GROUP BEING PANDERED TO WITH DIVERSITY! Like, isn't the whole point of diversity to help those groups? If the groups don't want/care about it, what's the point?

Also, you are aware black people use the n word, right? Good luck convincing them not to.
Vigor
Vigor - 4/17/2023, 9:24 AM
@Origame -
"If the groups don't want/care about it, what's the point?"

Please dont take the word of one or two misguided minorities to represent an entire group of people.

"Also, you are aware black people use the n word, right? Good luck convincing them not to"
I'm not sure that's a relevant example. And based on our past interactions I'm not exactly confident you understand the nuances of usage of the N word in the black community, and history of the word in America. I don't have the patience to spell it out to you either! Sorry not trying to be a jerk. But this topic could be a whole other rabbit hole and I should probably be working!
Origame
Origame - 4/17/2023, 9:40 AM
@Vigor - yes, they're "misguided". Guess Morgan freeman is also misguided then.

There are plenty of minorities who have a problem with forced diversity. In fact, in the past it was specifically called tokenism. Plus, what race are you to dictate this? And are you not aware these choices are made by a bunch of white people in Hollywood? Why doesn't a minority who's actually the audience get to say what he feels is best for his group when it's white people ultimately deciding to do it?

And the comment of black people using the n word is in relation to your comparison of the guy married to a Chinese woman using racial slurs. I'm further proving how terrible your comparison was.
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