Marvel Studios have enlisted the Russo brothers to helm the Captain America sequel.
Brothers, Anthony and Joe, are best known for comedic films such as You Me and Dupree (2006) and Welcome to Collinwood (2006). They also have directing credits for a number of sitcoms which include Arrested Development, Community and Happy Endings.
The duo’s background in comedy raises questions about their ability to capture the dryness of the Marvel humorverse?
Anthony caught up with the Huffington Post at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour and talked about some of the things to expect from their Captain America project.
Below is a portion of the interview Russo did with Huffington post.
I think Chris Evans is good at comedy, especially dry comedy, but Captain America as a guy — what I love about him is that there’s kind of a nobility, a heroic quality to him. With the comedic sensibilities you and your brother have, is that going to be part of it, I guess? Is that part of the conception process and the scripting process?
It definitely is. I mean, we’re trying to grow him as a character, and certainly he’s come a long way, from where he started in pre-World War 2 to where he is in modern-day America. So the character has room for growth because of that huge journey that he’s been on, Number 1. Number 2, part of the appeal of these movies is the ensemble. Captain America isn’t the only character in the film, there are other characters that are perhaps lighter in nature.
Bucky, perhaps?
Yeah, exactly.
You’re going with an existing story for “Captain America,” right?
In a way. I mean, they’re all sort of rooted in what’s come before, but they’re all also their own jumping-off point as well.
How did you sell yourselves [to get the job for] “Captain America”?
We were comic book geeks from a young age and big fantasy geeks. We got to talk to them in detail about that history. They knew that we understood the brand really well and the characters really well. It was a long process, actually, of talking to them over and over again, through a series of meetings over a long period of time. And I think they just — we were really passionate about the movie, incredibly passionate about the movie. They felt that, and they felt like it was the right match.
What did you love about [Ed] Brubaker’s “Winter Soldier” [comic-book] story that made you say, “Oh yeah, I know what we can do with this”?
Well, we like the [story]. I can’t talk too much about specifics, that’s the way Marvel handles things. I can say in general that there’s sort of a darker, edgier sensibility at work there that we found appealing, and that is going find its way into Captain [America] in the modern day.
Where are you at in terms of production? Are you in active pre-production? Do you have a production start date?
We have a release date, April 2014. We are going to go into production early next year.
The use of the Russo brothers for Captain America: Winter Soldier suggests that Marvel is committed to the use of light comedy in their superhero flicks. It doesn’t seem like a bad ideas since it worked for them to produce the cash cows we have come to know as Iron Man and The Avengers.
It will be interesting to see how the films turn out after the brother’s add their style of comedy to it. We will have to wait until sometime in 2012 for the film to hit theaters.
The movie returns Samuel L. Jackson to his role as Nick Fury and adds newcomer Sebastian Stan to the roster. Anthony Mackie is rumored to be in talks with production to star Falcon.
Will you be checking out Captain America when it drops in 2014?
