Joe and Anthony Russo say that Avengers: Doomsday takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) “back to phase zero.”
Starting Over
The directorial duo makes their return to the superhero genre in the upcoming MCU blockbuster. Avengers: Doomsday premieres in December, with Robert Downey Jr. starring as antagonist Doctor Doom.
The Russos claim that the picture sees events “starting over from scratch.”
Joe Russo said at SXSW London, “That serial shifting and changing and surprising you and then reinventing itself and then shifting and changing and then surprising you – that’s exciting and I think you’re going to see some shifting and changing (with Doomsday).”
“So, get ready for it. Look, we were with Rob (Downey Jr.) earlier today. We were both talking about this concept that we are back to phase zero. This is starting over from scratch. We want to make sure everybody feels like this isn’t leaning on anything from the past.”
Working with a Big Cast
Meanwhile, the 54-year-old filmmaker revealed how his and Anthony’s experience of growing up “in the biggest Italian family” helped them work with an all-star cast. This includes Chris Evans, Paul Rudd, Florence Pugh, and Vanessa Kirby on Avengers: Doomsday.
Joe said, “Each one of these actors is playing somebody’s favorite character, and so if you’re not going to search the character properly, then you’re going to disappoint someone in that audience.”
“We grew up in the biggest Italian family… We understand how to tell stories with multiple characters. A lot of that has to do with very subtle POV shifts throughout the story.”
“If Thor, when he lands, if that accidentally cuts (Sebastian) Stan’s head off… That’s how close those points of view are to each other, and that’s all very calibrated, from a protocol standpoint.”
Defending The Gray Man
Meanwhile, Joe also defended the pair’s decision to make their 2022 action thriller The Gray Man a Netflix exclusive instead of making it available to watch in cinemas.
He said, “We have to stop trying to (say) every story has to fit every medium, and that certain mediums are better than other mediums. This isn’t true.”
“Like, watch the story where you want to watch the story. You don’t want to watch it at home? Go watch it on your computer, on your phone. It’s your right to watch a story how you want to watch it. On YouTube, there’s amazing filmmakers who’ve been working in the phone format, who are now blowing up the box office.”
Russo added, “Part of the problem with culture today is everything’s conflict-driven, because social media is conflict-driven, because that’s what’s sticky, that’s what keeps you on social media.”
“If you’re happy, you’re not on social media, you are out living your life. You’re not worried about what other people are doing, you’re not worried about what your neighbor said.”
“If we don’t stop attacking every step in our own sector… We’re not going to have (anything) left, because we’re going to go down some rabbit hole where everything is just neutral.”
“The one thing left that binds all of us is (telling) stories, and the more we can diversify those stories, the more we can democratize how these stories are told.”