IN CIVILLISED COMPANY
Team Cap and
co-director Joe Russo touch down in Singapore to talk Captain America: Civil War
By Jedd Jong
By Jedd Jong
It seems our tiny city state has
been in a bit of a tizzy, ever since Marvel announced that Singapore would be
one of the stops on the promotional tour for Captain America: Civil War, the 13th entry in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe (MCU). A brouhaha erupted over the obscenely high ticket
prices that were being charged for premium access to the blue carpet – the
passes, priced at $688 and $1288, did not even guarantee actually meeting the
celebrities, and a discussion on the exploitation of geek interests for profit
spread across social media. It was later clarified that these were package
deals, and fans were welcome to line the blue carpet in the hopes of a selfie
or autograph for free.
This morning, stars Chris Evans
(Steve Rogers/Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier),
Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon) and director Joe Russo, one half of the
Russo Brothers filmmaking team, fielded questions from the local and regional press
at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, including F***. Deejay Glenn Ong
moderated the press conference, as Team Cap laid out their plans for
domination.
Civil War sees the Avengers fractured after politicians around the
world propose a governing body to keep superhero activity in check, so as to
prevent the wanton collateral damage the Avengers have incurred in the past
from happening again. Half the team sides with Iron Man, who is for regulation,
while the other backs Captain America, who is against it. Stars Robert Downey
Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes/War Machine) and Emily
VanCamp (Sharon Carter/Agent 13), with co-director Anthony Russo, threw down
the gauntlet by lighting up the Eiffel Tower in red and gold with blue ‘eyes’
during their press tour in Paris. Presumably, VanCamp was brought in as a
replacement for Scarlett Johansson, seeing as Agent 13 really is on Team Cap in
the movie.
“I saw what Downey did in Paris,
and it was great, but I think we can really do something special here in
Singapore and show ‘em it’s all about Team Cap,” Evans declared. He was
referring to the plan to light up the three towers of the Marina Bay Sands
Integrated Resort in red white and blue; the light-up will be accompanied by a
fireworks display. “The more buzz, the more energy that can be created, the
conflict between the two camps is going to help the film,” Evans said, tacitly conceding
that the rivalry is obviously manufactured to keep the sales machine going.
The Russo brothers return to the
MCU after helming the much-loved Winter
Soldier movie. They are also signed on for both parts of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War cinematic epic, which will see the Avengers finally come face-to-face with their ultimate foe, the
intergalactic warlord Thanos. Russo cited the interplay between the characters
as a key component in the MCU, saying “I think this movie has more character
interaction than any movie that has preceded it in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe.” Civil War is couched as a
culmination of plot lines that have been fomenting across the earlier Avengers and Captain America movies, with Russo promising a film that’s
“Heart-breaking but also a great deal of fun and “a well-rounded experience at
the movies.”
“It’s a Steven Soderbergh-level
of cast,” Russo said of the ensemble he and his brother presided over. “Marvel
has done an amazing job of filling out the Marvel Cinematic Universe with some of
the best actors in the world, it makes my job very easy.”
“They have a wonderful
understanding of cinema,” Evans said, returning the praise. “A lot of directors
don’t always want to reference other movies, but Joe and Anthony are true
cinephiles.”
The Russo Brothers are known for
their work on television comedies like Arrested
Development and Community. They
slipped Community cast member Danny
Pudi into The Winter Soldier, and Jim
Rash has a cameo in Civil War. Russo
drew a parallel between shooting comedy and staging action sequences, saying “When
you execute a comedic gag, there’s a lot of correlation to action: spatial
relationships on screen, editing, rhythm.” Russo acknowledged the “incredible
support” rendered to them by the Marvel Studios brass, calling the visual
effects team “unbelievable”.
In order to decide who would be
on whose side, the Russo Brothers sat in a room for months with writers
Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to hash out the story beats. We went
through the cast we had available us and the cast we didn’t have available to
us and we thought very hard about who would line up against who based on their
motivations up to this point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” Russo added
that “surprises for the audience” were on the agenda too.
Throughout the press conference,
Stan seemed the most withdrawn, while still projecting a certain sweetness, whereas Mackie was gregarious and game. Perhaps
Stan was freshly defrosted from Winter Soldier hibernation. Mackie was handy
with the disses aimed at Team Iron Man, like so many bullets from flip-out
submachine guns. “We try to get to know the culture that we’re in, eat the food
and meet the people,” Mackie said, tacking the colloquial Singaporean
interjection ‘lah’ onto the end of a few sentences. “Whereas Team Iron Man,
they’re more about just going from the press conference to the spa, and then
from the spa to their jet, stuff like that. We hitchhike. They hang on to me, I
put on the jetpack and we go straight across.”
In the film, Falcon’s get-up is
referred to at one point as a “bird costume.” Mackie reacted with mock
indignation when a reporter reminded him of this, replying “say that one more
time, homie? I’m described as what?!” When egged on to denigrate Team Iron Man’s
outfits, Mackie offered that Stark himself looks like “a coke can”, that Vision
looks like “someone just drew over him”, that War Machine resembles “a trash
can” and that Black Panther’s suit seems like it’s made of “Michelin car
tyres.” He could not bring himself to insult Black Widow, whom he described as
“perfect.”
When quizzed on how they get in
superhero shape for the films, Evans said there was no magic bullet, “Any type
of secret workout, diet, doesn’t really work,” he insisted. “We go to the gym,
we pick up heavy stuff, we put that down, we do that until we can’t do that
anymore and we get big.” Sounds so easy when he puts it that way, doesn’t it?
Mackie jests that Evans really is an Ultimate Frisbee enthusiast. Evans
admonishes him, saying that his quip is bound to get lost in translation down
the line and invariably get taken seriously by somebody.
The film pushes the relationship
between Rogers and Sharon Carter/Agent 13 further along, with Rogers learning
that she’s actually the niece of Peggy Carter, the co-founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. who
fell in love with Rogers during his WWII days. Evans stated that it “follows in
the lineage of what Cap considers his home to be with Peggy Carter, and Sharon
Carter is kind of an incarnation of something familiar.” He said he is
intrigued by the suggestion of a romantic bond between Cap and Black Widow,
which Mackie objected to, since he has his eye on Black Widow. “They come from
different backgrounds and find comfort in each other at different times of distress,”
Evans reasoned. “I always thought that would be a really interesting dynamic to
pursue, but at the same time, it’s very sweet and very pure that they’ve kept
it platonic.”
Russo delivered the closing
salvo of the press conference, calling Civil
War an “incredibly important” entry in the canon. “Winter Soldier changed the external structure of the Marvel
Cinematic Universe with the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D. I think that this movie
changes the psychology of the Marvel Universe in a very significant way,” Russo
continued. Teasing what’s to come, he said that “the ramifications of Civil War are not over, they’re going to
carry over significantly into Infinity
War.” So, from the ashes of war, there is rebuilding to be done.
Captain America: Civil War opens in cinemas 28 April 2016
F***’s
coverage of the Team Cap festivities in Singapore will continue.
Photos by
Tedd Jong
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.