How to make an Avengers movie in 11 steps

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Avengers cast and crew: Joe and Anthony Russo, Kevin Feige, Robert Downey Jr, Jeremy Renner and Brie Larson

Avengers: Endgame, the fourth installment of Marvel's superhero franchise, achieved an unprecedented $ 1.2 billion box office gain last weekend.

It's the biggest three-day trip in the history of cinema; and a testimony of the strength of Marvel's serialized approach to storytelling.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo say they are "definitely surprised" by the film's "resounding success" – but also announce a break in the world of superheroes, having shot two Captain America movies and two Avengers in seven years.

"One of the most important things we have learned is that when you shoot two of the biggest movies ever made, and you film them back to back, do not film them one after the other. other, "Anthony told BBC News. , confirming the departure of the duo.

Joss Whedon experienced similar emotions after writing and directing the first two titles in the series.

"Why on earth would I do another Avengers movie, they're really hard," he pondered in the Age of Ultron DVD commentary. "It was badly advised, I see it now."

But the cinematic universe of Marvel will continue – with new versions of Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy already confirmed; and a new configuration of The Avengers almost a certainty.

If you find yourself in the position of director, how should you prepare? Here are 11 key lessons for those who made the originals.

This article does not contain spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, but will discuss details of the plot of previous movies.

1) Start a TV show

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The Russo led the pilot of Arrested Development and referenced the show in Infinity War and Captain America: Civil War.

The three directors of The Avengers made themselves known on television. Joss Whedon created Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly; while the Russo brothers worked on the cult comedies Community and Arrested Development.

These experiences were invaluable when it came to blurring the cast of more than 20 characters, "because these are all shows together," says Joe Russo.

"These were shows that had to be performed in 21 minutes, they had to be fun and they had to have a plot, and sometimes, like in an episode of Community, you'd have 30 talking parties – so that's a exercise that you have certainly resulted in trying to contain as many characters as we do in two hours. "

"We are attracted by multiple points of view and group dynamics, because we grew up in a very large Italian-American family," adds Anthony, "so we have always enjoyed working with ensembles."

2) Know the characters in reverse

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The first Avengers movie featured six heroes, more than 20

The joy of the Avengers is to see how these disparate characters and the actors who play them interact.

"There is natural competition when the leaders of two different franchises meet and it's part of the competition between two heroes coming together, so it's a pleasure," said the screenwriter. Infinity War, Chris Markus, last year.

"A very convincing element of cross-breeding is who has primacy – they are all leaders, they are all used to running their own world, and once you put them in the same room, who should make the decisions? It's a notion we revisit many times. "

Nevertheless, it is a challenge to give 23 distinct characters a distinct voice within the confines of a three-hour film.

Fortunately, an old scriptwriting trick is very useful: if your characters are well written, you should know how everyone would react if he accidentally fell into a pool.

"Thor from Infinity War would spoil this pool," says Anthony. "While Rocket – he's not overly self-deprecating, so I think I could see him gagging and spitting in. He'd be a little irritated."

3) Take a lot of toilet breaks

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Even superheroes need the bathroom

Scott Derrickson recently tweeted how he "met Joe Russo outside the men's room", while he was editing the Doctor Strange movie in 2015.

"He told me the basic story of Infinity War and Endgame. [and] I told him that he could make the first movie work, the second would be amazing. "

Which raises the question: how long did Joe wait for his colleague while waiting for the toilet?

"I think it was like a 10-minute pitch," he laughs.

"But the funny thing is, people are saying to themselves," Do you meet at Marvel all the time and have meetings about the scenarios? "

"And the answer is:" No, everything happens on the way to the bathroom ". It's where everyone meets and starts to exchange information."

In other words, do not hold it back.

4) Keep the story simple

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The Infinity Stones search is the key plot of Avengers: Infinity War

For all the praise of Infinity War, the plot can be summed up in three words: "Thanos wants stones".

"We have so many characters in the movie that we knew that if the plot was complicated, it would also take [long] to explain and that it would remove the characters and the action, "said screenwriter Chris Markus in the commentary of the DVD.

Even the number of Infinity stones has caused a headache, said co-author Steve McFeely.

"If we had invented the idea of Infinity Stones in a vacuum, I'm sure we would not have decided that there were six." Six MacGuffins, "That's it." a lot for a movie. "

For things to move, the Russians dictated that each scene "must do more than one thing".

Thus, the opening sequence – in which Thanos crushes Hulk, kills Thor's brother, Loki and steals one of the Infinity Stones – translates three points of the plot in two minutes.

"This sets the course for Hulk – he was defeated and did not particularly want to help [Bruce] Banner on the unfolding of the film ", explained Anthony Russo.

"This establishes a story of revenge for Thor by taking out his brother and sets the plot for the collection of stones."

5) The chances should seem insurmountable

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Just another day at the office

"I wanted to make a movie where being a superhero was not a free pass," said Joss Whedon, about the screenplay for the Avengers' first movie in 2012.

"Where things were hard enough for you to be as strong as possible and still not enough to cope with what was going on."

"The stakes, he added, are always the same.

"The stakes are: you could die."

6) Recognize the ridiculous

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It is behiiiiind you

When your heroes come up against a sensitive robot that has torn apart an entire city on the surface of the planet, it's helpful to recognize that everything is a little far-fetched.

Thus, at the height of Age of Ultron, Hawkeye takes stock of the situation and says, "We are fighting an army of robots and I have a bow and arrows." None of this is n? makes sense. "

"I'm talking about inoculation," says Whedon. "He says the thing we all think, and it plays."

7) Talk to the animators

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Hulk and Thanos are based on performances captured by the movement of Mark Ruffalo and Josh Brolin

The Avengers films are among the most heavily laden films in history, with four main characters – Thanos, Hulk, Rocket and Groot – created by computer animation.

Making them credible is a crucial task. Both Whedon and Russo started working with artists before the scripts were written.

"Thanos was difficult," says Joe Russo. "We knew we were sunk if Thanos was not a real photo, so we spent two years doing research and development on Thanos and making sure it would work properly."

For his debut as a Hulk, actor Mark Ruffalo even wrote a letter to the effects team, pointing out that his performances captured by the movement were only the first step in the creation of the character.

"We all play that role," he writes. "I pushed it as far as I can and you have to use what you can, then forget about it and become Hulk."

"It was incredibly inspiring for the animators," said Whedon, who set aside a day to explain how the movie depicted two different aspects of the green-skinned monster: "The one Bruce Banner unintentionally becomes and the one that's not. he decides to be. "

"What I discovered afterwards, is that most of them – in fact, all – had not been able to see the scenario. things in isolation, "he said. "It was so incredibly productive."

8) Always put the raccoon on a chair *

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Size is not everything …

Have you ever noticed that Rocket – the CGI raccoon played by Bradley Cooper – almost always stands on a chair?

"It's a good point," says Anthony. "When dealing with characters of radically different sizes, there are many framing challenges.

"You start learning tips to block [staging the scene] to keep everyone in the same relative plane, so you can actually shoot them. "

(* or a table)

9) Prohibition t-shirts

When we first meet Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow in Assemble Avengers, she is tied to a chair, barefoot and dressed in a vest, apparently interrogated by the dark Russian forces.

Of course, she releases herself dramatically … but her outfit makes it one of the most difficult cascading scenes to choreograph.

"Every time you say" she has no sleeves, "your stunt coordinator cries, he cries," noted Joss Whedon.

"It's very difficult to do a lot of things if you can not protect your knees and elbows."

10) Embrace the darkness

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Joss Whedon clashed with Marvel during the filming of Age Of Ultron

Making these movies is "incredibly physically demanding," says Joe Russo, and there will inevitably be dark days.

"When you start, everything is perfect in your head," Whedon told BBC News in 2015, "and when you work with the actors, things get better.

"Then, at some point, you've been going so long since you started thinking." Who am I? What is going on? "and you forget why you came and what you are trying to say, and you are despairing.It is a very dark experience.

11) emotion> action

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Thor is sad

Since Buffy, Joss Whedon's business card has been adding character beats to the fights. He gets it perfectly in the decisive battle of Age Of Ultron, where Hawkeye stops chasing the bad guys to discuss the improvement of their home.

"You know what I have to do, the dining room," he told Black Widow. "If I remove this wall is, it will make a nice workspace … what do you think?"

"This sequence is, for me, the reason why I introduce myself," said Whedon in the commentary. "Two people in the apocalypse talk about redoing the dining room, it says more about their relationship than anything I could have done."

The Infinity War team made a similar decision. Their film does not end with a battle, but with the emotional repercussions of Thanos' "slamming" – scenes that made some people cry.

So what will they feel when they come out of Endgame?

"Catharsis," says Joe Russo.

"We realize how far the end of the war against Infinity has had an impact," adds his brother.

"We saw how difficult it was for a lot of people and it's something we really respect, so we were very determined to pay for that kind of story."

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