After more than a decade and nearly 20 films in the franchise, Marvel Studios are facing the end of an era with Avengers: Endgame. The two-part story began with Avengers: Infinity War, with production on the movies being completed back to back.
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Directors Joe and Anthony Russo are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. And in their reflection of this massive undertaking, they’ve revealed they would change one major aspect of the productions.
“We wouldn’t shoot them back-to-back,” Anthony said to CinemaBlend.
Despite the short time between the two productions, the directors treated the films separately. This meant they had to figure out a way to divide aspects between Infinity War and Endgame wherever possible, Anthony elaborated.
“I think the challenge for all of us was finding the balance between the two films,” Anthony added. “Because each film is so complex on its own that sometimes considering both of them was a bit overwhelming. So we looked for opportunities in the process to separate the two so that our brains could be fully focused on the narrative. While the films have a connection, as the Marvel films do, they are distinct stories.”
ComicBook.com had the chance to speak with the Russo Brothers about this issue when we visited the set of Avengers, during which Joe spoke about the approach they took to two separate films.
“We look in a way that you would look at writers in comic books,” said Joe. “People pick up different runs, and they go with it. If there are things from mythology that you are inspired by or you find relevancy in, you go with that. If there are things in mythology that you want to see differently, then you explore ways to execute it differently.”
Joe explained this approach has helped them work in the greater context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a lot of moving parts coming from many different filmmakers.
“I think, of course, there is a list of movies that have preceded this,” Russo said. “Those movies have been directed by a lot of different directors, with a lot of different styles, and a lot of different things to say. Anthony and I have found repeatedly that the best and only way for us to move forward, is to receive that information, keep what we like, explore what we like, and exploit what we like, and tell the story that we want to tell.
“I think the audience goes with you when you make those changes, or there are things that you discard,” he said. “Same with you do in a comic run, when you’re reading it. You go, ‘I want to see someone else’s point of view on this. That was an awesome point of view, and I had a lot of fun with that. Now I want to see something else. Now I want to see … ‘ That’s, I think, what Marvel’s done really well, by bringing in a lot of different voice to execute their films.”
We’ll get to see the how the new movie is different from Infinity War when Avengers: Endgame premieres in theaters on April 26th.
