Avengers: Endgame Directors on Iron Man’s Funeral: “Most Expensive Shot in Movie History”

Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo suspect there’s a chance the assemblage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest stars at the funeral for Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the “most expensive shot in movie history.”

“We used to joke, and I don’t know if it’s joking, it’s probably the most expensive shot in movie history. That’s a lot of salary on the screen there,” Joe Russo told IMDb at San Diego Comic-Con. “At the very least it’s the most expensive day of extras in movie history, outside of Cleopatra.”

“For people to just stand there, they’re not even moving,” joked co-writer Christopher Markus.

Asked by host Kevin Smith if digital trickery was used to gather the mourners in one place, Joe Russo noted “everyone was there.”

“They were all brought there under this pretense that they were coming for a wedding — it’s kind of heartbreaking to think about now — but they all have managers, and agents, and hair and make up, and we can’t tell anybody what we’re up to, because it can leak through one of a thousand sources,” he said.

“So they were all brought there under the pretense that they’re coming for a wedding, and the day they got there and we started to dress them in the black outfits, they said, ‘This is a very strange wedding.’ We said, ‘It’s because it’s actually a funeral.’”

“Plus they were going to the middle of nowhere in Georgia,” added Markus. “It was just a line of Escalades going into a horse farm.”

Only a select few actors were let in on the secret, including Pepper Potts star Gwyneth Paltrow, because “it was an enormous character moment for her, so we spoke with her previously,” Anthony Russo said.

“Maybe one or two of the other actors we knew it was a big moment for. But no, most of them found out on that day, so it’s a testament to what good actors they are.”

Spider-Man star Tom Holland earlier said on Jimmy Kimmel Live he was excited to attend the wedding — only to arrive for shooting and notice the absence of Downey Jr.

“Tom Holland thinks he still was acting in a wedding that day,” Joe joked. “I don’t think we ever told him what it was.”

Avengers: Endgame is available to own on Digital HD July 30 and on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray August 13.