Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame assembled one of the largest star-studded casts in 2017. The films would shoot back to back throughout almost the entire year, making it one of the largest productions and schedules in cinematic history. Looking back at that year, producer Trinh Tran admits she wouldn’t have shot the movies this way if she knew what an undertaking it would be.
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“Yeah, we shot all of 2017,” Tran told ComicBook.com. “So, it was a whole year of shooting, and Marvel’s never done anything like this, so this was the two biggest movies that Marvel’s ever done, and we decided that we were just gonna take a full swing and just keep shooting.”
The production was bitter sweet. “I mean, yes and no,” Tran said when asked if she would take on such a schedule again. “Look, it was one of the best experiences I think all of us ever encountered, but it was a very grueling process, because it was very physically demanding, emotionally, mentally, to just be able to do that whole, entire year. I mean, usually these shoots are only few months. But to be able to just keep going, 12 hours, or how many ever hours that we were doing each day, just to get both these movies in, it was pretty crazy.”
Although Infinity War and Endgame filmed back to back, Tran admits, “They’re different.” Like the rest of the cast and crew, she won’t go into too much detail to explain such a claim.
“What I can say is that, obviously, as you know, we wanted to tell Infinity War through Thanos’ point of view,” Tran said. “So, that’s the big difference, is that we made it his journey. We made him the hero’s journey in that sense. So, that movie in particular, was told through his point of view, and this one is not.”
Perhaps the massive undertaking of shooting to gigantic movies back to back is why directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo are taking a break from Marvel Studios work, for now.
“I think that, you know, we’re going to take a little bit of a break,” Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo told ComicBook.com at CinemaCon, in an inteview with his directing partner and brother Anthony. “We love Marvel. I mean, we’re very close with Kevin [Feige] and Lou [DeEsposito] and Victoria [Alonso] and Trin [Tranh], who’s produced the last two movies with us and eight more. I mean, it’s really like family for us there. But, you know, we’ve done four movies in six and a half years so we’re going to take a little bit of a vacation, but we’ll be, we’ll be back in a heartbeat.”
Of course, the decision to return to Marvel Studios will require the proper timing and story. “With the right material that makes sense,” Joe Russo added, “If we can find a story to tell, then I think. Purely on the directorial side.”
Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters of April 26.
