‘Captain Marvel’ Press Conference Recap

On Friday afternoon, Marvel Studios assembled the cast and crew of Captain Marvel for a press conference in Beverly Hills, California. Producer Kevin Feige took the stage with cast members Lashana Lynch, Jude Law, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, and directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden.

Why did Feige pick the directors?

“It was more than one meeting,” Feige said. “It’s their body of work and it’s their focus on character and our belief that that wouldn’t have lost the character in all the fun and the effect. REally, Anna spoke very eloquently about Carol Danvers…Anna went up in a jet, as did Brie, which was super impressive and I wouldn’t do for a million dollars…It was those early meetings and their amazing body of work…”

What does Larson love about Carol Danvers?

“There’s a lot to love about her,” Larson said. “In particular the idea of playing a super hero, or a female super hero because my interest is in female complexity…Sometimes I physically landed on my face doing stunts, sometimes I just do a bad take, it’s how it goes, so getting to play a character where..the major arc is watching her be this major risk taker…those are the moments where she doesn’t lay down, she gets back up… Those are the moments everyone can relate to.”

Was the movie challenging on a personal level?

“I sobbed in the gym many times,” “You’re also learning that it’s just for you. There is nothing for me to prove. I wasn’t proving it to other people at the gym…It was for myself. For me, the main reason for doing was, so that in moments like this where we’re talking about Carol’s strength, it’s that I’m stronger than I realized. Of course this movie is assisted with VFX because I can’t shoot photon blasts…but I can stand here and say I was able to deadlift 225 pounds…I was able to push a Jeep…”

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Music and 90s influence chosen by the directors?

“We made a big playlist at the beginning of the movie,” Fleck said. “Some of those songs are in the movie but it was in post we threw songs in and see what stuck…I actually worked at a Blockbuster in 1995 so that brought back a lot of memories creating that set.”

“I was a big candy eater in the 90s,” Boden said. “Do you remember Dunkaroos? I liked the vanilla with the little chocolate. You don’t eat enough in the movie so we couldn’t get those Dunkaroos in.”

What was fun about playing Nick Fury in the past?

“Kinder, gentler, not so cynical world weary Nick Fury who hadn’t met anyone from another universe just yet and looking at the crazy lady trying to figure out why she thinks she’s an alien and what all that means. It’s kinda fun to not be the all-knowing angry persuader Nick Fury always is. Even more refreshing to have two eyes so I didn’t have to cover one eye.”

How did the de-aging idea come up?

“Not a real on-set process,” Jackson said. “They put the wig on me and put dots on my face so I kind of felt like I was in Wakanda…Fortunately I had done like three movies before this one so they had places to pull from.”

Feige jokes about Clark Gregg and Samuel L. Jackson being the only two humans in the movie who don’t need de-aging technology to look like they did in the 90s.

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What did Jude Law’s kids think?

“They cared,” he said. “They cared only in the vernacular of a teenage kid so, ‘Oh, it’s cool.’ I knew I was quite high on the Richter scale. They saw the movie last weekend and the fact that they want to come again is a god sign.”

Lashana Lynch put a tremendous effort into landing a role in a Marvel movie.

“I am a Marvel fan. I’ve grown up watching them. I’ve grown up loving the characters, enjoying the trajectories, so I just had a feeling something would come up…They all wouldn’t work out for a reason. I felt like I was headed towards something that I cared about: women.”

What drew Maria and Carol together?

“They’re both in the military, so they come from male dominated environment, so they were drawn to women anyway,” Lynch said. “They have a sarcasm together.”

“What they’ve gone through together, going through military training together, being the only women…is really special,” Larson said. “I think they would’ve bewn friends outside of that experience but I think that’s a really tight knit bond that they have. They’re family. Without being too showboat about it, this is the love of the movie. 

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What was it like to get back on Marvel Studios set?

“It wasn’t a long conversation,” Gregg said. “It’s superceded that in every way. It was so incredibly fun to do. I’ve gotten the thrill of taken my daughter to Marvel movies but I’m taking a 17-year-old to see Captain Marvel and ‘m more excited than ever.”

What was it like to play a mean girl for Gemma Chan?

“I loved it,” Chan said. “I like to change it up and surprise people a bit…she’s sarcastic, she’s a bit of a mean girl, I like tapping into that side of me. It’s fun to be bad….I had to learn how to crawl with a rifle. I did all the drills. There’s an amazing stunt team that Marvel have and they help you look like you know what you’re doing.”