Captain America: The Winter Soldier': Directors Anthony and Joe Russo on landing in the Marvel universe and their love of '70s crime thrillers
The question is: How did two brothers known for directing and producing TV comedies land the plum gig of making the next mega Marvel movie, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"?
For Cleveland natives Anthony and Joe Russo, it was a combination of paintball and perseverance. Shooting a big chunk of the action-thriller in their hometown was a bonus. "We couldn't be happier to be in Cleveland doing this," said Anthony Russo.
"This" includes explosions, gunfire, car chases, fight scenes and road closures through the end of June, including the West Shoreway for the next two weeks.
"We really appreciate everyone's support and patience," said Joe Russo. "Obviously, coming in and shutting down roads and complicating people's daily commute is not one of the initial benefits of the film. But being able to bring money here and jobs and putting people to work is part of building momentum. The more big films that come here, more will follow."
They believe in Cleveland movie shoots. This is the fourth feature film for the Russos. The first two, "Pieces" and "Welcome to Collinwood," were also shot in Cleveland, and that was long before the state's lucrative tax credits lured motion-picture productions here. But a Marvel movie, with a budget somewhere north of $150 million, is an enormous beast and the biggest opportunity of their careers.
Anthony, 43, and Joe, who turns 42 soon, have enjoyed great success on television directing more than 30 episodes of "Community," of which they are also executive producers, and winning an Emmy for their work on "Arrested Development," the cult comedy that recently reappeared on Netflix. But this is their first foray into the superhero realm.
"We were working on the third season of 'Community,' and we got a call from our agent saying [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige was a big fan of the show and wanted to know if we would come in to talk about the next 'Captain America' movie," said Joe, who was a big comic-book collector as a kid. "I think Kevin had seen the paintball episode we did on 'Community' and thought, these guys should be directing action movies."
The two-part "A Fistful of Paintballs" and "For a Few Paintballs More," a spaghetti Western and "Star Wars" parody with Chevy Chase, Alison Brie and Joel McHale unleashing a fury of paint, aired in May 2011. For more of this story click here
Anthony and Joe Russo get the Captain America Directors chair.