The pair gave festival goers a peek behind the curtain
Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are no strangers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After penning Captain America: The First Avenger, they’ve gone on to work on a total of six films from the most successful comic book franchise of all time.
As The Writer’s Festival, the Austin Film Festival brought the two in to discuss how these movies are made, what goes on behind the scenes, and what we can expect from what was affectionately referred to as “Infinity + 1.”
Spoilers are sure to follow, so if you’re someone who is both reading this but hasn’t seen every one of these movies–a Venn diagram that should look like two circles–then be forewarned.
First off, how did they end up being involved in this franchise in the first place? It started with their work on the Narnia films. They were brought in strictly for character building, but found themselves more than competent at the world-building big-action stuff as well. Once the writers strike happened and Aslan and Co. got pulled out from under them, they were brought on to work some magic for the first move staring Cap.
The first Iron Man sold them on the franchise, and getting to kick off Captain America was definitely appealing. To them, the fact that The First Avenger was going to be set in the time period in which the character was first created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby sealed the deal. That sort of paean to the past is rarely seen.
The key to both movies was the initial hook. The audience has to be convinced to like the character up front or all is lost. With Iron Man, we first see Tony Stark in a Humvee being as Robert Downey Jr. as humanly possible. All charm and chuckles. When the caravan is blown up and Stark is in trouble, viewers are on board. Flashback to Vegas with Tony in full douchebag mode, and we see something completely different. No way anyone would want to root for that guy.
With Cap it was a little different. Before rooting for the muscled-up version of the hero, audiences had to believe in the goodness and forthrightness of the 96-lb. weakling. They took care of that by showing Steve Rogers rejected again and again in his attempt to fight in the war.
The head of the entire enterprise, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, knew that in order to be successful, the franchise would have to take risks, no easy thing for intellectual property that’s been around over 75 years. One thing that meant was different kinds of movies. From a ‘40s period piece first time around, Winter Soldier comes off more like a ‘70s spy film.
While it would have been easy to fill up two hours of Cap being amazed by modernity–geeze, look at these shiny cars and whiz-bang technology!–Markus and McFeely knew there would have to be something more. It also started a trend of the character not always being a super patriot, something reflected in the comics written in the ‘60s.
Marvel movies are at their best when they take the biggest swings. Feige approved taking down S.H.I.E.L.D., a move that radically altered the universe. The key to making this all work movie to movie is communication. Oftentimes this means moving large chunks of story around.
For instance, the final scene of Thor: Ragnarok with the ships escaping Asgard was originally planned for Infinity War. However, once those writers come up with their fully realized plot, it was moved to the earlier film.
Ultimately, each movie has to stand on its own, no matter its place in the larger, grand narrative. This makes sense from the perspective of the viewer in the theater but can get lost in the world of online Grand Unification Theory prognostication.
The pair of writers said they are given very little in terms of “musts” when starting a project. For Infinity War, it was to use a character in Thanos that has only been on the screen for a hot minute, that there were a bunch of stones all over the place, a mandate to use a ton of characters, and that there would be a snap.
From there, they had to cull through the dozens of possible storylines from decades of the comics and pick the parts they thought would fit best. This meant a huge room with each of the two films taking up a wall covered in 4×6 cards and pictures of the characters that could be placed in different groups as they went about their sub-adventures. It was a lot.
In true writerly form, the two discussed what has become a criticism of the third act in most of these movies. It usually involves a huge set piece of a fight scene that the proverbial 13-year-old boys in the audience will love. Markus and McFeely turned this on its head in Captain America: Civil War by having the big ruckus at the end of Act Two at the airport. The film then reaches its emotional climax in the more personal video reveal that Bucky had murdered Stark’s parents. This fit better with a story that had gotten more character driven even as the conflicts were going global.
Along with the Russo Bros., Markus and McFeely have become a part of what is almost a mini-studio within the Marvel movie making machine. While they were tight lipped about “Infinity + 1,” the whole world will surely be watching when that one finally hits theaters next year. What will that Act Three bring?
The Austin Film Festival celebrates the art of storytelling through film, recognizing the writer as the core of the creative process in filmmaking.
For a full schedule, visit www.austinfilmfestival.com.