‘Captain America: Winter Soldier’ will be ‘darker’ and may feature WWII flashbacks
Marvel may have surprised fans when they hired Joe and Anthony Russo to direct “Captain Anerica: Winter Soldier,” the sequel to 2011’s blockbuster superhero film featuring Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Cap. Anthony Russo was at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on Tuesday promoting a new NBC comedy called “Animal Practice” and Huffington Post was able to interview the writer/director.
Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers (center) with the Howling Commandos – Bruno Ricci plays Jacques Dernier (third left from center), Kenneth Choi plays Jim Morita (second left from center), Neal McDonough plays Dum Dum Dugan (first right from center), Sebastian Stan plays James âBuckyâ Barnes (second right from center), JJ Feild plays Montgomery Falsworth (third right from center), and Derek Luke plays Gabe Jones (fifth right from center) – in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, from Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment.
The Russo brothers are famous for their television work on comedies “Community” and Happy Endings,” so HuffPo was quick to echo concerns from fans, asking about the role of comedy in “Winter Soldier.”
“I mean, we’re trying to grow him as a character, and certainly he’s come a long way, from where he started in pre-World War 2 to where he is in modern-day America. So the character has room for growth because of that huge journey that he’s been on, Number 1. Number 2, part of the appeal of these movies is the ensemble. Captain America isn’t the only character in the film, there are other characters that are perhaps lighter in nature. ”
With the official titled announced at Comic-con earlier this month and Anthony Mackie being cast as Falcon, Russo added that he and his brother are comic book fans.
“We were comic book geeks from a young age and big fantasy geeks. We got to talk to them in detail about that history. They knew that we understood the brand really well and the characters really well. It was a long process, actually, of talking to them over and over again, through a series of meetings over a long period of time. And I think they just — we were really passionate about the movie, incredibly passionate about the movie. They felt that, and they felt like it was the right match.”
Sebastian Stan played Bucky, who appears to perish in “Captain America: First Avenger,” but will return as the Winter Solider, tying directly to the popular story arc written by Ed Brubaker. Russo confirmed that the darker tone will make it the big screen adaptation.
“Well, we like the [story]. I can’t talk too much about specifics, that’s the way Marvel handles things. I can say in general that there’s sort of a darker, edgier sensibility at work there that we found appealing, and that is going find its way into Captain [America] in the modern day. ”
The “You, Me and Dupree” writer was ambiguous on the presence of flashbacks or World War II sequences in “Winter Soldier.”
“Certainly Cap has this complicated history. We’re making the movie for first-time viewers, not just for fans, so, because Cap does have this complicated history — he was this skinny guy who became a super-soldier, he was born back then and he’s living [now] — in the storytelling, you need to convey that to an audience who doesn’t know Cap’s story.”
Russo continued to praise Evans and say that production is set for early 2013.
Evans, Stan, Mackie are all set for “Winter Soldier” will further casting and news to be expected in the coming weeks.
“Captain America: Winter Solider” arrives in theaters April 4, 2014.
