Current Events > "what the hell does any of this shit mean?" - director of the marvels

(+) Yeah! (+)

tbh it rules that actors are on strike and directors are doing the junket trail instead so you can get them to just make working for a studio sound like the worst job in hollywood

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/the-marvels-director-texted-mcu-directors-advice-kevin-feige-bad-1235727526/

Are they going to kill me and destroy my soul? Is Kevin Feige a bad man? she joked. And they were like, No, hes just a good guy who was a nerd.

During the making of The Marvels, DaCosta would text Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton on tough shoot days. She would text him Im overwhelmed and Im so stressed.

Sometimes youd be in a scene and youd be like, What the hell does any of this shit mean? Or an actors looking at some crazy thing happening in space, and theyre [actually] looking at a blue X. There were obviously hard days, and days where youre like, This just isnt working.

While DaCosta tried to bring as much of her voice into the MCU as possible, she still noted to Vanity Fair that The Marvels is a Kevin Feige production, its his movie. So I think you live in that reality, but I tried to go in with the knowledge that some of you is going to take a back seat.

reminder that these movies arent cinema btw

youre obsessed

Sounds pretty good than that Feige is in charge, and not this person who doesn't know what's going on.

Zithers posted...

reminder that these movies arent cinema btw

Weird, that's the exact place I've watched them.

So it's a shit show and the director is already throwing people under the bus?

Is Kevin Feige a demon? CE must decide

So why didn't Kevin feige interfere with pretentious Chloe zao's crappy ass eternals movie?

Squall28 posted...

Sounds pretty good than that Feige is in charge, and not this person who doesn't know what's going on.

was gonna say this makes me happier not more worried as they probably intended lol

It's a very weird decision to get mostly indie directors to direct these huge movies with a shit ton of tech. Disney is the "industry leader" when it comes to the Sound yet they hire people who make like $500k movies to direct shit in front of huge LED walls, 5 Technocranes etc. in every shot lol

Most these directors probably learn what genlock is the first day of shooting. I don't blame them cuz this really isn't the way to make movies imo but whatever. And totally understand why Disney does this shit (maximize profitz) but they've really driven it into the ground.

Smashingpmkns posted...

It's a very weird decision to get mostly indie directors to direct these huge movies with a shit ton of tech. Disney is the "industry leader" when it comes to the Sound yet they hire people who make like $500k movies to direct shit in front of huge LED walls, 5 Technocranes etc. in every shot lol

I think it's kind of trying to catch the same fire again. A lot of the most popular movies from the first three phases were directed by what weren't exactly big names at the time and most of their pre-Marvel work was on B-movies or indies. Ryan Coogler in particular had directed only two movies before he got the Black Panther gig (one of which had a budget under a million).

For one reason or another it's not really working this time.

Smashingpmkns posted...

It's a very weird decision to get mostly indie directors to direct these huge movies with a shit ton of tech. Disney is the "industry leader" when it comes to the Sound yet they hire people who make like $500k movies to direct shit in front of huge LED walls, 5 Technocranes etc. in every shot lol

Most these directors probably learn what genlock is the first day of shooting. I don't blame them cuz this really isn't the way to make movies imo but whatever. And totally understand why Disney does this shit (maximize profitz) but they've really driven it into the ground.

I was thinking something similar with Star Wars Episode 10. The director making it is a documentary filmmaker. Making the next Star Wars seems like a giant task for someone with no big budget movie experience.

TheSavageDragon posted...

Weird, that's the exact place I've watched them.

words can have more than one meaning just fyi

Smashingpmkns posted...

It's a very weird decision to get mostly indie directors to direct these huge movies with a shit ton of tech. Disney is the "industry leader" when it comes to the Sound yet they hire people who make like $500k movies to direct shit in front of huge LED walls, 5 Technocranes etc. in every shot lol

Most these directors probably learn what genlock is the first day of shooting. I don't blame them cuz this really isn't the way to make movies imo but whatever. And totally understand why Disney does this shit (maximize profitz) but they've really driven it into the ground.

im not even inherently against this shit but seriously imagine if they just hired christopher mcquarrie or brad bird or chad stahelski and were like "please mention these 3 lore points of interest and then fuck off and do whatever you want with the character thanks"

would be, like, way better than whatever ai generated stuff where the vfx people are doing more creative input than the actual director. probably make more money too since they'd look like real movies instead of ugly volume bullshit

HornyLevel posted...

I was thinking something similar with Star Wars Episode 10. The director making it is a documentary filmmaker. Making the next Star Wars seems like a giant task for someone with no big budget movie experience.

she worked on the ms marvel tv show or whatever. which is not exactly a great test for star wars but yeah. this is why no one should take star wars seriously anymore.

Disney is about to have another bomb on their hands, only question is if it will bomb harder than Flash and Aquaman 2.

Zithers posted...

words can have more than one meaning just fyi

You don't say.

Zithers continues to whine about people liking things he doesn't, news at 11.

Stay insufferable!

Smashingpmkns posted...

It's a very weird decision to get mostly indie directors to direct these huge movies with a shit ton of tech. Disney is the "industry leader" when it comes to the Sound yet they hire people who make like $500k movies to direct shit in front of huge LED walls, 5 Technocranes etc. in every shot lol

Most these directors probably learn what genlock is the first day of shooting. I don't blame them cuz this really isn't the way to make movies imo but whatever. And totally understand why Disney does this shit (maximize profitz) but they've really driven it into the ground.

They get directors that will work for cheap and that they know they'll be able to cow into submission because they aren't used to this kind of work.

AbsolutelyNoOne posted...

I think it's kind of trying to catch the same fire again. A lot of the most popular movies from the first three phases were directed by what weren't exactly big names at the time and most of their pre-Marvel work was on B-movies or indies. Ryan Coogler in particular had directed only two movies before he got the Black Panther gig (one of which had a budget under a million).

For one reason or another it's not really working this time.

I think it's a lot of things. From the studios perspective it's money, control, and you get to pluck a rising director out early in their career. From the filmmakers perspective it's a shit ton of money coming off of no profit indies, a chance to use state of the art gear, and hopefully it might end up as a "one for you, one for me" type situation.

Though none of these filmmakers have gotten to the "one for me" part of that arrangement yet lmao

HornyLevel posted...

I was thinking something similar with Star Wars Episode 10. The director making it is a documentary filmmaker. Making the next Star Wars seems like a giant task for someone with no big budget movie experience.

Honestly a documentary film maker could be the thing Star Wars fucking needs lol a District 9 ass Star Wars movie would actually be so dope. That being said, yeah they wouldn't know anything about the process, especially on these huge sets.

Zithers posted...

words can have more than one meaning just fyi

im not even inherently against this shit but seriously imagine if they just hired christopher mcquarrie or brad bird or chad stahelski and were like "please mention these 3 lore points of interest and then fuck off and do whatever you want with the character thanks"

would be, like, way better than whatever ai generated stuff where the vfx people are doing more creative input than the actual director. probably make more money too since they'd look like real movies instead of ugly volume bullshit

I always call it the sound for some reason but yeah the volume lol the thing is tho that those type of directors don't need to do marvel movies. They fuckin made it! They can do whatever the fuck they want. Christopher McQuarrie could start shooting porn and everyone will be like aight I gotta get tickets to this.

s0nicfan posted...

So it's a shit show and the director is already throwing people under the bus?

No. Read the actual article.

Zithers posted...

reminder that these movies arent cinema btw

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/5/7/AANZVmAAE2wZ.jpg

lolife67 posted...

No. Read the actual article.

I did:
Zithers posted...

While DaCosta tried to bring as much of her voice into the MCU as possible, she still noted to Vanity Fair that The Marvels is a Kevin Feige production, its his movie. So I think you live in that reality, but I tried to go in with the knowledge that some of you is going to take a back seat.

When else does a director openly distance themselves from their own movie by reminding everyone that it's someone else's vision?

Murphiroth posted...

Zithers continues to whine about people liking things he doesn't, news at 11.

Stay insufferable!

where am i whining about people liking things ?

Smashingpmkns posted...

I always call it the sound for some reason but yeah the volume lol the thing is tho that those type of directors don't need to do marvel movies. They fuckin made it! They can do whatever the fuck they want. Christopher McQuarrie could start shooting porn and everyone will be like aight I gotta get tickets to this.

DID they make it tho? cuz i dont actually think anyone would do this. mcquarrie has talked about having dozens of original scripts that studios don't care about. saying that studio heads however have no idea what they want, and he is good at figuring out what they need. and i assume that is how he became tom cruise's bitch, because he understands tom's dad-movie, down-the middle-blockbuster proclivities. also probably pays well.

bird also can't get anything made because he's apparently a pain in the ass to deal with <_< which is why he's working with lasseter's new animation studio oops. and stahelski is ? since john wick ended.

Zithers posted...

DID they make it tho? cuz i dont actually think anyone would do this. mcquarrie has talked about having dozens of original scripts that studios don't care about. saying that studio heads however have no idea what they want, and he is good at figuring out what they need. and i assume that is how he became tom cruise's bitch, because he understands tom's dad-movie, down-the middle-blockbuster proclivities. also probably pays well.

bird also can't get anything made because he's apparently a pain in the ass to deal with <_< which is why he's working with lasseter's new animation studio oops. and stahelski is ? since john wick ended.

Pretty much every great director has a dozen movies that they can't get made because of studios. Scott, GDT, Spielberg, Scorsese, Cameron, the list goes on. There isn't a single director that has a blank check for anything nowadays. Tarantino is probably the closest to that currently tho.

So I mean, yeah they definitely made it lol Chad Stahelski has two movies in the pipeline. And for a stuntman to get to where he is today that's some crazy shit. Dude is about to make an entirely Japanese production movie just cuz he likes a video game lol I'm sure most filmmakers would sell their left nut to be in their positions.

Smashingpmkns posted...

Pretty much every great director has a dozen movies that they can't get made because of studios. Scott, GDT, Spielberg, Scorsese, Cameron, the list goes on. There isn't a single director that has a blank check for anything nowadays. Tarantino is probably the closest to that currently tho.

So I mean, yeah they definitely made it lol Chad Stahelski has two movies in the pipeline. And for a stuntman to get to where he is today that's some crazy shit. Dude is about to make an entirely Japanese production movie just cuz he likes a video game lol I'm sure most filmmakers would sell their left nut to be in their positions.

yeah but they eventually get them done, which is clearly not the case with mcquarrie, who is stuck in franchise hell and will likely never get an original script produced again, w/o tom's help at least. and i mean its not like any of those directors takes much time between projects and they just start working on whatever is ready to get funded.

i forgot stahelski is doing... a highlander remake...

s0nicfan posted...

I did:

When else does a director openly distance themselves from their own movie by reminding everyone that it's someone else's vision?

That's not what she's doing. The MCU is Feige's vision. This isn't a standalone film and his oversight is a major reason they've been so successful. That's not her throwing anyone under a bus.

Smashingpmkns posted...

It's a very weird decision to get mostly indie directors to direct these huge movies with a shit ton of tech. Disney is the "industry leader" when it comes to the Sound yet they hire people who make like $500k movies to direct shit in front of huge LED walls, 5 Technocranes etc. in every shot lol

Most these directors probably learn what genlock is the first day of shooting. I don't blame them cuz this really isn't the way to make movies imo but whatever. And totally understand why Disney does this shit (maximize profitz) but they've really driven it into the ground.

The cynic in me says that the intent is to led a dash of artistic credibility to these movies while making sure that the directors are just small-name enough to be constantly overridden by the studio without much fear of pushback. The MCU fan in me says...pretty much the same thing, but I'm numb to it because I really, really liked GotG / Winter Soldier / Infinity War.

There was a subplot in the last season of Barry where an acclaimed director was stuck with some cheesy superhero movie and having to grit their teeth over it to just get it done. Honestly felt like the writers were basing it off someone they had experience with.