Marvel Studios' next venture into comic book movies is 'The Avengers,' but you knew that already because you've been paying attention, right? You may have checked out the recently released movie posters and the teaser trailer, but how much do you really know about director Joss Whedon's vision for the characters and how they will interact in the upcoming film? How can he handle so many powerhouses (not to mention ego's) on the same set, vying for screen time? The film's director recently opened up in an interview with Yahoo about writing the characters for the film and his collaborations with the actors on the vision.
With Robert Downey Jr., Whedon said he did lot of the scripting on the fly. His thoughts were about the evolution of Iron Man between the second movie to his decision to join The Avengers team, and where he's going to be in Iron Man 3.
== TEASER ==
I think the conversations [about Iron Man/Tony Stark with Robert Downey Jr.] were largely about "Where is Tony now?" Like, "Who is he now? Where is he [going] from 'Iron Man 2' towards 'Iron Man 3'?" He is such a well-delineated character, so it was really a question of, "What do we want to stress and what do we want to say? We have said that, we have done that, so let's not go there...He didn't want to be the tortured lonely man, which I totally get. And it was easy to make him as delightful and gregarious as he can be and still go, well, there is a piece missing and it's the piece that makes him an Avenger."
When it came to Captain America's character and how he would be worked into Whedon's film it was all about Cap being taken from the past and brought to the present day. His character would likely be unaware of the goings on and all the things that have changed in, oh, about 70 years.
I love a straightforward character. I am the guy who loves Cyclops on the 'X-Men', because he is square. [Captain America] is a little square, and he is aware that he is a little square, and he is aware that the world is a beat ahead of him, or in his case, 70 beats. I think that's very disarming and very charming. I relate to that guy. I also don't know who the popular singers are right now, so he is actually really easy for me to write...There were some lines where [Chris] would be like, "Okay, now I just sound like an idiot." And in context, I was like, 'Yeah, actually, now that it's all laid out that is a bit much." But he is very aware of his dignity, but at the same time understood why I wanted to find the humor in somebody who was so out of touch.
Yet the actor that Whedon's spent the most amount of time coaching was Mark Ruffalo, who will be playing The Hulk in the film. According to the interview, they worked together the most out of everyone because with Bruce Banner's character, Ruffalo would be starting fresh. Each of the actors already have experience and a well rounded understanding of who they'll be portraying.
And both of us agreed upfront that the template for who we wanted this guy to be in his life was Bill Bixby, the TV [show character] who was busy helping other people. That was more interesting to us than the Banner in the first two movies who was always fixated on curing himself. We spent a lot of time talking about what makes us Hulk out, the nature of anger, how it feels.
Whedon didn't just talk to Ruffalo about 'The Hulk,' they sparred a little bit too.
We even fought some. I mean literally we actually got some pads out and did some tussling. Just to talk about the physicality, and also the physicality of somebody who has to control this thing, and the way he moves in space and the way he relates to the people and the objects around him. It was extremely fun. What we found was that he could be very bumbling and kind of awkward, but at the same time very graceful and in this almost transcendent control of himself.
Whatever you think of the upcoming 'Avengers' film, one thing is certain, Whedon definitely has a hands on approach to the character development process, so it will be interesting to see what kind of vision he brings to the upcoming film, overall. You can check out 'The Avengers' on May 4th, 2012. Are you looking forward to 'The Avengers'?
Source: Yahoo