WEBVTT - Kevin Feige / Marvel Studios 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:17.480 M h. You're listening to Playback, a Variety I Heart 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.119 radio podcast. I'm your host, Variety Awards Editor Chris Tapley. 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:24.799 This week, on our episode, I'm talking to Kevin Figi, 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.000 the president of Marvel Studios and the producer of three 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.720 films from the company this year, Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War, 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.479 and ant Man in the Wasp. We talked about all 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:36.839 of it, early beginnings in the business, ten years of 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.839 Marvel Studios, and a culmination with the company's most successful 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:58.960 year to date. So sit tight, this is playback. I 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.440 think we're good to go. You don't like about a podcast, 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.480 but no cameras? Cameras same, I hate it when they 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:07.880 put they try to make this video. Although I listened 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:12.760 to your excellent interview with our friend Ryan Coogler and 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:14.880 you said something like, you know, it's great no cameras, 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.440 because he was he likes podcasts too, right, And then 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.000 I heard on the podcast, oh, well, we do shoot 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.280 some quick skills and when there's a camera this, who 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.640 will allow it? Yeah yeah, yeah, But they're always trying 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.960 to get me to turn this into video. And I'm like, no, smart, 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.840 you can get a better conversation. You're totally right anyway, 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:34.759 And here we are. I'm here today with the president 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:39.759 of Marvel, Marvel Studios and obviously producer of Black Panther 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.080 and everything coming out of the Marvel Factory these days. 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.160 Kevin Faggy, thank you so much of course for taking 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:47.640 the time. Thank you sit down with me to day. 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:48.960 I know you moved some stuff to be here and 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.760 I really appreciate you. Problem um you know, I was 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.960 super interested in having you be this guest because this 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.760 is my one hundred episode. Thank you, thank you so 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.360 milestone for us, the last episode of the year, and 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.760 you guys are in a big milestone year as well. 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.880 Ten years for Marvel Studios, twenty movies. Uh you know, 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.800 your biggest financial successes stateside with Black Panther and Avengers 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:18.680 Infinity War obviously, also tons of Oscar buzz for Black Panther, 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.720 well deserved, most critically acclaimed movie to come out of 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:23.839 the Marvel Factory so far. I mean, just all these 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.200 like huge benchmarks. I was like, it's got to be Kevin, 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:27.720 and I'm so glad that we were able to do it. 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:32.640 So thank you, thank you, um so. And also the 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:35.359 loss of the grandfather of all of this Stanley who 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.480 passed recently as well. So it's just you know, we're 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.160 coming to the end of this first era of Marvel Studio. 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.320 So let me just kind of start there. I'm gonna 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:46.960 go back because I'd love to talk about some of 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.320 your early career stuff. But how does it just kind 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.000 of the hindsight feel like to you right now when 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:53.880 you look back at what's at what's happened the last 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:58.720 ten years, it's, uh, it's surreal. I mean it's on 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:03.040 one uh, in one way, it's incredibly satisfying. In the 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.840 other way, it's it's nearly unbelievable from where we started. 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:11.680 And uh, and that the tenth anniversary now culminates, as 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:15.000 you mentioned, twenty films in with our best year yet. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.440 There were days when I wasn't sure we'd be able 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:22.280 to deliver get Iron Man in theaters. There are days 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.880 when I thought Avengers One was a pipe dream, and 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.200 their days after Avengers One where I thought, well, where 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:28.799 do we go? How do we how do we keep 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.040 this going? And to have our most successful year yet 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:34.240 be our tenth anniversary years pretty it is pretty amazing. 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.480 It's storybook In some way, it feels just like it's 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.200 just an interesting thing. And I just wanted to say 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:42.000 this number two because I did the research and hopefully 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.840 I did my math right. These movies have made collectively 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:48.360 over seventeen billion dollars worldwide. I mean this is to me, 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:49.880 if you don't mind me saying, I kind of feel 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.240 like you're the most important key figure in the film 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.760 business right now because of what this company is doing 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.840 and the business model you've laid out. Uh, it was radical, 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:01.320 but also something that like fans were dying to see 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.640 was all of these characters come together right for sure? 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.240 And I think it's what number one. Thank you. Number two. 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:09.680 There are a lot of people both here and across 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.120 the industry here at this studio, were on the Disney 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.160 lot right now within the Marvel Studios offices where we 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:19.960 are now, um that that are all equally responsible and 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.320 and and our filmmakers, many of whom you've spoken to 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.559 on this very podcast, who make it what it is. Yeah, 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.560 And I love talking to them because they're all to 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:32.000 a person, they have their unique styles and and we're 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.039 gonna get into some of that later. But first I 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:36.200 want to go all the way back film school at 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.760 USC That is, way back I went to USC for 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:41.960 grad school for journalism. I went to film school back 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.640 in North Carolina. What what? What did you want out 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:46.400 of film school? Did you go in wanting to be 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:48.920 a director? Did you was producing kind of the thing 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:50.920 you were aiming for? What? Did? What did you? I didn't? 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.359 I wanted to. I think everybody goes and wanting to 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.720 be a director. Yeah, maybe that's not true, but I 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.520 think it is, and I think and I remember there 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.400 there were the few people you'd meet who wanted to 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:08.080 be who would say. People would say, I want to 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.320 be director. I want to be director. I want to 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.200 be George Lucas, I want to be Steven Spielberg, I 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.240 want to be Robert Zamakis. I want to be Ron Howard. 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:17.520 I want to be John Singleton. Those were the people, 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.240 Those were the big names when I was going to 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.080 USC and before I went to UC and why I 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.839 wanted to go to USC, but I always was. I 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.800 admired the few people who would say, I want to 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.240 be an editor, Brian want to go into sound design, 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.760 because they all were hyper focused and all did and succeeded, 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.120 as opposed to not everybody who says they want to 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.200 be a director. But what I really wanted to be 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.320 was just involved creatively in movies. That's what I wanted 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:44.960 to be. So from my earliest days at SC, I 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.880 was excited. Even before I got into the film school, 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:49.880 which I didn't get into for two and a half years, 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.560 uh until my junior year at SC, I was just 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:55.760 excited to be a p A on student films. I 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:57.240 was excited to be a part of it in any 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.920 way I could. Where did that stem from, Like what's 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.680 earliest kind of memories of film and being drawn to 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:05.560 film and and wanting to be a part of the 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.840 movie business. Like what was lighting that spark? I think 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.200 it's just early experiences of going to movies and being 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.200 transported by movies. Um Pete Dragon was the first film 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:17.080 I ever went to see and it was a fun 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.200 event and we drove there. My mother drove me to 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.000 the first time we were going to see a movie 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.520 just for me, just because it was it was a 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:27.839 kids film that I could go see. And we missed 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:32.000 the showing. This was before obviously long before uh buying 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.400 tickets on your phone and getting reserving your seat. You 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.680 go to the theater and you even we either had 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.480 missed the showtime or something, and I was quite sad 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.240 about it, but we decided, now we're gonna go home. 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.240 We're gonna make a tuna fish sandwich and put in 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.320 tinfoil and then drive back to the to the later showing. 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:49.799 And it was probably don't remember exactly, it was probably 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:51.880 later than I was usually out of the house at 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.960 that time. And uh, I love the movie and the 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.200 kid was riding on a cartoon dragon. It was pretty 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:02.719 much pretty cool. Um. And then of course getting into 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.800 films that even transcended the theater like Star Wars, uh, 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.160 where I would buy the toys and I would play 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:12.800 with them in my backyard and I would make up 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:17.600 my own stories um or Dick Donner's Superman film um 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:19.840 or the Back to the Future films, These films that 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.280 would transport me during the experience of watching the movie, 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.600 but also I would they would they would come home 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.480 with me, and I would continue to think about them 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.400 and can continue to analyze them. And I always loved 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.560 movies that rewarded you the more you watch them. Yeah. Well, 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.520 speaking of Donner, there you I believe the kind of 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:40.320 door opening for you into the business. Was working with 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.480 Lauren Shuler Donner and was in movies like You've Got Mail, 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.560 and you worked on one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies, 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.800 frankly Volcano. Oh my goodness. Yes, I'm such a fan 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.320 of Volcano. I mean, when I first came to l A, 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:55.880 my eyes were wide open in a way because like, 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.200 Volcano is like an l A like tour in a way. 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.320 So I'm just like, that was from that's from Volcano. Anyway, 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.680 You're the first person ever to tell me, I imagine, 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.000 So tell me a story about Volcano. I'd love to 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.280 hear anything that comes to most. Volcano was great, I was. 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.560 I got into the film school my second semester junior year, 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:18.280 and I noticed within the first few weeks that the 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.080 smart people were getting internships, and we're interning going to 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.600 work for free at the time, at at companies, and 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:27.280 a lot of them were working at places I'd never 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.800 heard of. And I thought, well, I I want to 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:31.840 I want to do that. I want to go I'm 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.000 happy to go work for for free, but I want 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.199 to do it for for a for a place I knew. 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:39.440 And I went up into the old which is no 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.840 longer there George Lucas Building at SC where they posted 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.199 again this is pre internet, posted literally on a bulletin 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.760 board UM available internships, and I saw a one that 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.840 said Donna Schuler Donner Productions, and I this was the 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.640 director of Superman. I couldn't believe it. UM, and was 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.400 lucky enough to get that, to get that internship. And 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.360 I was there for a very long time for a 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.280 year or so as an intern for summers or receptionist. 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.520 And then my final semester at sc I will I 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:09.800 worked there part time as a as a p A 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.520 and then very uh, I was very lucky that Lauren 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.240 hired me to be her assistant. And there was a 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.200 lot of sitting at a desk, and I'm not good 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.520 at sitting at a desk. UM. But within about I 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:28.560 think five four or five months of of my the 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.720 beginning of me working there full time, Laura Ziskin, who 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.520 ran I want to say Fox two thousand at the time, 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:41.280 UH called Lauren said I have this movie Volcano. There's 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:45.320 a new young producer named Neil Moritz, and I want 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.480 a more experienced producer to come in and and how 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.960 about as well? That ended up being Volcano, And within 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.360 a day I'm suddenly in a production office on the 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:58.959 twentieth Century Lot, not knowing anything about really how to 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.320 U how to uh assistant producer on a on a 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:08.160 movie Trial by Fire. Yeah, and it was great. Uh. 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:10.679 I always say it was a very very fun movie 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.960 to make, and maybe not quite as fun a movie 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.080 to watch, but I appreciate that you uh, then you 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.280 go for it. I'm a fan. We rebuilt in torrent 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.800 in an old parking lot. I can't remember. It was 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.800 some some big industrial parking lot in Torrance, California. They 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.720 rebuilt that section of Wilshire Boulevard that the lava comes 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:34.040 out of. So it was an entire replica, almost full 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:38.840 scale replica from Fairfax Too, Librey or whatever it was 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.360 um with the tar pits, with what is now becoming 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:47.720 the Academy Museum, with the Peterson Automotive Museum, all there 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:50.839 in a parking lot in Torrance, night after night after night. 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.040 I always just thought they had somehow filmed that Nope 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.640 there that it was really it was really fun to 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.400 work on. And of course years later you remember the 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.920 star of that film, time Only Jones. Another star of 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:04.760 that film a young Don Cheetle, both of whom I 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.160 was lucky enough to go on to to work with. 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.760 In Marvel Films, and both of whom upon first meeting, 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.120 I went, you know, we we've actually worked together before. 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:17.640 Oh yeah, well what Volcano? Then you gotta bring up Volcano? Yeah? 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.200 That one. No, I like it. Man, it's better than 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:25.240 Dante's Peak. That was the big, big race. Uh. Speaking 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.120 about Lauren Shuler Donner, I'm I'm reminded now Jeff John's 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.760 work started working Jeff and I. Jeff and I were 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.680 either interns together or I was a receptionist and he 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.360 became an intern. But I was Laurence assistant. He was 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:43.640 Dick's assistant at the same time. That's fascinating. Um, well, 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:45.120 you know, just to skip ahead of bit, then you 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.400 go to Marvel. Uh. In two thousand, I think you 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.640 get hired at Marvel. Lauren was a producer on X Men, 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.040 and I had done Volcano with her and You've Got 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.880 Mail with her, both great movies, great experience of movies. 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.400 And You've Got Man was a very good movie. Um, 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.240 but not the movies I had dreamed of of making. Really, 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:04.760 I had just dreamed of being a part of the movie. 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.439 So I had succeeded in my dream at that point 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.600 because I was there, Uh, making those films and and 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.400 and even getting to uh to work with nor Ephron 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.080 Uh was was astounding and amazing. But she had a 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.400 script that I was interested in, and I started working 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.600 on and doing notes on, and that was what became 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:26.040 the first X Men film. So I worked on that. 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.040 She made me an associate producer on that film and 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.240 worked on it, I think for about three years. It 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:34.200 sort of went up and down um a few times 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.960 before it actually came together. And it was during that 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.120 time that I got to know Avia Rod, who was 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:40.960 a producer on the film and who at the time 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:45.240 ran what was what was sometimes called Marvel Media, sometimes 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.000 called Marvel Films, and sometimes called Marvel Studios. This is 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.560 back in the sin Escape magazine days as well. I'm 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:53.880 reading in the back of sin Escape Magazine, like do 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:58.200 Gray Scott's gonna play Wolverine? And obviously but yeah, yeah, 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.120 well very very exciting time. I mean, you you come in, 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:02.920 you start with X Men, and then Spider Man is 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.160 not long after that. I mean, I'm in film school 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.800 during these movies, and when Spider Man opens to a 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:10.200 hundred and fourteen million or whatever it was, it was 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.120 a huge deal. And I remember it was something we 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.520 were all talking about. What I wanted to ask you, though, 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.480 was you know what did you start to realize that 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.920 early about the potential of these properties in the marketplace. 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:25.560 I didn't think about the marketplace too much, but I 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.000 did think about the potential for the stories I did. 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.480 I did uh read comics when I was a kid, 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.400 but I was really much more of a movie goer 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.240 and a movie fan. So when we were working on 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:40.440 X Men and Studio would have notes or in the 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:42.960 brain trust as it was called, sitting in a room 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.400 with the director and the other producers and the writer 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.520 um trying to find solutions to two ideas that we 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:51.800 were struggling with in the script. I would always go 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:55.120 dig through the books and always find answers, and always 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:59.000 find something that was frankly amazing. I can't think of 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.800 a particular example by it. I learned early on that 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.920 the richness of character, or the complexity of storytelling, or 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:11.239 the multiple dynamics you want in a in a protagonist 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.160 or an antagonists are there in the books. They're there, 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.240 and it seems I would hope that seems kind of 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.600 a dumb observation or an obvious one. Trust me, it 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:27.280 was not obvious too many people, uh working on those 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.760 films at the time. Now about just the progression of 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.440 those early movies before the Marvel Studios of it all. 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.360 You know, you go on, There's There's Daredevil, There's Wholk 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:40.440 and Fantastic four. I mean, what lessons were you kind 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.680 of personally learning about this? I was talking about this 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:45.400 the other day with somebody I remember who, but it 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.880 really is. I think in a million years nobody would 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:54.440 actively plan to build a studio the way Marvel Studios 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:59.600 was built. But in hindsight, it was remarkably effective and 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:04.600 very perfect because we got to work at almost every 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:09.520 studio in town except Warner Brothers because they have DC 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:13.560 and Disney. Those were the only two I had worked at. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:17.720 Warner Brothers with the Donners um, but Warners and Disney 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.240 were the only studios that that I didn't work with 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:25.800 every other studio we developed or produced films with, So 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:28.880 we got to see the inner workings at the upper 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:33.200 levels of almost every studio in town and really got 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:39.800 to learn amazing lessons from the inside. Ways that you know, 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.760 we thought were good, um examples of how to make 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.320 a movie, perhaps ways that we're not as good um 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.800 to make a movie. So when we ended up taking 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.760 advantage of UH the the pre two thousand and eight 0:15:54.200 --> 0:16:00.120 market crash and got financing from Mary Lynch which v 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:04.160 Rod and David Mazell put together UM and got a 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:09.000 half a billion dollars in financing for ten characters that 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.280 Marvel did not put money into this venture, but they 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.680 put the film rights to characters on the line. UH. 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.080 I was very excited because at that point I was 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:22.280 very very ready to have the creative authority. We weren't 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.640 sure we could do it, but we were sure that 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.760 we had learned enough good ways bad ways ways that 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.880 we thought, finally, let's go with our own instincts how 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.280 to make it. What was the specific like vision instinct 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.040 that you what, what was it that was driving you 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.080 saying you were ready to jump in and do this? 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:40.960 Well there, I mean there were very very very positive 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.720 experiences and those in those call it five years leading 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:48.520 up to us UH become our own studio, where there 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:50.560 were great examples. You look at some of the movies 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.240 made in that in that period, the first two X 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.680 Men films, the first few UH Sam Rami Spiderman films, 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.440 amazing films with amazing filmmakers that just being in a 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.440 room with Sam Raimi and watching him put a movie 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.280 together was the best film school that I ever that 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:11.400 I've ever had, watching Amy Pascal running um uh sony 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.400 then and how and how great decisions can be made 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:18.520 and how trust and filmmakers can pay off on the 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:20.400 foot end of that. And I'm not going to be specific, 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:22.000 but you can see movies made in that period that 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:23.800 we're not as good as the other ones. And there 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:25.800 were reasons for that as well, and it often came 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.680 down to simply, in my opinion, not trusting the source material, 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:34.280 or not trusting the audience, or or being fearful of 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.920 the worst version because and I'm sure this is true 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:42.960 of any story from any source material, but certainly if 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.399 you don't if you don't do it well, some of 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.000 these characters can come off as goofy in a movie, 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.959 or some of these concepts could come off as silly. Um. 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.159 The trick is to do them well, but not be 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.240 but not be fearful about it. And so when we 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:00.800 when we started putting Iron Man one together, and Jon 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.879 Favreau obviously very much believed in this and is a master, 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:10.040 a tonal master at at um being able to achieve 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:18.080 UM a balance of of of pathos and humor and action. Uh. 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.760 At every turn, we we just did what we thought 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.520 would we could do well, what we thought could be cool. 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.639 Well you when whenever, yeah, when when the whole thing 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:29.560 starts to come together, you have an Incredible Hulk and 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:31.639 Iron Man in two thousand and eight. I mean this 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:36.439 is ten years ago. What I'm curious about is you 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:39.480 know where things are at now versus what your vision 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.479 going forward was then? Like how did things change? How? 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.399 Because I imagine you come into it with a certain idea, 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.040 a certain road map of where you'd like to take this. 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:50.960 This what's going to be a huge overarching story. But 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:55.399 anything profoundly different now from what you set out to 0:18:55.480 --> 0:19:00.480 do at that time. Uh, it is. It has simply 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:04.480 succeeded beyond our our wildest dreams. The dream, as I 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:08.680 had said earlier, was getting Iron Man in The Incredible 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.480 Hulk into theaters, going from being fully responsible for zero 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:16.080 movies a year too, fully responsible for two movies in 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.879 two thousand eight, in movies that we wanted to represent, 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.000 a new tone and a tone that we believed would 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.840 be the best way to uh, to bring the characters 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.879 to the screen. The dream for years and years was 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.040 to replicate the experience for a global audience that comic 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.400 book fans had been had been enjoined for decades, which 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:40.000 was that shared universe, which was not my idea, which 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:43.360 was not a revolutionary idea. It was it was Stanley 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.320 and Steve Dicko and Jack Kirby's idea in the Marvel 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.879 Bullpen to combine all the characters because it was a 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:51.440 relatively small group of people working on a lot of characters. 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:55.879 That's what we are now at Marvel Studios, and and 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:57.400 I just thought it would be a lot of fun 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:02.320 to be able to h across these characters into each 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.199 other's movies. And that's why we had the Sam Jackson 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:07.160 cameo at the end of at the end of Ironman. 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.120 We did it a because Sam is a big fan 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:12.439 and was gracious enough to come in and shoot it 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.720 for us, and we put at the end of the 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:19.840 credits because we didn't want it to uh interrupt the 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.320 experience of the Tony Stark story that we were telling. 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:25.000 And we thought it would be a wink to fans 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.040 to say, hey, look what we could do if this 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:30.800 If this works, it ended up connecting with much more 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.800 than just fans, ended up connecting with with almost everybody 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:36.760 saw the movie. Um, much faster than I thought it would. 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.320 That's what's fascinating about that little scene at the end 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:40.600 there you go back and you look at it. I 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:45.119 mean that there's no guarantee that what happened is going 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.600 to happen. And we didn't even have a deal with 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:52.000 Sam Jackson beyond that. Yeah, was there just like I mean, 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:56.399 what happened if those movies had failed? Like, was there, Hey, guys, 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.040 we might end up pulling the plug on this thing 0:20:58.040 --> 0:20:59.719 we want to do because it might not take I mean, 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:03.480 was that like in the area? Sure, Um, I don't 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:05.960 take many vacations. This is I have a lot of 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:09.200 fun doing what I'm doing. But in the summer of 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:13.160 two thousand eight, uh that I had scheduled a vacation 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:15.679 for August. I think it was. It was sort of 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.159 a it was a pseudo honeymoon. I got married in 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:26.840 in March of two thou so I decided, well, I 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:31.040 may as well schedule a vacation for August because these 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:33.159 movies will either not work and I'll have a lot 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:37.040 of time on my hands or they will work and 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:40.359 I won't have much time in the future. So it 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.800 really was we didn't spend a lot of time thinking 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.720