Watch MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS Press ConferencePosted by Todd Gilchrest
April 30, 2012
Earlier this month, Blackfilm.com was among several websites and journalists who were included in the press conference for MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS, which hits theaters everywhere on May 4th
Directed by Joss Whedon, Marvel’s The Avengers is an engaging, character-driven story packed with action, adventure and special effects.
When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins to assemble the iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. Marvel’s The Avengers is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.
Held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Part 1 of the conference includes Marvel President of Production Kevin Feige, Samuel L. Jackson (“Nick Fury”), Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”), Robert Downey Jr (“Tony Stark” / “Iron Man”), Chris Evans (“Steve Rogers” / “Captain America”) and Mark Ruffalo (“Bruce Banner” / “The Hulk”). Total run time is 25 minutes.
Part 2 of the conference includes Joss Whedon (Director), Cobie Smulders (“S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill”), Jeremy Renner (“Clint Barton” / “Hawkeye”), Tom Hiddleston (“Loki”) and Clark Gregg (“S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson”). Total run time is 29 minutes.
Here’s the full transcript of the conference
What was your most memorable moment in filming “The Avengers”?
Robert Downey Jr.: There’s the first time when we’re all assembled on the bridge. And I think it’s the time that we all saw each other and realized that we were all likely to continue shooting the movie. And we have to make good on this vision of Kevin Feige’s (Producer) from as far back as I can remember. And I have a question. How come it was only Harry Dean Stanton that got to see Mark Ruffalo naked? Anyone who has that answer, I’ll trade you one for it. Gentleman, how was your first, uh –
Chris Hemsworth: Good. I think that was our first day on set too. With the whole ensemble, which was a pretty exciting and nerve-wracking experience. But it was amazing.
Chris Evans: I think mine was the scene where Thor and Iron Man are fighting, and I had just seen Thor a day prior, I had yet to see Hemsworth or Downey in their full suit. And I showed up that night, and it was the first time I had seen them kind of geared up. I don’t know, I just got really excited like I was a little kid. I was just honored to be part of it.
Mark Ruffalo: Mine is being naked in front of Harry Dean Stanton.
Downey: Sam, you must have a moment. Come on.
Samuel L. Jackson: I was naked in front of Harry Dean Stanton in the restaurant the night before he shot the scene with you.
Ruffalo: You lucky bastard.
Mark, there’s a lot of versions of the Hulk out there and a lot of actors have portrayed Bruce Banner. Did you do any specific research as far as the comic issues?
Ruffalo: Well, I met with Joss Whedon (Director, Writer) and he said that he liked “The Incredible Hulk” TV show and what they did with him. So I rented those with my 10-year-old son. And after the third episode, he turned to me and said, “Papa, he’s so misunderstood.” I basically based my character entirely on my 10-year-old boy, who has all the force of nature screaming out of his whole body while at the same time having everyone around him telling him to fucking control himself. And that was it. I’m sorry, it’s the control.
Robert, the other actors are saying that you were the leader, the force uniting them. Do you work the same way when you’re off screen? How do you work?
Evans: He had the plane.
Jackson: Yeah, we needed you.
Downey: Yeah. I offered rides back and forth form Albuquerque on my private jet. I mean, again, going back to 2007 when I was cast as Iron Man and Kevin Feige over there said you know this is going to lead where were going to have all these franchises come together and we’re do something unprecedented in entertainment and we’re going to make this Avengers movie. And I remember I would get nervous about it and excited about it and doubtful of it. And then by the time, I already had a history with Sam, I was really wanting to capitalize on that, and by the time Chris and Chris had launched their individual franchises with success and charisma and by the time we had Mark, I was like, “wow,” you know it. This is really going to happen. So just being a worker among workers is kind of where I started out and it was nice to not have to really have to carry a movie. And everyone was really, really, really is equal in this venture. You know, it’s great. That would be my last sincere answer of the afternoon.
Chris, I liked in your Details interview when you joked that Captain America had to take the stairs and all the rest of them were fighting.
Evans: Yeah, I give all these – It’s like Hulk, you do this impossible thing. Thor, you bottleneck a portal, and Iron Man, you fly over here – and I’ll take the stairs. (Laughter)
If all of you had to swap any character for the next film, who would it be and why?
Evans: Oh man. See I want to say Iron Man because I love those movies, but I can’t – who can do it better, you know what I mean? You think the shoes would be too big to fill.
Downey: Sam?
Jackson: I want to be Scarlett. I just want to be that cute for, like, 15 minutes.
Mr. Feige, how long have you been trying to make an Avengers film and what sort of buildup did you have to do in the other movies so you could dovetail it into this?
Kevin Feige: Well, one answer is my whole life, just because I’ve been a nerd my whole life and just wanted to see the movie made for my whole life. The real answer though is sort of towards the end of production of “Iron Man 1”, where Sam [Jackson] was gracious enough to spend three hours on a Saturday to come and break in Tony Starks house, wearing an eye patch and tell him and the world that you’re a part of a big universe, you just don’t know it yet. And when that movie succeeded, was when we realized that we actually had the opportunity to do it, and the only challenge was to try to make all the movies live on their own. Even if we weren’t leading into an Avengers movie, because if their all interconnected puzzle pieces, that’s not as fun. They need to be movies from beginning to end. So I would say that was the biggest challenge.
Mark, you’re the only one without a stand-alone movie before this production. I was wondering if you could talk about how you integrated into this world, coming into it fresh.
Ruffalo: It was terrifying. I knew what my responsibility was, or I felt it just by making the mistake of going online and reading some of the fanboy responses to the announcement that I was playing the next version of Bruce Banner. And that was a mistake. I will never do that again. But I never had a role more scrutinized and criticized before I even shot a single frame. But coming onto the set with all these guys was pretty daunting. Many of my heroes in life are in this cast. So I knew that I had big shoes the fill, so to speak. And this is becoming a long run-on sentence. Yeah, it was tough and I wish I had a cool costume to wear the entire time instead of a leotard that was painted like a Chinese checkerboard.
Chris and Chris, you guys played the fish out of water in the group. Can you talk about that? And specifically, Chris Evans, we’re used to seeing you as the jokester and the smart ass. And you’re the straight man.
Evans: It’s tough not getting any jokes. You know, that’s his roles, it’s necessary. And that’s kind of why I like it. Because I am used to leaning on cracking jokes and being a wise ass so it’s nice to play it straight a little bit. And I think even in this film more than the first “Captain America,” Steve Rogers has some issues, some conflict, and some trouble with the fact that he is a man out of time. But Given who he is as a man, his nature is that he puts that second, he puts the mission first and he’s just selfless. That’s just a fun character, I guess.
Jackson: Put on the suit and T-Shirt, it’s going to be large though.
Hemsworth: A fish out of water, yeah. We all kind of fell into that category, I mean, Joss said it earlier, a dysfunctional family; we somehow belong in the fact that we don’t belong anywhere else. But Thor’s from another planet. I guess his motivation through the conflict and the villain was far more personal than the rest of them because his brother. So it was nice to have already shot that film and had a relationship with Tom. That was my focus anyway. But we all kind of didn’t get along at beginning and certainly we’re all from another planet or some other world. It was fun to play that dynamic.
The scene that got everyone’s attention at the premiere was that 360-degree shot when they’re all assembled on the street. Was it as simple to shoot it as it was to see it? And was it exciting for you to all come together like that?
Hemsworth: I remember thinking on that day that this was the trailer shot or this was the big moment because we’ve been on the bridge – in the first scene you see us all together but we weren’t getting along at that point. Whereas in that moment, we were finally assembled and there and same team and big 360-wide shot and all the chaos around us. And I certainly remember thinking, yeah, this is the moment.
We were told the cast came together sometimes to give a big group hug. Can you tell us another great team-oriented story on camera as well as off?
Hemsworth: Tom loves hugs and I did a film with him and there were plenty of hugs in that film – group hugs, yeah. Chris?
Evans: Oh, man. Funny stories, I’m so bad at that.
Hemsworth: And Chris sends a text, “Avengers assemble at such-and-such bar at 9 o’clock on Sunday night.” Which that was a good group effort. We paid for it at work, the next couple days.
Ruffalo: You should see that group hug.
Hemsworth: It’s three in the morning on the dance floor.
Downey: Ruffalo, weren’t you, roughly, weren’t you the one throwing the roof parties? You know what I mean?
Ruffalo: Yeah, that was me.
Downey: Oh so that was you. So you were the group instigator. Not many hugs.
Ruffalo: I was the group hugger.
Did you guys have any team effort or activities you did off the set?
Evans: We wrestled.
Hemsworth: Yeah, I mean, I get ousted on who was the biggest evil and who was rotten and this is the first time I ever worked with these guys. I think that we all are either that will behave or everyone kept each other in check. No one wanted to be the one screwed up.
Ruffalo: I just remembered coming into someone’s place with a group of half-naked stunt men in a hot tub and Scarlett Johansson standing over them with her giant ladle, making boy soup.
Feige: You wanted your story; I think you got it now. Good work.
What makes your character special to you?
Ruffalo: I like this – we’re all told to be so well-behaved and I think we all sometimes are bursting at the seams to let it rip and Bruce Banner gets that moment. And I think that part of the joy for people is to actually see that happen and is exciting for us. It’s a nice way for us to blow off steam in watching movies and yes, especially me.
Evans: I would say his heart, his selflessness. He wasn’t born a superhero, this didn’t happen to him by accident. He was chosen for those reasons: values and morals. He puts other people and other causes ahead of himself and it’s something to aspire to.
Downey: Well, he didn’t really set out to do anything noble, so he’s kind of in transition. There’s something a little more Hans Solo, than Luke. And also the fact he can pull off a wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt for the better part of the film.
Hemsworth: I like the sort of visceral, sort of gut instinct that Thor has. And there’s bit of a childlike-quality in the sense that if he believes something or he wants to do something, he does it and says it. Kids own their environment. There’s no opinions they really care about. I think Thor is, he’s there. He’s surrounded by bravado and strength but at the end of the day, he’s pretty true to who he is and what he wants to do. And I think that was fun to play with.
Jackson: I just like the fact that Nick Fury believes that these unique individuals deserve the love and admiration of the world, who they pretty much owe everything to because there things out there that are greater than us.
Chris, your relationship with Loki is really interesting and complicated. Can you talk about if you pulled from your real-life relationships?
Hemsworth: The last time either one of my brothers trying to take over the world or universe, I have to think back and ask, “How did I feel?” When we did “Thor,” Kenneth Branagh kept saying, you know, let’s not get caught up in playing Gods or what-have-you. It’s truthful. You have brothers and how do you relate to that. And that became the thread through Thor and through this, which is the kind of thing that – well, I can give my brother a hiding and telling off but no one else can.
Downey: Don’t you feel like Liam is trying to take over your box-office universe?
Hemsworth: And I did say that. I said, “Look, Liam…”
Downey: Doesn’t he need to be corrected in some way?
Hemsworth: Well, no. He’s got a few bruises, currently from me. And yeah, there’s a rise to the box office.
Kevin, what made Joss the perfect person to helm the project?
Feige: You know, the big fear with this – the only big fear I had is that the whole thing would collapse on its own weight. That we’d spend so much time with costumes, super powers and special effects that these characters and these actors wouldn’t get the chance to – my biggest interest in “The Avengers” is the interaction between these people, and looking at Joss’ body of work, and his scripts that he’s written and TV shows, the characters never ever get lost. In fact, those are the moments that shine. That was, to me, why he was by far the best choice to mount this. We’re confident in our ability to handle a production this size, we want a helmsman to come in and steer us in unexpected ways and to guide a tone, which is what Joss has done so well.
There’s a lot of hand-to-hand combat in this movie. During scenes, were there any accidents or real-life injuries during the filming process?
Hemsworth: I have one, the scene where – has everyone seen the movie? – yeah, where Thor takes Loki off the ship and lands, and then we go into the big two-hander. And I was on the wire, because I hadn’t learned to fly yet and I was to come down and land on the cliff. And I was supposed to land, step and have the conversation. The first couple of takes, and this is going on the DVD extras somewhere, but I just face-planted into the dirt. Very ungraceful and unsuperhero like. That’s my story.
Feige: Jeremy Renner is the only one you can ask when you see – and Jeremy Renner did have a bit of an injury. It didn’t last very long thankfully.
Can you talk about what it was like to banter with each other and how you made the comedy come out in this film? Did any of you switch lines or improvise and what was that like?
Evans: Well, I think anytime you do a scene with Downey, he’s so good with improve and working off the cuff. He’s never going to do the same thing twice, so you got to be on your toes, but he does have a natural – you know, up here – he’s just funny. He’s always funny. So he brings a certain life to the scene. Even if he’s not the one making jokes, you can appreciate what he brings to any scene, in terms of comedy.
Ruffalo: I concur.
Hemsworth: Well, Joss also – I mean the script – the line where I say, “He’s adopted” got a big laugh last night. And I had no idea. When I shot that, I went, “Oh, is this really funny?” That’s the thing about all of that stuff, you know, Joss, he’s hilarious. And the whole film, I was surprised how the comedy played in it so well.
Downey: Well, I mean again seeing it last night I think what everybody captured to a character is that it the right tone. And at a certain point, without killing it, you kind of tip your hat, you don’t take it too seriously. This is essentially a comic book movie. You kind of buy into the reality of it. So I think everyone had their moments and I think Joss did a good job of finding everyone’s frequency. And I’m pretty sure God doesn’t dress like that before he jumps off, it was still within the realm of what Steve would say or do. But I think, also, tonally, there’s this moment in the final battle, once he turns green or once my helmet closes where he’s in upstate new York and I’m back in L.A., and these guys were on the ground and there was this whole huge sequence after sequence, and all this stuff was shot in Cleveland. And I don’t think we ever had to go to Cleveland for one day. I kept squeezing the Misses’ hand last night during these just – incredible sequences that you guys did and just going “They shot a lot in Cleveland.” But there was this moment where the cop goes to Cap, “Why should I take orders from you?” And then these – some of the aliens come in and handles them, and the audience really appreciated that. That, to me, was the moment where the sentiment of The Avengers would have fallen flat on its face and not have people suspend their disbelief or get behind it anymore. That was, to me, the Act III moment that where the movie succeeded. So whether it was, and I would speak to Joss’ wit, but whether the wit was funny or whether the wit is actually able to hold the mired of ideas and notions that you have to go right through Avengers not to bunk is what he accomplished.
What are your favorite geek quotes from the movie or trailer?
Hemsworth: I remember reading the script and reading the section where Hulk and Thor are finally on the same team and fighting the aliens and what have you. And they end and are both standing there, out of breath. Hulk just backhands Thor through the wall. That was something I looked forward to. And me on the wire, just got yanked out of the shot. That was good.
When you guys are all together at the end, Joss gave you all parts that can stand on its own. Can you explain what Joss would have gave you?
Jackson: Yeah, that was an interesting scene because I didn’t really know all that was going on in that scene, where everyone started talking at once until all of a sudden it happened and we’re all like, “Oh, we’re having an argument.” And nobody’s listening to anybody. We’re just kind of batting stuff around. I’m blaming you for this, you blaming him. So you’re not my guy, hey, I don’t know nothing about your world. Fuck you, you want to take the world and cash it up, oh hell. Which is I kept wanting to say, “I don’t come your world to blow shit up,” but they won’t let me say it. But, we were in the moment of – we all know each other and we all laughed together. And once we saw each other in that particular setting, we’re like, ok, we’re actually going to do this, this is a lot of fun. And we’re all like an-hour gang movie. “Hey, I got some costumes, I got some film, my dad’s got a studio.” And we just decided that we’re going to have fun. And Joss is one of those guys, I noticed watching the film last night, I don’t get to say this nice cute shit. But every time I would change something, he would come to me like the line police. You know, “you can’t say it’s, you have to say it is.” Really? Okay, so it’s like a bubble. Talk to the bubble. So he was always on me, and I was talking to the line police a lot and he always let them do it. But the family feeling was there. Joss set up the rules, we showed up and played by the rules of the world. You know certain people have licenses. He’s the rich smart ass guy, he’s the little guy with big words that might turn around and fuck you up at any moment, but you never know when that is. And he’s tying to make him do it. He’s like the bad little brother, like, “What? What? Why’d my little brother turn into a monster?” It was a great time doing that and being able to be in that space and allowing an audience see that ok, these guys have super powers but they have normal kind of attitudes, you know. They get pissed at each other and they argue over petty shit and they can be smart asses and they can be heroes and they can be jerks. But they eventually going to find a way to love each other and thank god we had somebody there to guide us in that direction.
Downey: Yeah, and not to keep you guessing, but we’re actually not done shooting. We are shooting one more scene tonight. Not kidding.
