Jake Schreier describes to THR what it was like directing 'Thunderbolts*' with its long comic book history. Plus, he explains how his past work on music videos and TV has helped him prepare to direct this film.
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00:00So, I am a die-hard Thunderbolts fan of the comic books.
00:03I'm one of the ones that read It Starts at Bottom.
00:05And for me, the big twist was so beautifully layered in years and layers of mythology.
00:10And I imagine there's something in here that's like a twist and a turn.
00:12I don't want to know what it is, but I'd love to know from taking on something that has a history of having a big Shyamalan twist,
00:18what was it like to take on a property with that name, Intrinsic 2, Nerds Twist?
00:23I would say that we are aware of that and your concerns.
00:28And I would say that I would trust in Kevin Feige and his ability to honor those ideas,
00:34even if it's not exactly quite in the path that you might expect or the path that those beautiful early comics took.
00:41And I love that because for me, it's like a multiverse.
00:43I love that I get to experience a new twist.
00:45And your career, music videos into Dave, into this, it actually feels very beautifully like All Roads led to this.
00:52Was there anything you learned on any sets leading up to this that you were like,
00:55oh, this is exactly what I needed the tool for to make a Marvel film?
00:59I think, you know, really like coming off of it, I found out that I got this job in the last week of filming Beef Season 1
01:04and ended up bringing over a lot of those collaborators like Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Callow, Grace Yoon, Harry Yoon.
01:10And really like on that show, there was just such an incredible fit of people, you know,
01:16and we only got through that as a very hard shoot, got through it together.
01:19And that really is the idea at the heart of this film and also the only way to get through any film.
01:24I mean, it's such a collaborative art form in the end, and we wouldn't get to there without these beautiful actors
01:29and everything they bring to it and how much they bring to themselves and everyone who made it.
01:32And so that really felt like where it started to play.
01:36I'm so glad you brought up Beef because to me that felt like the dream for actors to get like pages of sides and go,
01:41yes, this is what I've always wanted a scene to do with two people.
01:45Were there scenes in this you were especially proud of that you couldn't wait to see these actors unleash themselves on?
01:49Yeah, there's a couple of scenes between David and Florence that really feel like the emotional linchpin of the movie,
01:54scenes that when Sonny came in that he wrote that really feel resonant in that way that those scenes in Beef do.
01:59But, you know, we're just waiting to film them.
02:01You just know that it's coming, and in the end, you only get half a day to get those moments,
02:04but you know with these actors that they're going to bring it, and they really did.
02:08Last question for you.
02:09What surprised you most about like working with the Marvel Cinematic Universe
02:12or working on something to this scale after doing TV and music videos?
02:15It's definitely a whole new thing.
02:19I think that, you know, anything you work on, the smallest independent film, the biggest film,
02:24they're all hard, and you're always going to kind of expand to the box that you're given
02:27and often, you know, maybe a little bit outside of that box, and it's always going to be tough,
02:31and it just felt like you could really lean on this incredible group of people
02:35who have made so many of these movies and are still so excited about doing something new,
02:40you know, and getting to try new things within that world,
02:43and if you lean on them, then you can get through it.
02:45You built some Avengers-level buzz.
02:46I'm really excited, man.
02:47I really appreciate your work.
02:48I hope so, yeah.
02:49And toadies.
02:49I love Gen Z knowing toadies, so I appreciate it.
02:51All credit to the marketing department.
02:53Killing it.