WATCH: Angela Barnes, Chinaka Hodge, And Ryan Coogler Discuss Season One Of ‘Ironheart’

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The creative team behind Marvel’s ‘Ironheart’ share how they brought Riri Williams’ story from the comics to the screen.

Transcript

00:00I had so much fun creating characters that are dirty and complicated and fun as opposed to

00:05creating characters who do and say the right things all the way through. That's an after

00:09school special more so than a television show.

00:16My name is Oakla Jones, the senior entertainment editor with Essence. How you doing today,

00:20ladies and gentlemen? I'm a senior entertainment editor.

00:23I'm good. I'm good. So Ryan, I wanted to start with you. You've helped introduce so many

00:31characters into the Marvel universe. What excited you most about helping to expand Riri's character?

00:36What excited me the most about helping expand it in the show? Hiring these lovely artists from my

00:43writing. And one that's somewhere in London working, Sam Bailey. But yeah, just finding

00:50the people that have the skill set, the chops, so to speak, but also just the appetite and

01:03the vision to see themselves in this character. And that's what makes these things work. That's

01:11what audiences connect with. I was able to be here in service of them once they had the

01:19job and were building off the room and I'm in awe of what, you know, what they and we were able

01:25to collectively accomplish with this show.

01:27Now, Ms. Hyde, I wanted to bring this next question with you. The series dives deep into

01:32like the great areas of morality and especially with the show Essential Characters, too, I thought

01:37it was really interesting. What inspired you to write Riri and Parker as characters who aren't

01:43fully good or fully evil?

01:45I was called into the show and asked to write a show about antiheroes. So earlier in the show,

01:50she asked, are we the Sopranos or Ocean's Eleven? And I think she's a little bit more Sopranos.

01:55That's just my thought. I think what's fun about creating a character like Riri or like Parker is

02:02enjoying what my counterparts in other TV rooms get to do all the time is write a character who makes bad

02:07decisions, but we still tune in next week. Oftentimes a character who inhabits a body like mine will make a bad

02:12decision and exit the movie or exit the show. We never see them again. So I love creating a

02:17complexity for Riri where you can see her make a bad decision, then a series of good ones and try

02:21and fix it and try and come back. And then Parker did the same thing. I think in the same way that

02:25Shuri is a foil to Riri and Wakanda Forever, Parker is a foil to Riri and our project as well,

02:32because he's lived a little bit longer. He's already had a suit per se that gave him some magic and

02:38some power. And so I think he's a cautionary tale if Riri were to watch it right. But instead,

02:43he's sort of a pattern for her. So I don't know. I had so much fun creating characters that are dirty

02:48and complicated and fun as opposed to creating characters who do and say the right things all

02:53the way through. That's that's an after school special more so than a television show.

02:57Now, Miss Barnes, I want to call you the anchor, you know, because I saw that you directed the final

03:06three episodes of this season, which I think are three important episodes. What was your approach

03:11in shaping the story's climax and finale? Always story first, just in terms of like where the

03:18characters are emotionally. Just, you know, I always I always shoot it based on whatever the story is

03:24telling me. Like, you know, I've done, you know, in terms of the kinds of TV that I've done before

03:28is different genres, different types of things. And you can see my style adjust depending on the

03:33story that we're telling. So for me, it was about making sure that we can see what see how they're

03:37feeling, see how Riri's feeling. I mean, the truck's flipping and all that's cool. It's really fun

03:42stuff to watch. But I want to make sure that people when she's running and we see that she's running

03:46scared, that we understand that she's scared, that we see her, you know, punch the truck and,

03:51you know, in the flip the guy and flip off in the cabin that we know, we know how she's feeling,

03:58you know, and to me, making sure that the audience understands how our character's feelings was

04:02always job one. Now, Miss Highest, Chicago plays such a...

04:07Please call me Chinnocker. Chinnocker, I'm sorry. My apologies.

04:09No, I appreciate it.

04:10My apologies. Chicago plays a really big role in the series. It's almost like another character.

04:15How do you think the city influenced your choice and how you captured Riri's world?

04:21Well, my mom's from outside Chicago. My parents met at Northwestern. I spent my summers with my

04:26grandmother in and around Chicago blues and jazz clubs. So I care about Chicago in a deep and

04:31profound way. I'm from Oakland, which is another city that doesn't always get to have it shine on

04:36screen. And so it was important to me to get as much right as we could, knowing that it's, you know,

04:40it's impossible to get it all the way right. But I wanted to make sure that we honored the muralists

04:45in Chicago. And so in my early pitch, I pitched Max Sansing to do a mural for us. And that lives

04:50in the show. There are so many actors who are in our show who come from the traditional Chicago

04:56theater scene. So Matt Elam is an alum of a theater program there. Ronnie is played by Angie,

05:04who's a Chicago-based actor as well. Obviously, we know Shea Coulee is an anchor in the

05:10show. And Shea is from Chicago as well. Obviously, Sam, our director for One Through Three,

05:14is from Chicago.

05:15Sonia Denise, I want to say lived in Chicago, but is also like Baltimore area. I don't want to get

05:22it wrong. But yeah, we all have a real affinity for the Jewel of the Midwest. Even the bunker that

05:28Zeke goes to is in Kankakee, where my mom is from. So we try and get as much of it right as

05:33possible. And thinking about all the joys of that city, thinking about like DuSable, who founded the

05:39city, being a black man who saw a vision and was miscounted and mistreated until he became the

05:44mayor, I think is very, very aligned with Riri's experience as well. So yeah, I'm very, very proud

05:50to have have debuted Chicago into the MCU. Well, I appreciate y'all. It's an amazing show. And

05:55thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. God bless you. We appreciate you. Thank you.

05:58God bless you.

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