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Available on digital now and 4K and Blu-ray July 29th is Marvel Studios’ ‘Thunderbolts*’, which was directed by Jake Schreier (‘Beef’).

The film stars several MCU regulars including Florence Pugh (‘Hawkeye’) as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan (‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’) as Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell (‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’) as John Walker, David Harbour (‘Black Widow’) as Alexei Shostakov, Hannah John-Kamen (‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’) as Ava Starr, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’) as Valentina Aleegra de Fontaine, as well as Marvel newbies Geraldine Viswanathan (‘Drive-Away Dolls’) as Mel, and Lewis Pullman (‘Top Gun: Maverick’) as Bob.

Related Article: How Will ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Tie Into ‘Thunderbolts*’?

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Jake Schreier about the ‘Thunderbolts*’ digital release and his work on the film. The director discussed his initial pitch to Marvel, selecting the characters, the asterisk in the title, the ‘New Avengers’ reveal, the ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ cameo in the second end credit scene, deleted scenes, and Florence Pugh’s opening scene stunt, as well as addressing the rumors that he will direct the MCU’s upcoming new ‘X-Men’ movie.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first meeting with Marvel Studios and the pitch that got you the job directing ‘Thunderbolts*’?

Jake Schreier: Well, know the pitching process at Marvel takes a long time. I think there were maybe seven meetings over the course of seven months. So, the first meeting was just me talking to Brian Chapek and just having a very loose conversation about the idea for the movie, which I thought was neat. Eric Pearson and he had come up with this great setup where it was about a set of contract killers being sent to kill each other and to be disposed as opposed to being put together in some sort of team, which was a neat slip on the expectation. I just talked about my favorite movies that related to that and that sense of tension and what you would want to bring to a movie like that. Then the conversation grew month after month. Each time I would bring something a little bit new. I like to pitch on things, show people, if we were already making the movie together, this is the sort of stuff that I would start doing. I think the second one is that I did make a kind of reference reel of movies. Not that the movie should be like this movie, but these are kind of moments of tension within other movies about groups of people that don’t trust each other, and how important that was to what we were building here. I think that included ‘Ronin’, and it included ‘Toy Story 3’, a very disparate group of movies and ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’, all kinds of different stuff. Then at subsequent meetings, there was concept art for what the void could look like, and then a storyboard in certain sequences from the film. We had talked about the elevator sequence, this funny idea of if it was all about trust or a trust fall, if they must climb up back-to-back, which is an idea that Brian had, that was fun. I took that and storyboarded it just to show what that might feel like. So yeah, it was more of a long beat by beat process. I think, one thing about working at Marvel was, Kevin (Feige) always says, “Always be fussing.” The movie is never really done until they kind of pry it out of your hands and you must release it. You’re always looking to improve it. So, to some degree, it’s not so much about the specific pitch or everything kept changing after I came on board, but it’s about will this work out as a working relationship? Are the ideas flowing and will you push each other to make it better? It felt like Brian, and I worked so well together in this movie, and that felt like a really strong core to build from.

MF: Was the core cast of characters already selected when you came on board and were there characters you wanted to include but were unable to?

JS: They were mostly chosen. I attempted to give input, which was quickly shot down, which I think on the first one I was like, “What if Man-Thing was involved,” which has now been picked up by the internet as though that was ever going to happen, which it wasn’t. They quickly and politely were like, “He was in ‘Werewolf by Night’, which I didn’t know. So that didn’t happen. But then I think before I came on board, they added Robert Reynolds to the mix. That was the biggest change. Then once that was part of it, I mean even in our pitch conversation, everything really ran towards thinking about what it meant to have a character like Sentry and the Void in this movie, and how that tied into Yelena and what she’s going through, and how important that was to build that kind of connection and have that drive the story.

MF: Was the asterisk in the title your idea, and at what point was it decided that the team would really become the ‘New Avengers’?

JS: So, they were always introduced as the New Avengers. Even in the first draft that I read before I came on board. I did pitch the asterisk thing. I think in my last pitch meeting before I got the movie, but I did not expect it to be in the actual title. I thought, “Oh, maybe there could be a billboard somewhere with an asterisk, and they’ll say, “Until we come up with something better.” But yeah, I mean that was the fun thing about working with those guys, and everyone in marketing. They’re very open and collaborative, and they would take ideas like that and really run with them and put their own spin on it. There was just a lot of openness on this movie, I think, to kind of take risks and try to do something different.

MF: So, this was always going to be a ‘New Avengers’ movie, is that right?

JS: Yes, it was always ended. That moment was always baked in. I mean, at least from the time I met on it, that was always where the story landed.

MF: Did you feel added pressure knowing that this was secretly an ‘Avengers’ movie?

JS: I mean, look, there’s enough pressure on these movies no matter what you’re doing. I think obviously it meant that we felt we had to build a story that at one time was this kind of very different story within the MCU about different characters, but it did need in its own way to live up. It was never going to be at the scale of a normal ‘Avengers’ film. But to the legacy of these kinds of great movies that had been made in the MCU, that when you get to that moment, even if it’s through a route that you never expected, you can kind of splint. Even if at first, you’re like, “Wait, what?” You kind of think about it and you’re like, “Okay, no, maybe this could work.” Or at least I want to see them try and see what happens going forward.

MF: Can you talk about the second end-credit scene that teases ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’? What was your involvement in that scene and when and where was it shot?

JS: That was late. I mean, I was there, I went to London. So that’s on the set, I think of the new ‘Avengers’ movie (‘Avengers: Doomsday’) that the Russo’s are directing. I think that might’ve been, it was one of the first scenes they shot for it. So, the idea was going to be part of that movie, and then also our end credits scene. So, there were things that it kind of had to do for where our story went, but we also wanted it in a way to be this handoff. It was fun to watch them directed and directed in that context and have it been this sort of, leap of seeing. I think Florence said it was like “Being dropped off at school by your parent, and you look back and like, all right, we’ll have fun guys. Good luck out there. You’re in a new grade now.” So yeah, it was just fun to have everyone kind of collaborate on that and get to see them take that next step on their next journey.

MF: Will there be deleted scenes available on the digital and home entertainment releases, and if so, can you talk about why those scenes were ultimately cut?

JS: Yes. I mean, I must be honest, there’s not a lot that was left on the cutting room floor of this movie. There are little things that got cut out. In the edit, we trimmed things down, but it was more really kind of honing the scenes than it was dropping a lot of full scenes. At first, I was like, “I don’t want any deleted scenes.” Then they were like, “You have to have a few.” So, I put them in there. What I can say is that there’s a very extensive behind the scenes featurette, and a very funny gag reel, which mostly is just cute. But I think the behind-the-scenes stuff, again, we did so much practically on this movie and in camera, and practical effects and returning to this old school style of filmmaking. I think I had a lot of fun, and they really did a great job of capturing that stuff, getting to watch the way those things were put together. I think, again, it’s just a testament to how hard everyone works on these movies, and I think that is fun to see.

MF: I understand that Florence Pugh insisted on doing the stunt in the opening scene where she jumps off a skyscraper herself. Can you talk about working with her and the stunt team to make that possible?

JS: I mean, we had this idea for it, Lee Sung Jin, who wrote multiple drafts of the script, had written in this stunt. That was sort of our version of a Bond opening, but it’s more of an emotional stunt, in a way, where it’s like, it almost seems like it could be a suicide. Then it’s just her kind of malaise in her job, but it takes you into this real character beat that then becomes an action sequence. But again, it’s our spin on it, because it’s what the depressed spy would do. So, I think what was exciting about it was obviously the stunt itself and going somewhere and really doing something like that, because it’s Florence having this great acting beat at the start of that shot. In the same take, we watch her step off the second-tallest building in the world. So, she had to take that on because we can’t really ask her to do that. We could say it was an idea we had. We didn’t even know we were going to shoot it. She was like, “I love heights. Let’s do it.” So, through the whole production, it was kind of finding a place that would make sense. Then, Malaysia seemed promising, but Jason Tamez, our incredible line producer, had to do months of work to coordinate getting up there. Then I think it took three different engineering firms to sign off on the rig, and (Stunt Coordinator) Michael Huggins and our entire rigging team. I mean, the amount of trust that Florence had to have in our team, and you can see how much she trusts them. They are the best at what they do. I can’t believe she did that. Florence is amazing, but also the amount of coordination and work that it takes from everyone else involved to pull something like that off and to be able to stand by it and say, “We could do this.” Because again, at first, Disney Health and Safety quite reasonably just said, “No.” So, it took a lot of pushing and a lot of groundwork on everyone’s part to make it happen.

MF: Finally, there have been several online rumors recently that you will be directing the upcoming ‘X-Men’ movie that Marvel Studios is planning for after ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’. Without confirming the rumors, do you have a particular take on those characters and is that a world you would be interested in exploring as a director if given the chance?

JS: I think just knowing the way the internet works, for right now, if it’s okay, I’m going to plead the fifth on that question. But I can say that I would be very excited. I had a great time working at Marvel, and I’d be very excited to work with them again.

NOTE: After this interview took place it was confirmed by Marvel Studio’s Kevin Feige that Jake Schreier will in fact be directing the upcoming ‘X-Men’ movie.

What is the plot of ‘Thunderbolts*’’?

A group of dangerous, unstable antiheroes and castoffs are set up on a doomed mission by a government operative (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), only to find themselves confronting a powerful new menace that threatens Earth.

Who is in the cast of ‘Thunderbolts*’?

• Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
• Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent
• David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost
• Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster
• Lewis Pullman as Robert “Bob” Reynolds
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

List of Movies and TV Shows Featuring ‘Thunderbolts*’ Characters:

• ‘Captain America: The First Avenger‘ (2011)
• ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘ (2014)
• ‘Captain America: Civil War‘ (2016)
• ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp‘ (2018)
• ‘Avengers: Infinity War‘ (2018)
• ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ (2019)
• ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘ (2021)
• ‘Black Widow‘ (2021)
• ‘Hawkeye‘ (2021)
• ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘ (2022)

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