22 The Costco Connection SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
what you do, that is there to help you
improve what you do. ... I don’t think it
would be anywhere near what it is today
had Bob Iger not purchased Marvel.
CC: As president of Marvel and producer of Marvel, which of those two hats
draws more of your time?
KF: They’re really one and the same. It’s
the producer hat. And it’s the
notion of creatively overseeing
as much as I can. We have an
incredible team here, with
amazing executive producers and amazing
producers. We’ve been
together ;; or more
years. None of these
movies would happen
without [them].
But the devil is in
the details of filmmaking, and I do like to
be involved in as much
as I can, [including] in
post-production, where
the movie comes together.
CC: How tied are the ;lms and
comics?
KF: All the inspiration comes from the
comics. For the costumes, for the characters, for their backstories. Occasionally for
particular plot ideas. [Captain America:
Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War first
saw life in the comics. Other plot points
throughout the series have also come from
the comics.] But we always adapt them; we
always alter them in ways that we think
make for a better movie experience.
And now, ;; years and ;; films in, it’s
inspiration that we pull from the comics,
but also now we have our own continuity—
our own mythology of ;; films that also
can inform where we go. But the comics
always are the starting point for us. ...
Ant-Man and the Wasp is our ;;th film. And
yet, because of the amazing source material—;;-plus years of Marvel Comics source
material—it’s like we’re just starting.
There’s so much more to pull from.
CC: Watching the extensive end credits
roll—you never leave a Marvel ;lm
before the end of the credits or you’ll
miss one or more extra scenes, tags, that
may lay the groundwork for the next—
I couldn’t help but think that Marvel is
single-handedly supporting the world’s
economy.
KF: There are a lot of people around the
world doing amazing things. You’ve heard
people say that film is a collaborative art.
Boy, is it. And we want
these new ideas. You’ll
have a visual-effects
producer go, ‘Hey, you
know, you asked for
this, but here’s an idea
to maybe tweak it a little bit.’ And then you
get something that is a
thousand times better.
And it’s great and goes
in the movie.
I love the notion that
everybody playing in this
Marvel Studios sandbox feels
an ownership and feels excited
to be a part of it. None more so
than myself. [I feel] lucky and happy to
be a part of it. And then, when you have a
weekend like we’ve just had, it’s exciting.
Not just because there are a lot of big
box-office numbers, but because the sense
of pride that every one of those names you
saw [in the credits] has. That’s another
reason I love the tags. It forces people to
actually look and acknowledge the thou-
sands of people responsible for the experi-
ence you just had.
CC: In what ways do you
judge a ;lm beyond the box o;ce?
KF: Of course it’s: Do people like it? Do
people have an experience that they are
still talking about a day later? A week
later? A month later? And secretly, I’ve
always hoped for years later. I’ve always
thought you can’t really tell an impact of a
film until years have gone by. Now years
have gone by for us—;; years since [the
first] Iron Man. And the fact that all of
these characters are still, ... well, are more
popular than they’ve ever been. And people want to see them again and see how
they’ve changed, like Thor did in
Ragnarok, like Iron Man has over the movies, like Captain America has … that’s
exciting for us.
To me that is a true testament. … I
think of the movies that I loved as a kid—
like Back to the Future, like the Star Wars
movies—that still feel as relevant today as
they’ve ever been. That’s the true test. It’s
been ;;-plus, ;; years. We’ve got another
;; years to figure out what our impact has
been. But ;; years on, it feels pretty good.
CC: In what ways was releasing Aven-
gers: In;nity War in two parts a big
i e r as
ac
actually look and acknowledge the thou-
sands of people responsible for the experi-
a
thought you can’t really tell an impact of a
. And the fact that all of
i
, like the Star Wars
t
v
“CAPTAIN” MARVEL
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21
Clockwise from top right:
Race to battle in Captain America:
Civil War; Chris Hemsworth in Thor:
Ragnarok; from Avengers: In;nity War,
Karen Gillan as Nebula; directors Joe
and Anthony Russo direct Chris
Evans as Captain America; and Zoe
Saldana as Gamora.
