Marvel is never more happy than when filmmakers start doing things they didn't expect. That's when they know they're in a good place.
Anthony Russo
There's a writing adage that says, 'Write yourself into a corner.' My brother and I have always loved that adage.
Everything's always got to be character-based. We know we can't, if we're sitting in the editing room, watch the sequence for more than 20 seconds without a character having a point of view or moving the action forward; my brain just shuts down, or I start thinking about my laundry.
We were film geeks. We devoured everything: really obscure art films, foreign films. We were the kind of guys that lived at the Cinematheque. But at the end of the day, your favorite movies are like everybody else's favorite movies. Because those are the movies that become a touch point where you can connect to other people.
The one thing Marvel does is think outside the box, going all the way back to Ang Lee directing the first 'Hulk.' They like to go outside the genre.
We like movies that are going to have a great sense of fun and thrill to them while at the same time remain very grounded in relatable human emotions and conflicts that the audiences can get behind and root for and empathise with.
The second we started talking about doing the 'Civil War' storyline with Marvel, we brought up Spider-Man. Right away, Kevin Feige hinted to us there might be a possibility of them being able to work that out, and that's all we needed - he was in the movie the second we heard that.
We don't program movies. We don't run studios. We make movies.
In a way, Captain America is the most grounded of the main Marvel superheroes. He is basically just a man, only more so. He doesn't fly across the sky like Iron Man. He isn't from another world like Thor. He doesn't turn into a green monster.
We like films that make you laugh, make you cry, make you think, scare you, whatever.
Joe and I have always been drawn to ensemble storytelling. We like the idea of telling stories from multiple characters' points of view and thinking about the story from multiple characters' points of view.
What Joe and I get excited by, creatively, is exploring all of the different forms of filmmaking.
We like to collaborate on everything, so we have no formal divisions on where we each like to focus, and we like to put our brains together on every aspect of a project. We just have a nonstop dialogue.
People always say, 'Oh, I'd love to work with my sibling,' or 'My God, I could never work with my sibling.' It was just a natural process for us. We started collaborating on our first films and it evolved. We have a passion for film that we shared as we were growing up.
Our experience with Marvel has been amazing, and we really do feel like we're in our creative sweet spot there.
The great thing about Marvel is that there is an attitude of 'nothing's impossible,' but that doesn't mean everything is possible; you just have to chase it.
We like mature storytelling. We like dramatic storytelling. We like intense storytelling.
I think every directing team works differently in the same manner that every director works differently. Everybody has a different personality and a different way of working, and that somehow evolves in the process.
We're always looking for ways to use technologies to open up new creative expressions for us artistically. So we're constantly thinking about where something like VR may lead us in storytelling or what kind of tool that gives us as storytellers.
The thing I always laugh about is we tried for years to make successful television. And at the end of the day, we never had a show run as long as our run at Marvel.
We saw 'Swiss Army Man' and fell in love with the Daniels, who are adventurous filmmakers and radical storytellers, pushing the boundaries.
I don't like to get in front of the camera.
Joe and I always say that our guide through action is always story and character. We're always driving right at the character beats, or else the action beat doesn't work.
What Joe and I love about the film industry, it's like the wild West. We're two guys who grew up a million miles away from the film business; it doesn't matter where you come from or where you go to school. All that matters is, can you find a way to practice the craft and express yourself in a way that people respond to.
Among directing teams, you find a high percentage of brothers. You need the ability to compromise. With siblings, you've grown up with a pattern that, yeah, every once in a while you have to give in for the greater good, for the family collective.
It's incumbent upon a director, if you want to pull the best performance out of an actor, you have to really work to who they are and how they work and not just expect them to hit a mark every time. You have to be very adaptable in the approach that you use with every different actor.
There is a worst part, and it is this: we spend more time with each other than we do with our wives and children, and we work very long hours - we work non-stop - so when we need to shut off, we need to be separate, or else we - or else we just slip into our work mode.
For us, since we entered the MCU as storytellers, and we picked up the story with 'Winter Soldier,' we've been carrying a thread forward from that point, a narrative thread.
Our experience making 'Pieces,' all it did was confirm our passion for film making to ourselves. We were having the time of our lives, and we were in love with what we were doing.
The thing I always loved about the movie business is it is really a cowboy industry in the sense that there's no prescribed road into it or through it.
We knew people in Cleveland who had been making movies for 20 years that nobody sees. Every couple of years, they make a little small movie on their own, and it goes to some minor festivals, and that's it. Four years later, they do it again. That's a fulfilling life for some filmmakers, and they're happy to work that way.
It's hard to give specific advice because there's so many different types of animals. In making movies, you just have to figure out what type of animal you are and then find the road.
In general, just as a framing, we always thought about 'Winter Soldier' very specifically as a political thriller.
I think that's part of the fun for us: we love looking at movies through the filter of a specific character - characters who aren't the lead - and figuring out the film from their point of view.
We're big fans of balance in storytelling, and we like movies that hit every emotion.
The fact we got to become a part of the Marvel family and find our own expression within that is a real joy for my brother and I.
We have a lot of respect for the fact that you can't make movies without money and that when money comes to the table, that money deserves to have a place in the process as much as anything else in the film-making equation.
There is no single voice in fandom; there is a multitude of voices, so you listen to them all because there are some good ideas coming from everywhere, but at the end of the day, we have to use our own instincts as a guide.
Yes, DVDs are gone, but there is this wonderful Internet platform out there called YouTube.
Even if you have the best intentions, there may sometimes be a price or a cost or a pushback against what you're doing.
We basically got a call from our agent that said we were on the list of directors that Marvel was interested in talking to about 'Captain America 2.' First of all, that was thrilling, having not lobbied for the job.
The one thing you know we won't do is, literally, 'Modern Warfare 2.'
'Community' gets to be the indie movie, while a 'Modern Family' gets to be the big blockbuster release. They service that big massive audience, and we service a smaller audience. But we get a lot of creative freedom.
