The names Joe and Anthony Russo may not trigger a neuron in your head, but these are two of the most powerful people in Hollywood today.
The four films that these two "unknowns" directed for the Marvel Cinematic Universe grossed close to seven billion dollars cumulatively, a small sum that secured them a place of honor at the top of the highest-grossing directors' list of all time.
They even bypassed Spielberg.
Besides the films they directed for Marvel ("Captain America: The Winter Soldier", "Captain America: Civil War", "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame" - the second highest grossing film of all time), in recent years the two directed the drama Dark crime thriller Cherry starring Tom Holland (released on Apple's streaming platform), wrote and produced action hit Tyler Rake: Rescue starring Chris Hemsworth (for Netflix), and produced the cultural phenomenon Everything Everywhere at Once ", by the duo of directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, which in recent months has become one of the most talked about films of the year (if not the).
Now the Russo brothers return to us with their biggest and most ambitious project to date: the bombastic spy thriller The Gray Man, available starting today on Netflix, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas.
According to the reports, this is a film with the largest budget in the history of the company - about 200 million dollars, and the expectations are that it will gain tens of millions of views within a few weeks.
At the center of the chaotic plot, full of action scenes and explosions, stands a deadly CIA agent named Sierra 6 (Gosling) who is pursued around the world by a psychopathic and uninhibited assassin (Evans), who will not let go until his mission is completed and his target is full of lead.
"The Gray Man" is based on a series of books by Mark Greaney, so if the predictions come true and the movie does become a hit, you can be sure that Gosling will return to play the agent in quite a few sequels.
"Fortunately, Ryan fell in love with the process. He's never done an action movie on such a large scale, but he came to the set every day to grab and grab more and more hits, and I think he's having fun," Photo: Gosling in "The Gray Man."
Netflix
"The character of James Bond has been with us for 60 years, and his gender politics creates quite a few problems these days," explains Joe Russo with a smile when I ask him what made them try their hand at inventing a new cinematic super spy.
"On the other hand, it's already been 20 years since Jason Bourne made his debut. So when we read Mark Greaney's books, we definitely felt that the character of Sierra 6 represents something very modern. Which is a character that fits our era. An existentialist character that works against a corrupt patriarchy. We had the feeling that there was enough thematically fresh material and enough humor for it to be perceived as contemporary."
You started working on the project almost a decade ago. What delayed you?
Joe: "The book was first offered to us when we were doing 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'. But then Marvel approached us and asked us to make three more movies, and we had to shelve 'The Gray Man' for a period of time. Interestingly, 'The Gray Man' started At all as a project for Charlize Theron. She was just after 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' and we talked to her about the possibility of her playing the main character, the one that Gosling plays at the end. We tried to tailor it to her, but we all drifted in different directions. When Anthony and I finished The collaboration with Marvel, we decided to bring the project to Netflix."
Watching the movie shows that you really like the genre.
Joe: "What a question. We have a great fondness for these types of films. It's part of who we are. We actually make films like this because we were fans of the genre ourselves. A key part of our motivation to tell stories is to create for a new audience the same experiences and The same feelings we had when we used to go to the cinema in our youth. This film corresponds with a lot of films and directors we like. We felt a bit like kids in a candy store. We waited a long time for the opportunity to make a spy thriller that spans the world. At the same time, it was very important to us that there should also be a lot of humor. There was It is essential that this film has self-awareness, because we are operating within a very familiar genre."
In this sense, Gosling's comedic work is reminiscent of his excellent role in "Detectives Inc" directed by Shane Black.
"We really like 'Detectives Inc.' and we love Shane Black," admits Joe. ) and Richard Donner ('Lethal Weapon' series, 'Superman').
You could say that our goal was to make an exaggerated action movie with the flavor of the past, with a lot of humor and a lot of action scenes.
These are the films we loved when we were young, and now we wanted to make a similar film for the new generation."
How closely did you work with Gosling and Evans on their characters and building the murderous rivalry between them?
Anthony: "Our whole approach to filmmaking is based on collaboration. We like to get to a point where we believe in the script and it actually constitutes what we want to film. But then we turn to the actors - Ryan and Chris, in this case - and start a process with them. We try to understand the the character together, and we are very open to hearing their ideas. In many cases these ideas make the film more interesting for all of us. It is a central part of our process. We love actors very much, and we strive to reach a situation where the actor feels that the character is 'his'. In this case we had A huge advantage, because both Ryan and Chris think like directors. They not only understand their role, they also understand how each part fits into the film as a whole. For us it was great that we could upgrade the film with the help of their creative contribution."
Not like anything.
From "Everything everywhere at once", photo: Allyson Riggs
"It's very rewarding"
Although the Russo brothers are not associated with Marvel at the moment, almost all of their projects in recent years boast the big stars they worked with in the four films they directed for the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).
Besides Chris Hemsworth and Tom Holland, who starred in their previous films, the two also recruited the late Chadwick Boseman for the action thriller 21 Bridges, which they wrote and produced in 2019, and now they are also reteaming with Chris Evans, who will forever be known as Captain America .
"We had a lot of amazing experiences making the movies with Marvel," explains Anthony, "but one of our favorite things is being able to work with the same actors over many years. Building characters together and creating a long-term collaboration. We have a very intimate understanding of each other, We know each other's processes - what we like, what interests us. Don't get me wrong, we really loved working at Marvel, but now we're discovering what else we're capable of and we're enjoying the process. Hopefully we can continue and do it with other actors who worked with us in MCU".
Joe: "From our point of view, there are only positive things about it. Think of yourself as a musician - there are things you can only do when you play with the same people for years. The understanding is deeper. You can feed each other, get into sync faster. We already have A special pace with these actors. We can do things with them that we weren't able to do before, and they accompany us as part of our growth process as artists. We are constantly looking for new creative opportunities that will allow us to continue working together."
"The Gray Man" includes a huge number of large and very complicated action scenes to perform, and although it is not easy to imagine - its production was larger and more complex than the other huge films signed by the brothers.
"Marvel movies usually have four big action sequences," explains Joe, "In this movie we shot four action sequences - and we didn't even get to the halfway point. This movie almost killed us. We were so tired when we finished - because every A sequence like this takes so much thought, and planning, and precautions. And we're shooting at night, so there's not much time to sleep. Luckily, Ryan fell in love with the process. He's never done an action film on such a large scale, but he came to the set every day to capture and take more and more hits, and I think he's enjoying himself."
Anthony: "The choreography of each sequence is so complex, you could say it's an art in itself. It's like the stuff you see in a 'Cirque des Soleil' show. Ryan and Ana de Armes practiced for months before filming to memorize all the moves. After each That, watching them do these things on set, in front of the cameras, is very rewarding. We pretty much insist with our actors that they do all the fighting and all their stunts themselves."
Joe: "Ryan also has a history. He was a dancer when he was a kid, so he has amazing body control. He expresses himself through movement, the ways he fights and defends himself. It's another way of telling a story."
Anthony: "Until we worked with Ryan, we never met someone who could fight and do stunts at the level of Chris Evans. And that's great, because an action movie requires using the body in very specific and very precise ways."
Think like directors.
Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas, Photo: GettyImages
"Insatiable appetite"
The Russo brothers' road to the top of the Hollywood mountain was long, winding and very unusual.
Although "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", the film that put them on the map and began their fruitful collaboration with Marvel, was released in 2014 - Anthony (52) and Joe (51) took their first steps in the industry back in 1997 when Directed the eccentric and very uncommercial indie drama "Pieces".
Although the film did not receive an orderly distribution and there is no way to watch it today, director Steven Soderbergh watched it in real time as part of the Slamdance festival and was deeply impressed.
He took the brothers under his wing, worked closely with them for several years, and produced for them "Welcome to Collinwood" - a modest crime comedy starring George Clooney and Sam Rockwell that was released in 2002.
Although this film was also not successful in any way, it did open the door for the brothers to the world of television, and from there, the two rolled into the classic sitcom "Family in Disruption" ("Arrested Development"), which over the years gained a mythological status, although it did not enjoy high ratings in real time.
A few years later, after another unsuccessful Hollywood experience (to say the least), the brothers found themselves directing and producing "Community", another popular sitcom whose creativity allowed them to experiment and specialize in a multitude of styles and genres.
Their impressive work in "Community" also resulted in them finally receiving the long-awaited phone call from Marvel.
In the meantime, the conduct of the Russo brothers - who make sure to zigzag naturally and skillfully between cinema, streaming and television - indicates that they did well to internalize the lesson from the bitter struggles that Steven Soderbergh waged with the studios in the years they worked with him.
"Soderbergh was our mentor early on," Joe said recently in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "and one of the most important things we learned from him is that you do 'one movie for you, one movie for them.' In the end, you have to find a way to make money For the people who fund you. Only after you do that, you can start taking risks.
"There's something very exciting about the way Netflix finds an audience for our films. In many ways, it's easier to work with them than with a traditional studio, because no one interferes or bothers you. They have a very different approach to the directors who work for them and the work is much less stressful. But Of course, here, too, everything comes down to the bottom line. 'Tyler Rake: Rescue,' which we produced, was viewed 100 million times on Netflix. If we translate that into cinema numbers, it's equivalent to a movie that grossed two billion dollars."
Among all your activities, you also found the time to produce one of the most talked about films of the year, "Everything everywhere at once". How did it happen?
Joe: "Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who wrote and directed Everything Everywhere, reminded us a lot of ourselves at the beginning. We saw their previous film, The Knife Man, and we asked ourselves if there was a way we could help them reach an audience Bigger. What they do is unlike anything we've seen in recent years, both on a conceptual and technical level. It's been a long time since we've seen directors with such a developed sense of adventure. Their abilities are absolutely insane."
With all the many projects you are involved in - blockbusters, through indie hits to streaming movies, you can also say that you are "everything everywhere at once". How do you find time for everything and manage to balance so many different things?
Joe laughs: "In reality we are 11 brothers! We just hide the other nine."
"We have an insatiable appetite," admits Anthony, "we just love what we do. Joe and I also have an amazing creative team that has been with us over the years, and ultimately, that's what allows us to function the way we do. There We have so many talented collaborators who work with us, and it's also fun for us to take part in other ways when others are directing, to understand how to support and how to contribute to their vision. But in the end, we are most comfortable and have the most fun in the director's chair. This is the heart of what we do."
Yishai Kitchels on Twitter: @whatevergever
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