
Thunderbolts* Director Jake Schreier Reveals Why Taskmaster Had to Die | Interview
Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier spoke with ComingSoon about the reaction to his star-studded Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. Schreier discussed fan art, Lewis Pullman replacing Steven Yeun, and how the decision to kill off Taskmaster came to be. Thunderbolts* is available on Digital now and will be released on 4K and Blu-ray on July 29.
“In Thunderbolts* Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster, and John Walker,” the official synopsis reads. “After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?”
Tyler Treese: Congrats on Thunderbolts*. I’ve not seen as much fan art for a movie in a long time. My entire social media was just filled with U.S. Agent fan art of all things , which I would’ve never expected before this movie.
Jake Schreier: Send it all to Wyatt.
That just shows Thunderbolts* really registered with people in a major way and then inspired people to create. What’s been your takeaway from this fan audience that has even been super passionate, even for MCU standards?
Look, it’s my first time at a scale this big, so I don’t have a frame of reference for it. But I think it is really, really nice when you see people connecting with the work and all this hard work that everyone put into it, and that it can have this life afterward in people’s imaginations. You remember being younger and the way you would kind of engage with movies where it would, if you’re lucky enough, stick with some people, and they wanna create things around it.
That part of the way movies work is that in the end they are these kind of thin documents. It’s two hours long. It really depends upon the magic of these actors that allow you to imagine a deeper life than a world outside of the movie. If we made something that makes people feel that way, then that’s a great feeling. I’ve seen some of the Bob and Yelena art. I’ve seen some of those and I find that pretty fun.
Thunderbolts*’ characters are a real hodgepodge. Bucky is obviously the most beloved prior to the film. Yelena and Red Guardian were liked, but some other people weren’t as beloved. We hadn’t seen much of Ghost, and nobody really liked U.S. Agent since he was very villainous in his initial run. What was the biggest challenge in getting this really mixed bag of characters that had very different storylines and keeping them authentic to where they had been, but still making them win people over? Because I feel like everybody came out of this film enjoying all these characters more than they walked into the film.
The first thing is just like having a cast that’s great is such a blessing. I mean, they’re all so incredibly good at what they do. I think the nice thing is that the characters have been established in other ways, but also because it’s movies and not just the TV show, any movie needs to kind of take each character on a new journey and have a new arc. So, you do need to kind of take a step forward, even with characters that are beloved. I think that’s an adjustment that you have to go over with the actors because we haven’t seen Yelena in this dark of a place before. But that’s the thing that Florence embraced and took on and found a way to sort of marry that with like what she had already created in that character.
They all care so deeply about these characters that they’ve created, which really keeps you honest. None of these actors will let you take it in a place that feels false for what they’ve created. They all care very passionately about that. At the same time, once we all talked about what the story was going for and what it was trying to explore, they were also kind of open and excited to find a way to tie their characters into that and to bring those ideas to it.
With U.S. Agent, for me, that’s just fun because Wyatt and I have been friends for a long time and worked together before. So, there’s just stuff that if you know these actors and you know that they have things that [they can do]. One of the first conversations I had with everyone is just sort of, “Is there something that you wanna show that you feel like you haven’t gotten to yet? Is there a side to this character or something that you’d like to play?” Because we’re building the story as we go now in early development. So, trying to incorporate them in those conversations and find a way to make it organic, to what they’re gonna be best at. Again, they really are the best actors in the world, so it makes it a lot easier.
I was so glad to see Lewis Pullman get this really breakthrough performance because I’ve been a huge fan of his. I know from talking to him in the past that he brings so many creative ideas to his characters. It really takes a great actor — because he wasn’t originally supposed to be Bob — to not just be in like Steven Yeun’s shadow. So, how was it collaborating with Lewis to really make Bob have his mark as a creative and make it his own? Because nobody was really thinking about what-ifs after they saw this movie.
I mean, Lewis, I’m so grateful to him and the job he did. It really was a very fun collaboration because, yeah, he was coming in with not a ton of time to prep. And, like, it’s such a difficult task, right? To play all of these different sides of one character and make it feel integrated. I think it has to become the actor’s part, you know what I mean? It’s never about, “Well, this is what we designed and you just have to fit into it.” It has to be Lewis’ version and his interpretation of what that character is. He brought so much of himself and his own ideas to that part.
He and I would just kind of go through — every weekend, we’d have these fun little mapping sessions where we’d go through the week’s work. We really tried to define these ideas of Bob, the Sentry side of it, and the Void side of it. Again, it’s not like good and evil, as much sort of there’s this kind of hubris and despair component to it. We’d figure out which of those he is tapping into in each of these moments, almost line by line. Just so there was a roadmap to where that would get it.
I think it took a lot of trust on his part and a lot of openness. I was just so grateful for how much he brought to that part and to see that chemistry develop with him and Florence, and the rest of the team. I’m really, really excited and happy for him.
Death in the MCU is like a valuable toy being put in a drawer. You can’t use that character for a while. What’s the process when a character like Taskmaster gets killed off? Is that an idea that comes from Kevin and above? Is that something the creatives pitch? I’ve always been curious how this fits together because it’s so unlike any other movie.
Jake Schreier: Yeah, it definitely takes a lot of discussion. It’s not done lightly. That came out of a whole set of discussions that happened after the shutdown and the strikes. We kind of returned [to the] script and talked a lot internally — everyone at Marvel — about what we felt we could improve about it. It felt maybe a little jam-packed, and it also felt a little bloodless. You have this movie about killers and these people who have theoretically done terrible things. And, right now, you don’t really get to see that in the movie; you don’t get to feel the effects of it. Like, sure, there are grunts, but grunts don’t really register on an emotional level.
It felt like there was an opportunity to do something that you wouldn’t expect, that was surprising, and also that kind of makes it a little more clear. It’s like, yeah, that could have been any of them, you know? This was the job that Ava was sent to do. It could have been Yelena, it could have been Taskmaster — this is who it happened to be. And then [we] watch how sort of empty that feels and watch the way that then resonates a little bit later when Ava and Yelena have that conversation.
But, yeah, it’s a sacrifice and a tough one to do because Olga [Kurylenko] is a wonderful actress, and like you said, it’s a toy being put away for a while. That it was for the value of the overall narrative and making the movie feel like it was earning what we were saying with these characters — that it’s not an R-rated movie. It just felt like we needed to do something to kind of push it to a place that you might not expect to understand how these characters were different, and this different story that we were trying to tell.
A Marvel film ending with a hug is just a really powerful moment. Were there ever any worries that fans wouldn’t find that satisfying or were you confident that the emotional connection that Florence and Lewis have would work for the audience? That’s a risky move, but everybody liked it.
Guardians [of the Galaxy] 1 also essentially ends with a hug. It’s a very well-designed hug. It came from the circumstances that we were in with the characters and their dynamics and the themes that you’re dealing with lead you to the ending that makes the most sense. In the same way, when Sentry was first introduced on the internet, everyone was like, “What are these guys gonna do against that?” It’s like, well, yeah, we know. That’s what we’re trying to solve and trying to make a resonant ending that actually has some real dynamics to go through to get to that and how you could “defeat” that antagonist.
It always was gonna have to be given that Sentry/The Void in the earliest comics, and talking to Paul Jenkins, it’s always been a parable for mental health. It was always gonna be resolved to some degree on an internal level. Then the hope was like, all right, well we don’t wanna have it just be a conversation or talking him down. Can we visualize, can we dramatize that visually? That was what led to all of these void rooms in that journey that they go through.
But then, when it really comes time for that last moment, we couldn’t figure out a way where it really made sense to say that, “you can punch out your depression, you can punch out your dark side.” It didn’t feel like it was ever gonna be right to kind of resolve the ending with direct violence. It just didn’t make sense for the character. It’s not that we wouldn’t do that or that I think movies should always end in hugs, but for where we were at, it was gonna have to come from that connection.
So all of our work and all of our effort went from the moment we meet Bob and putting him down there with them — that wasn’t a given — is to develop that relationship so that you can earn that moment in a way that it feels like it’s not [cheap]. I will also say that it isn’t meant to literally just be a hug. I mean, they’re sort of pulling him back off of his dark self, and he is very strong ’cause he’s as powerless in this world. So, it’s meant to be a hug that is also like an active thing. But yeah, I think we really explored every corner of how that could end, and it always just came back to that as feeling the most resonant.
This is a really exciting time in the MCU. The X-Men are coming in the future. I know there’s nothing to announce, but I would love to know what your personal history is with those characters. I fell in love with them through the old cartoon. I used to have the VHS tapes, I would watch them a million times. What’s your history with X-Men?
I am, only just knowing the way the internet works, I’m gonna plead the fifth on this question. Just because things get… you know how it goes. But, yeah, I’m so sorry.
No, that’s totally fair. Thank you so much for your time, Jake.
Thanks to Jake Schreier for taking the time to talk about Thunderbolts*.
Source: Comingsoon.net