The Russo Bros. begged Steven Soderbergh to ask Kevin Feige to hire them

February 8, 2023

Joe and Anthony Russo enlisted Soderbergh’s longtime friend to convince Marvel Studios head Feige to help them land their “dream job,” 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

Steven Soderbergh has the Russo Brothers’ lucky break to thank.

The “Logan Lucky” director helped longtime friends Joe and Anthony Russo direct their first Marvel film, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” in 2014.

“The Russians are my friends,” Soderbergh said Rolling stone. “Who knew when I first met them that this is what they love to do and really feel for it? I didn’t know that until they called me and said, “We’re ready for this Captain America movie (‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’). Would you call Kevin Feige and say good things about us?’

Soderbergh continued, “And I said, ‘Yes, if you answer me this one question: Is this something you want to do or someone told you you should do it?’ And they said, “Oh, no, we have this huge collection of comics. This is our dream job. And I said, “Oh, then of course I will.” And it turns out they weren’t kidding.”

The “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” director added that Russians’ passion for superhero movies has colored his own opinion of the genre ever since.

“I’m happy for them,” Soderbergh said of the Russians. “This shit is hard. I couldn’t do it.”

He continued: “I have no philosophical problem with these films. The thing is, I’m not the audience for this. I have never been. Growing up, I never owned comics. I’m not a fantasy person. I’m too stuck on the ground. So I’m not the target. I am agnostic about them. I can tell you right now that as a filmmaker, it is very difficult to make films in terms of the stamina required.”

Soderbergh shared that audiences “spend more money” to see Marvel and DC films than “mid-range adult dramas” in theaters, and that it’s a “strange mix of economic and cultural forces” behind the increase in theater addiction. superhero movies.

“Now, every time I lament, ‘Will it always be like this? Are we stuck here? Someone, unbeknownst to all of us, is going to make something that’s going to come out six months or a year from now, and it’s going to reverse the trajectory that we think we’ve been on, and things are going to go in a different direction,” Soderbergh said. “I always believe that filmmakers can change the direction of the industry. I believe that artists can make shit up.”

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