Joe and Anthony Russo are legendary directors of the MCU. Hitched to several other projects since “Avengers: Endgame”, ongoing negotiations are mentioned, concerning their return to the side of Disney and Marvel.
The Russo Brothers: From Small Screen to Hollywood Glory
Son of a liberal politician, Joe and Anthony Russo have chosen not to take the same road as their father. The two brothers therefore underwent artistic training before seizing their first opportunity to make a feature film with the help of Steven Soderbergh, indeed, with his production company Section Eight, he produced their first work. Welcome to Collinwood.
Along with their films, the two directors mainly direct several episodes of TV series such asArrested Development, Community or even Happy endings.
The consecration then arrives in 2012 when Marvel Studios hires them to realize the second part of the adventures of Steve Rogers, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Success is then there, and not only commercially (the film collects 714 million dollars at the box office, for a budget of 170 million). Indeed, the Russo brothers totally appropriate the character and its stakes, resulting in a feature film mixing superhero film and spy thriller. Clearly, the directors succeed in their bet to give their identity to their blockbuster.
Building on this success, they are therefore committed to achieving Captain America: Civil War, third part released in 2016. The success is once again at the rendezvous, both at the commercial level and at the critical level. But the best is yet to come.
Thus, they are entrusted with the biggest project of their career: to succeed Joss Whedon to conclude the Thanos arc with the two films. Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers Endgame. The challenge is passed with flying colors, Endgame thus becoming one of the most viewed films of all time.
Joe discusses return negotiations
A little over a month ago, the Wall Street Journal evoked a halt in negotiations for the making of a Marvel film between Disney and the Russo brothers, relating to the dispute between Disney and Scarlett Johansson. Joe and Anthony logically weren’t keen on directing another MCU movie until things were sorted out.
Now, with relations between the actress and Marvel now calming: will talks resume between the Russo brothers and Kevin Feige to stage a new MCU project? Asked by Variety On this subject, Joe Russo was evasive, leaving the question open:
It would be inappropriate for us to comment on negotiations if we were in the middle of them. (…) I’m just happy that the dispute is resolved. I think this is proof that an important change has been made. The resolution says a lot of respect for artists moving forward in this changing industry.
An answer to dodge the question, but which indicates in any case that negotiations are still ongoing. In the meantime, the Russo brothers are investing in the major streaming platforms. After Cherry, film distributed by Apple TV + and carried by Tom Holland, the next film from the two directors, entitled The gray man, will be broadcast on Netflix. We will notably find Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Wagner Moura and Regé-Jean Page. The second project is called Citadel, and will be a spy series aired on Amazon.
