The Russo brothers, Joe and Anthony, discuss the most challenging aspect of filming the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame simultaneously.
The Mad Titan, Thanos, in the Avengers: Infinity War
Joe and Anthony Russo discuss the physical toll of making Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
After the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, the directorial pair moved on to pursue projects under their own firm, AGBO Films, outside of the MCU.
After the success of the previous two Avengers films, it's safe to assume that the Wachowski brothers will always be connected with the Marvel Cinematic Universe as two of the studio's most important directors.
The Russo Brothers worked with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely on Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The trio had previously worked together on Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.
Because of their outstanding work with a large cast in the 2016 Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. MCU blockbuster, Marvel Studios decided to hire the duo to direct the Infinity Saga capstone films.
But it helped that there were two of them sharing the directorship of Infinity War and Endgame, as working on both movies back-to-back was so laborious, in addition to their ability to write a balanced tale and their extensive awareness of the MCU.
The Russians themselves have acknowledged the effort required.
Thor's Marvel Cinematic Universe Finale Has One Use
This Ending to Iron Man Did Not Work At All
The Russo Brothers were recently questioned about the challenges of filming Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame consecutively in a new interview with GQ, in which they discuss their most memorable works to date.
Anthony Russo says honestly that the long days of filming made it tough on everyone.
Although he claims he would never do it again, he acknowledges that the movie' unconventional shooting schedule forced them to rethink their approach creatively.
Please read his whole statement below:
Well, that certainly isn't healthy.
Yes, unquestionably.
Yes, it was a challenge.
In the end, I think we all thought, "Oh, we'll never film two movies like that, back-to-back again."
It's quite demanding and tough.
But take a look at how Joe was expressing how we like to always be rewriting, and you'll see that this really does allow for a major interaction between what we're doing in the two movies and for us to be moving back and forth artistically.
And I believe that was a tremendous, very rare creative chance in the narrative.
Since Infinity War and Endgame were so intertwined (despite Marvel Studios' stance on the topic), any shifts made by the Russos during filming would have had repercussions for the other film.
They were able to do more by shooting consecutive days.
It's clear to argue that it would have been difficult for a single director to handle both projects in the time allotted.
Joe would take charge of the shots while Anthony would oversee the dailies and figure out the rough cuts over different weeks of production.
Sometimes they'd have to speed things up on set by supervising many filming units at once.
Curiously, the Russo Brothers have shown an interest in making a Marvel Cinematic Universe film set around the Secret Wars era.
When the time comes for a Marvel Studios adaptation, the filmmakers acknowledge that the picture will need to be larger than both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
It's possible that they'll beg for more time to shoot or maybe split the two-part Secret Wars film into two parts with a break in between.
