Who Should Direct The Avengers Movie?
Oct 16, 2009 by Kofi OutlawNow that Jon Favreau has said he won’t be directing the Avengers movie, who should sit in the director’s chair? We have some ideas…
Jon Favreau recently let it be known that he will not be directing The Avengers, Marvel’s super-powered mashup of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, which is being planned as THE summer movie event of 2012. That news dashed the hopes of some, but has thrown the door of possibility wide open for others who are wondering:
Who Should Direct The Avengers?
It’s been pointed out by Favreau, current Avengers writer Zak Penn and even a few directors who have already tried to toss their hats in the ring to direct The Avengers: Making this movie is going to be like riding a unicycle across a tightrope while juggling plates on chopsticks. We’re talking about a film that has to give equal weight to three characters – Cap, Thor and Iron Man (and maybe more) – who are all (best case scenario) going to be blockbuster movie divas in their own right.
(Ok, so I’m making a joke about comic book characters being divas, but seriously, I could just as well be talking about the actors playing the roles, by the time The Avengers rolls around.)
Along with three super divas, there are the (multiple) storylines and subplots of the individual films that will likely factor into the narrative arch of The Avengers:
What happens when Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) lays eyes on Thor (Chris Hemsworth) or Captain America for the first time? Does she go all ga-ga? How would Thor’s girlfriend (Natalie Portman) feel about the competition for her man-god? Will Cap and Thor get cozy in Tony Stark’s plush pads and leer jets – or will Thor prefer the Mjölnir express for his flying mileage? How will Cap deal with Tony’s boozy charm? How will Thor deal with Cap – a mere Midgard mortal – trying to tell him what to do? How will Tony deal with a grandstanding old-timer and a guy who thinks he’s a Thunder god without reaching for a drink?
A bromance has to be built.
None of those questions I just asked are even relevant to the central plot of Avengers – they’re all themeatic and tonal threads that need to be woven together into just the right braid for Avengers to work. On the comic book page, a team-up is usually just the geekgasm of seeing a bunch of heroes getting together to kick ass – it’s purely a novelty. When an unprecedented event like The Avengers – a mashup of individually profitable movie franchises – happens, it’s more than a novelty – it’s three cinematic worlds colliding. Hard to do that without breaking something.
Once the ideas have been fleshed out, and the details of the story settled on, there still remains the task of essentially making three movies in one, while simultaneously making it all look revolutionary and epic. Avengers could potentially reset the bar for superhero films, action films and how the movie biz builds its franchises. For that feat you need more than a director – you need somebody who has the vision to see what could be and make it into a reality that will blow our collective socks off. Any less than that and this movie slips right off the rails into the quagmire of disappointment.
So, who’s up for the job?
Continue reading to see our director picks for The Avengers…
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I just read that Jude Law and Robert DeNiro have been cast in Thor. check it out over @ firstshowing.
@greenknight333
thanks, I was wracking my brain trying to remember what Hidalgo was called the other day, great film. Almost cried at the end… sniff.
Stan Lee is in his 80s now, not many 80year olds have the energy to direct, let alone a megabuster like Avengers… maybe Clint would do it?
My vote goes to Tony or Ridley Scott, both of them! (I get two votes ’cause I rigged the election natch!)
¿Wolfgang Petersen?
WHOEVER DOES IT HAS TO “GET COMICS” AND KNOW THE CHARACTERS REALLY WELL, SWIM IN THE COOL THAT EACH CHARACTER GIVES AND MAKE IT WORK TOGETHER…
Nope you’re all wrong
Coppola
ZACK SNYDER
Uwe… oh wait, that joke was already made… dang…
Kofi Outlaw you are a great article writer, you say a great amount without boring us, and put a fine point on the topic.
Sorry everybody, as much as the Avengers has me foaming at the mouth, Kofi just wrote the best article I’ve read on here, and I had to comment on it.
jordi says: “Stan Lee is in his 80s now”
Stan’s name is on every movie Marvel is doing and while he may have little involvement on any in particular, I just find it odd after decades of being involved with comic stories on screen that he’s never did what ever it took to become a capable director. I guess he’s just too busy or never had the desire. Jordi Ridley is a decent choice I can agree to that, he turns 72 next month by the way…
Stan’s current involvement;
Legion of 5 (2012) (in production) (executive producer)
Nick Fury (2012) (announced) (executive producer)
Doctor Strange (2012) (announced) (executive producer)
The First Avenger: Captain America (2011) (announced) (executive producer)
Deadpool (2011) (announced) (executive producer)
The Hands of Shang-Chi (2011) (announced) (executive producer)
X-Men Origins: Magneto (2011) (announced) (executive producer)
Thor (2011) (pre-production) (executive producer)
Spider-Man 4 (2011) (pre-production) (executive producer)
Iron Man 2 (2010) (post-production) (executive producer)
I would nominate James Cameron too, as far as we know so far unlike Lucas he has nt lost it, and nor has he changed into a very diffrent filmaker like Spielberg imho.
I really dont believe Ridly Scott would be interested, I think it would be way too comic book for him.
Cameron is well versed in comics as he has gone on the record numerous times as a big fan of Marvel. And if you read his Spiderman scriptment you can see how he would approach a superhero film. Also, he is one of the few directors that can balance characterization, story, action (which he is damn good at doing for that matter)with special effects.
And lastly, he is very ambitious, and he knows how to handle serious pressure. That all being said, I doubt he would be interested as he seems to prefer to create his own stuff now…
@ South Africa Guy
James Cameron mostly handles his own “original” visions. I doubt he’s willing to work under the boot of Disney/Marvel and he would more than likely turn Avengers into a CGI/FX-driven film that I don’t think we want it to be.
@theoldman
where are you getting your info? I didn’t think Nick Fury had been announced and Magneto I’m pretty sure hasn’t been announced.
This film would be cool if it came in at about 2 1/2hrs. It’ll give everyone enuf time to ‘chew up the sceanery’…
‘corse I’ll get a litte more Star Time! ~ Stark
@M-Cat
Looks like he got it from imdb which interestingly enough also lists Dr Strange in 2012 as a Neil Gaiman written screenplay. Got me excited
@jordi
that’s what I figured. Imdb is unreliable when it comes to trusting that info. It’s all rumor based basically.
@Kofi
“he would more than likely turn Avengers into a CGI/FX-driven film”
Where exactly is the evidence of this? The only movie he has made that had a lot of CGI is Titanic. Despite popular belief, the great majority of the effects in T2 was practical. True Lies was almost completely void of CGI except for the Harrier scene, even then, most of that was practical effects. The Abiyss had some CGI but most of its effects were also practical, models, stop motion, etc. Almost all of Aliens was practical.
I mean, Avatar is all CGI but that’s just one film that he’s been trying to figure out how to make all this time and it hasn’t even come out yet to see if it relies on its CGI or if its story actually has legs of its own…
And besides, The Avengers will have Iron Man, Thor, and Cpt. America. We already know Iron Man was full of CGI, do you think they can do Thor and Cpt. America without a great amount of CGI?
If anything, James Cameron knows how to tastefully use effects to tell a great story, he doesn’t make up a bogus story just as an excuse to use cool CGI *cough* Transformers*cough* So I think he would be OK, but I do agree with you 100% that he might be a bit incapable of working under rules set by Disney/Marvel. He might be just as bad or worse to work with than Edward Norton, lol.
Well let me be fair, one of the interviews I’ve seen of James Cameron for Avatar, he actually seemed kind of apologetic about how he usually was as a director. He said that he showed his temper often and sometimes wouldn’t treat people with respect, he acknowledged this and he mentioned how he’s been trying to control that and tone that down and how he’s trying to find more productive ways to get the acting he wants out of the people without being so antagonistic, etc. etc. So maybe he’s getting better, who knows?
But personally, the reason why I wouldn’t recommend James Cameron is that it seems most of his work revolves around one protagonist with maybe a sidekick or a few characters around that protagonist. The Avengers is supposed to be evenly spread among several characters without one charcter over shadowing the rest. I’m not sure how well he does this. I mean, Terminator 2 was kind of close, between the Terminator, Sarah Connor, and John Connor, but let’s be honest, it was the Terminator’s show, lol. But that’s just my opinion.
peter jackson. nuff said. you need someone in there who has an eye for detail as well as directing the cast from a script…the man is a genius who can do large scale imax style films..if you want the ultimate avengers-he’s the man.
Ooo I like the Jackson idea as a second chair, but still,… Nope Coppola
Richard Donner as third choice
@ Vic & Ken J
I think you guys are dreaming. Avengers will either take a director who is poised to join the circle of “New masters” (See: Jackson or del Toro), or it’ll be a collaborative effort from the directors already in the mix. A guy like Len Wiseman is on the brink of being a big name in directing (Gears of War) and we’ll see about Matthew Vaughn once Kick-ass hits – but they both represent the tier I think Marvel will pull from.
To be fair, nobody would’ve EVER guessed Kenneth Branagh would do Thor, so, I guess anything is possible…
I like the Peter Jackson idea. He obviously proved he can handle the scope of the Avengers with his work on The Lord of the Rings. I could definitely see that.
And James Cameron could surely pull it off without too much CGI involved. He knows major blockbusters more than anyone. He just wouldn’t sign on to do it. I do remember he had a spiderman script at one point so we know he was at least somewhat involved with Marvel at one point.
@ Ken J
here is an article you should surely be interested in about James Cameron that took the writer a year to do all about Cameron and his ways in producing and directing.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/26/091026fa_fact_goodyear
m-cat, thanks dude, I read that article. Great stuff, very interesting imho.
And yeah he did write a Spiderman scriptment which is freely available on the web if you look for it. It was really grreat imho (though only a scriptment and not a properly fleshed out script, but it still gave a great idea of his approach), it had some damn cool action, and was actually more adult in tone than the comics (Peter and Mj have sex on top of the ESB) which I preferred. Raimi’s Spiderman even “borrowed” several elements (the organic web shooters are stolen right from Cameron’s scriptment) and the end battle between Spidey, Electro, and Sandman would have been quite spectacular i think.
I agree with most of what you say Ken J, i cant understand why some people cant seem to understand that cgi is a tool like any other effect, and like any other effect, there are bad examples of it and good examples of it. As you say so far Cameron has always used cgi very tastefully (I believe his track record proves this). I think its ridiculously close minded to just dismiss cgi out of hand as an effect, especially considering that there are many things that can not be done in any other way. And I also dont get his point in how he seems to be under the delusion that Thor, CA, and Iron Man dont have a lot of cgi??
I would also go for Cameron, one of the best at handling a big story with complex effects, and an insane attention to detail.
Also, his scripts are nt full of plot holes and massive lapses in logic ala hacks like Bay, JJ abrahms etc…imho..
i will gladly work for free and direct the most acclaimed movie of the 21st century. give me a shot and i will give you the holy grail of films. EXCELSIOR!
cameron
I love Aliens… Cameron could work. Would Marvel want to shell out the cash?
They are already gonna be paying Downey Jr, Hemsworth, Jackson, Norton (probably), and whoever is playing Cap. Plus VFX, that is a LOT of coin to make this movie.
Can they afford Cameron?
Evan…probably not…lol. I think you are dead right dude, Marvel will want to get the best talent they can while keeping costs in check…
Me! Me! I’ll do it.
If anyone thinks that the Avengers movie will not rely on CGI heavily then they are deluding themselves..You are going to have
Iron Man (Heavy CGI)
Hulk(Heavy CGI)
ANt-man/Wasp (CGI) @ bug size
There will be a heavy reliance on CGI regardless!! Lets just hope they give us a great story…