Creative freedom or directorial shackles? Depending on who you ask, taking on a big budget blockbuster is either the chance to try some exciting things with lots of money and big effects teams, or finding yourself in constant meetings with executives who have an endless series of conflicting notes serving various needs. For director Alan Taylor, who cut his teeth on TV with “Game Of Thrones,” “The Sopranos,” “Mad Men,” “Deadwood” and more, his leap to tentpole movies with Marvel‘s “Thor: The Dark World” was fine…until shooting wrapped.
“I’ve done two [blockbuster movies; the other being this week’s ‘Terminator Genisys‘] and I’ve learned that you don’t make a $170 million movie with someone else’s money and not have to collaborate a lot,” Taylor told Uproxx. “The Marvel experience was particularly wrenching because I was sort of given absolute freedom while we were shooting, and then in post it turned into a different movie. So, that is something I hope never to repeat and don’t wish upon anybody else. [‘Terminator Genisys’] was not like that. The story we started telling is essentially the story we finished and are bringing out into the world. But there was a lot of collaboration, as there is going to be on something this big.”
Taylor’s comments are made all the more interesting given Kevin Feige’s recent assertion that directors are able to make their mark on Marvel movies.
“Look at the movies. ‘Iron Man‘ and ‘Iron Man 2‘ are as Jon Favreau films as you can see. Kenneth Branagh has his stamp all over ‘Thor.’ ‘Captain America: First Avenger‘ is very much a Joe Johnston film. The greatest example of that, look at ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ with James Gunn,” Feige stated earlier this month.
Though perhaps it is telling that Taylor’s name wasn’t mentioned (nor Shane Black‘s for that matter). And while rumors have swirled recently that Branagh is being eyed to return for “Thor: Ragnarok,” Feige has dismissed that talk. “Not true. I don’t know where that came from,” he told Collider.
I’d be intrigued to know what Marvel wanted from “Thor: The Dark World” that Taylor objected to once the movie hit post-production, but as we’ve long learned, these movies evolve almost until the day they’re released. One only has to look at this year’s “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” where Joss Whedon had wanted to put Captain Marvel in the final shot of the film, only to be overruled by Feige with Scarlet Witch standing in instead.
Do you think directors need to lower their expectations about working on Marvel movies? Do we really want to clamor for people like Ava DuVernay to get Marvel gigs if they are only going to have to compromise to the needs of the MCU? Let us know below.
Doris is completely right about Marvel movies. Despite that, I\’d rather they keep hiring journeyman directors than fantastic talents like Ava DuVernay. The studio has complete control of the film either way. I\’d much rather they exert that control over a director basically trained to take it than exert that control over a phenomenal director who\’s already done great things and could so easily go on to do more, but is instead getting sucked into the cinematic black hole that is Marvel movies.
There were rumors Taylor had been fired from Thor: The Dark World at one point, so this kind of adds fuel to that I guess.
Marvel is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on these movies to tell their stories. So, of course it\’s going to be a collaborative process…..duhhhh. The Dark World changed after editing because they went back and added a lot more Loki…..for obvious reasons. That was well known before the movie even came out. If you took most of Loki\’s stuff out of there, it would have been a worse movie. Marvel realized this guy didn\’t do a good job and they need to punch the movie up with more Loki. Taylor had no experience directing big budget movies and he thought they were going to hand him $170 million to do whatever he wanted? Yeah, right.
the only comic-book movies that have ever worked were the ones made by filmmakers with a strong personal vision (Donner, Burton, Nolan, Del Toro).
Marvel hires journeymen — and the movies are, across the board, total generic by-the-numbers clunky non-cinematic shite. The sooner the pillaging of comic properties ends, the better. The cynicism is appalling, yet man-child nerds keep lapping it up.
Well, this does give some credence to the rumors circulating at the time that Taylor had actually been kicked out of the editing room. You\’ll also recall he was absent from promotions around the release (similar to Josh Trank now). But that was 2 years ago so it may as well be ancient history…
The bottom line is Marvel has one vision: Their own. You get on board or you\’re out (just ask Edgar Wright). This is the same company that screwed Jack Kirby (you know, the guy who CREATED Marvel), didn\’t give a damn when ALL their top talent walked out in the 90\’s, and the company that made Joss Whedon go from messiah to pariah in two short years. Hiring Ava DuVernay, I suspect, is a political/PR decision (opposed to an artistic one) and it\’ll be curious where her integrity leads her.
I personally liked Thor:DW. It was more fun and spectacular than the first part. Don\’t know why most of people don\’t like it.
Personally, Terminator Genysis looks awful. While Thor TDW could have had a better story, I enjoyed it! It was was definitely not the best Marvel movie but if Marvel had to step in and clean up a mess (that Taylor may or may not have made) it was probably an improvement (based on the dreadful looking Terminator chapter he has made). Granted, I haven\’t seen Terminator Genysis; I\’m basing my thoughts on the trailer(s).