‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Director Says Marvel Film Was More Comic Book-Inspired Before Reshoots: “The One Thing That Probably Evolved Was Moving The Movie More From A Heightened Version Of It To One That Was More Grounded”
According to director Julius Onoh, perhaps the biggest change made to Captain America: Brave New World across its tumultuous reshoot period was its shift in tone, as the film’s original cut was apparently far more ‘comic book’-y than the one that eventually released in theaters.
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As confirmed by previous set photo and merchandise leaks, between Alita: Battle Angel star Rosa Salazar’s pink-haired appearance as Diamondback, to WWE Champion Seth Rollins’ role as Serpent Society head King Cobra, to both Isaiah Bradley and Sabra donning full superhero costumes, to The Leader looking more like his comic book counterpart, Brave New World was initially on track to lean more into its Marvel Comics source material than most of the MCU’s post-Phase 2 outings (which admittedly isn’t saying much, but still, credit where credit is due).
However, as audiences now know, after the film was practically reshot in full, these elements were fully dropped from its runtime, with Salazar and Rollins both being replaced in their narrative roles by The Mandalorian star Giancarlo Esposito and the film’s main villain being given a physical appearance more akin to a Last of Us-style Cordycept than someone with a gamma-enlarged brain.
And during a recent interview with The Wrap‘s Andi Ortiz, the aforementioned Onoh revealed that these more ‘fantastical’ aspects were the main victims of the film’s troubled production.
Asked by Ortiz as to how the film ‘changed’ between its original and final forms, the director opined, “You know, I don’t even necessarily look at it as change, as much as evolution.”
“A screenplay is not a movie,” he asserted. “A screenplay is a blueprint. It is a foundation that you work upon, work from, and then you get incredible craftspeople and incredible actors, and then you build the movie. So, this notion that any movie — and you could look through the history of movie-making — is exactly the words on the page in the script, and that becomes a finished movie, is not the case on, I don’t know, Jaws, or Star Wars or The Wizard of Oz, or The Lord of the Rings, or anything. You could say the same thing for indie and art house movies.”
“The nuts and bolts of the story, which was a dramatic triangle between Ross, and Sam, and Sterns was always there,” Onoh continued. “The idea of an emotional journey with Sam that leaned into his sense of empathy as his superpower was something that was there, but I wanted to elevate further.”
“And I would say the one thing that probably evolved was moving the movie more from a heightened version of it to one that was more grounded,” he then revealed. “So it was that evolutionary process that is so important, and I think one of the things that’s always tricky when you’re working with such heightened source material.”
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On this same topic, Onoh further explained that it was this same desire to “ground” Brave New World – ostensibly in an attempt to evoke memories of The Winter Soldier‘s fame in order to try and earn back some good will with audiences – that resulted in the drastic changes to The Serpent Society’s silver screen debut.
Pressed as to why he “added” Esposito’s Sidewinder to film so late in the game, the director explained, “I think it gets a little deceptive in ‘a whole new character was added,’ because Serpent Society was always a part of the story, so the story function that Serpent Society serves in the film has never changed. What the necessity was, [with] the grounded tone of the movie, was how do we make sure that we don’t drive out of the lane that the movie organically wants to be in?”
“And you have such great actors who have a tendency to ground everything they do in a beautiful way, in people like Anthony and people like Harrison,” he continued. “And it was clear that we were deviating probably a bit too much from the grounded tone that we wanted the movie to have with how we had created Serpent Society at first.”
“You know, they are people dressed like snakes in comic books, and they have snake-adjacent powers and stuff that’s really, really heightened, and you wanted an actor who could really help us lean, or gesture towards the fantastic, but without losing that sense of grounding,” Onoh detailed. “So it’s not like Serpent Society or the character changed. It was just, let’s really introduce a version of them that fits into the tone of the movie. And Sidewinder has historically been the founder of Serpent Society. So that was also another detail that we wanted to weave into it, since it’s our first time seeing them in the MCU. And when Giancarlo was available, hell yeah!”
Further, when asked about the changes to Isaiah, Ruth, and The Leader’s appearance, Onoh asserted, “From the very beginning, the point of view that I was bringing, that Marvel was also really excited about, was how do we make this the most grounded adventure we can?”
“But obviously nobody is unaware of the fact that these are iconic characters, certainly in publishing,” the director continued. “So you’re always just trying to thread that needle, and that is part of the organic process of making any movie, certainly a movie of this scale. And some of the things I referenced before were all movies that — I think the difference now is probably because of the internet, and social media, and leaks, all sorts of things end up out in the open, and it sounds like, ‘Oh my God, so much is [changed]!’”
“And it’s not, it’s just the organic process of making the movie,” he concluded. “The things I referenced — actors change roles all the time, right? It wasn’t originally Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future (laughs). That’s not the first Aragorn who was in Lord of the Rings, etc, etc. That’s all just part of the organic process. And I think sometimes, because so much stuff is speculated on, it seems as if, ‘Oh my God, so many things are changing,’ but you’re always going to do what’s best for the movie, and to make sure you deliver the best story for an audience.”
For those From the very beginning, the point of view that I was bringing, that Marvel was also really excited about, was how do we make this the most grounded adventure we can? But obviously nobody is unaware of the fact that these are iconic characters, certainly in publishing. So you’re always just trying to thread that needle, and that is part of the organic process of making any movie, certainly a movie of this scale.
And some of the things I referenced before were all movies that — I think the difference now is probably because of the internet, and social media, and leaks, all sorts of things end up out in the open, and it sounds like, ‘Oh my God, so much is [changed]!’ And it’s not, it’s just the organic process of making the movie.
The things I referenced — actors change roles all the time, right? It wasn’t originally Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future (laughs). That’s not the first Aragorn who was in ‘Lord of the Rings,’ etc, etc. That’s all just part of the organic process. And I think sometimes, because so much stuff is speculated on, it seems as if, “Oh my God, so many things are changing,” but you’re always going to do what’s best for the movie, and to make sure you deliver the best story for an audience.
Captain America: Brave New World is now playing in theaters.
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