Director Nia DaCosta’s interview with Vanity Fair will surely have people talking. It’s a frank discussion about her frustrating experience filming “The Marvels.”
As DaCosta tells the publication, “Sometimes you’d be in a scene and you’d be like, ‘What the hell does any of this shit mean? […] There were obviously hard days, and days where you’re like, ‘This just isn’t working.’”
She admits to asking herself, “Are they going to kill me and destroy my soul?” and texting “Shang-Chi” director, Destin Daniel Cretton, during production, telling him “I’m overwhelmed” and “I’m so stressed.”
Despite being the director, DaCosta would have loved to have had more creative input from in the movie that she was making, noting that “The Marvels” was very much “a Kevin Feige production, it’s his movie. So I think you live in that reality, but I tried to go in with the knowledge that some of you is going to take a back seat.”
“It was really great to play in this world, and to be a part of building this big world,” she added, “but it made me just want to build my own world more.”
This aligns well with what former Marvel executive, Victoria Alonso, had said back in March. A report had claimed that Alonso berated an unnamed Marvel director on-set, saying that “they don't direct the movies, we direct the movies.' Meaning, the filmmakers we hire don't have creative control over the look or feel of the films.
It’s no secret that, in every Marvel movie, the bigwigs take control of the creative process, but you still need a director to direct the various crews, units, and cinematographers to do their jobs. Alonso is probably not lying here.
Sure, there’s the post-production VFX people. It's a “collaborative” effort, but the director doesn’t really “direct” in the purest sense of the term. He or she just oversees and hopes for the best.
“The Marvels” is set to open in theaters Nov. 10 from Disney.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.