In an interview with comicbook.com, directors and brothers Anthony and Joe Russo spoke about their upcoming Marvel Comics film Captain America: Civil War and how their Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, will be different to previous portrayals from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.
In the lead-up to the highly anticipated sequel to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Joe Russo confirmed that there will be no visuals of the new Spider-Man on any of the films’ merchandise or even in the trailer.
“Part of making these movies is maintaining surprise so that everybody’s excited, and that’s one we’re going to make fans surprised,” he said.
It became apparent to the Russo brothers that over the last 15 years, the character of Spider-Man hadn’t really been honoured the way it should, in relation to his age, his surroundings and his reality.
Joe Russo revealed that finding the authenticity of their Spider-Man came from a very personal place because after all, they are fans before directors.
“We took a very personal approach to the character. He was my favourite character growing up, so the opportunity to bring Spider-Man to the screen is a dream come true. It’s something that I spent a lot of time thinking about as a kid.”
“For us, it was extremely important that we cast somebody very close to the age of a high school student. The previous films had adults playing a high schooler. We wanted more of an authenticity to the casting. We were very specific about that. We wanted an energy and charisma from the character, but also an insecurity that would make him fun to watch in contrast to the confident superheroes. We wanted to relate it to the reality,” he said.
Anthony Russo added that they wanted to achieve the “everyman appeal” of the character, while staying true to their naturalistic approach in its creation. Bringing their own touches also allowed a freedom not yet seen on the big screen.
It should be noted that neither Joe nor Anthony Russo aim to belittle other interpretations of Spider-Man. In fact, both speak very highly of the previous films and its director.
“Raimi‘s movies are fantastic. Spider-Man One and Two are amazing. Two, is one of, if not my favourite comic book movie of all time,” Joe said.
If we can trust anyone to do this comic book movie adaptation any justice, it’s the Russo brothers. Their attention to detail is next to none and with a refreshing approach on bringing actual reality to the big screen, we think they may have hit the nail on the head.
“We’re all so dialled in to what’s happening in current events that it’s important for us that these characters live in the world that we live in because it makes them more real and it makes our experience of watching them more passionate and more well-rounded,” Joe said.
For the full interview, check it out below.
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