Nobody is going to mistake a Marvel Studios movie for an indie film, but perhaps that will change with Thunderbolts*? At least, Florence Pugh and director Jake Schreier think so. In a recent Empire Magazine interview, the actress, who reprises her role as Black Widow Yelena Belova, talked about the superhero film’s similarity to the output by indie studio A24…
“It ended up becoming this quite badass indie, A24-feeling assassin movie with Marvel superheroes,” Pugh said.
Schreier, who previously directed episodes of Beef, agreed with his star and referenced the hit Netflix series…
“There’s a certain amount of that ‘Beef’ tone in it, that does feel different…There’s an emotional darkness that we brought to this that is resonant, but doesn’t come at the expense of comedy.”
The timing on these comments is perfect, as Letterboxd recently premiered a new Thunderbolts* “Absolute Cinema” trailer cut to highlight its connection to other popular A24 films.
Not a bad idea to court audiences from outside of the usual demo. Marvel is going to need to win back other moviegoers who may have left over the years, and this is one way to do it. That said, Marvel doesn’t want to have A24-like numbers at the box office, either.
David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Geraldine Viswanathan, Lewis Pullman, and Olga Kurylenko co-star.
Here’s the synopsis:
In “Thunderbolts*,” Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster, and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
Thunderbolts* opens in theaters on May 2nd.
