Back on April 10, 2016, I was invited to partake in a double press conference for the first film in phase 3 of the Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. The film I am talking about is Captain America: Civil War. Outside of Batman V Superman, there is no denying that the third Captain America installment is something that Marvel, comic book, and film fans are anxiously waiting for. In the spirit of the film’s face-off between Iron Man vs Captain America, Disney conducted back to back press conferences for Civil War.
Each conference was moderated by Grae Drake and lasted about 35-45 minutes. Each conference featured members of the cast and crew and were broken down into Team Iron Man and Team Captain America. Please note: I will be doing a second article about some interesting takeaways from the #TeamCap press conference but for now its all about Iron Man.
Team Iron Man was the first press conference of the day and consisted of Anthony Russo (Co-Director), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Paul Bettany (Vision), Don Cheadle (War Machine/James Rhodes), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter) and the founder of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige. The gang talked about a lot of things from technology to getting Spider-Man in this film.
Below are 10 takeaways from the Team Iron Man press conference that I found to be the most noteworthy.
10. There is a scene in Civil War where Robert Downey Jr plays a 20 year old version of Tony Stark. This particular scene took several months to film and was only able to be done thanks to the advancement in technology. Russo noted that it was the last scene to be put into the final cut of the film.
9. Anthony Russo believes that by incorporating Spider-Man and Ant-Man they helped bring in lighter and more whimsical colors into the film. He mentioned that the film needed something to offset the dark tone of the whole Captain America vs Iron Man storyline and these two characters were a big part of that solution.
8. The Russo Brothers love action but believe that action needs to driven by character and a sense of story. Anthony stated that their “needs reason otherwise it (action) becomes boring.”
7. Kevin Feige believes that Captain America: Civil War has the “biggest assemble cast in cinematic history.”
6. Paul Bettany was asked about the costumes and who had it the worst. His response was “I think it’s a photo finish. However, I think maybe Chadwick had it the worst with the whole I can’t really breathe in this costume.”
5. Robert Downey Jr read with five actors in Atlanta who wanted to the role of Spider-Man.
4. Emily VanCamp mentioned that she loves all the physical action stuff and thinks that it’s brilliantly done when the Russo’s direct her.
3. Robert Downey Jr helped pick and pushed for Tom Holland to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man
2. Don Cheadle believes that what draws audiences to his character of James Rhodes is the constant conflict of “friendship vs chain of command.”
1. Kevin Feige believes “its quality, not quantity” when it comes to so many characters being in one film. He believes that as long as each character has a particular moment that inspires people to laugh or cheer that character did his or her job.
Are you excited to see Captain America: Civil War this weekend? Are you TeamCap or TeamIronMan? Let us know in the comment box below. If you haven’t already be sure to check out my very detailed and non-spoiler review for Civil War. You can do so by clicking right here. Thank you for reading and check back for my Team Captain America press conference recap.