Summary
- Captain America: Brave New World faced numerous production issues, such as reshoots and rejections.
- A film crew member criticized the production, suggesting a tense Marvel shoot.
- Fans and critics describe the movie as frustrating and messy, mirroring the results of these early production woes.
Captain America: Brave New World is finally here, and the mixed reviews from the film hit in a whole new light with details from a recent report detailing the film’s reportedly rocky path to completion at Marvel Studios.
Captain America: Brave New World was set to have a hard time from the very beginning, with the heavy task of closing the door on Chris Evans’ Captain America and ushering in Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson in his place. With a mandate to make a political thriller work in a grounded new MCU story that also featured multiple gamma-augmented humans and the Serpent Society, a few hiccups in the script were expected. What wasn’t expected was the reports of rejections, reshoots and many unspecified issues behind the scenes, which got so loud that leading man Mackie had to step forward and address the Captain America 4 reports.
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While some fans had put the stories of BTS struggle behind them in the leadup to its premiere, a stunning new report from Vulture reexamines these production woes with a statement from an insider. A technical crew member on Captain America: Brave New World familiar with the production and others at Marvel Studios had some scathing words concerning the production and backstage perception of the film’s chances. “I think everyone on the crew knew this is probably not going to be a good film,” they reveal. “Some of the action sequences were not believable. We had a lot of frustrations on set. After principal photography was finished, it was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to introduce the leader of the Serpent Society.’ It was on, then it was off, then it was on again. That’s very expensive to do. My co-workers who spent more time on Brave New World than I did said, ‘Yeah, this has been a really rough production.’”
The insider also confirmed the popular opinion on why the extensive Captain America 4 reworks were necessary as well as why the film’s name and assassination subplot were changed abruptly, saying in summary that “when the studio had its test in front of an audience, it didn’t respond. Maybe they don’t want to see anything political in an election year?” While a lot of this is only being confirmed by someone close to the production for the first time but was rumored earlier, the crew member had one major critique of the production that fans of Hollywood might not have expected.
Reshoots are a part of making any movie like this with a big budget. But this isn’t Marvel’s first rodeo. Entire sequences we shot won’t make it into the film, and that’s very expensive. I’m not going to say the director was not equipped to handle that production. Basically, dealing with A-list egos was the issue. It was mainly just Harrison Ford. So that was a little disappointing. At the end of the day, it was the most tense Marvel shoot I’ve ever worked on. Everyone kind of felt their buttholes tightening a little bit. It’s like, Ugh.
The crew member had more to say about Ford, who made his MCU debut as (now) US President Thadeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross in Brave New World, as well as taking on Ross’ giant crimson alter-ego, the Red Hulk. “Harrison Ford was one of the crankiest performers I ever dealt with, which was sad. I’m a fan. But he was very much a diva. I don’t know if you remember, but he got in a plane crash. He couldn’t even raise his left arm above his chest. We have to suit up 80-something Harrison Ford in these motion-capture dots. To me, it seemed like he hated it and didn’t want to do it. And when Harrison was done, he was done. Everyone was trying to scramble to make him happy. That made for a very awkward work environment.” This will likely shock fans, as it goes against the humorous and positive narrative Ford has given on his casting and time on Captain America: Brave New World. While scathing, the report does note that Ford’s behavior was stated to not be “unusually challenging” by another source, whatever that means.
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While there is some praise for the film out there in the pool of first reviews, there’s also a heavy contingent that describes Captain America: Brave New World as a frustrating and messy experience that fails to captivate fans, and these comments make it seem obvious from inception. More so than a failure to connect, the insider view would match up with what fans would expect from a film that’s being set up to fail and not a critical first release from a massive franchise like the MCU. With the full scope of the issues at hand, it’s also easy to see why the lid couldn’t be held down hard enough to keep the production’s difficulties out of the discussion cycle.
It was clear that Marvel Studios needed Captain America: Brave New World to succeed (for more than one reason). However, with the first reception and the story behind how the film got there, it’s going to be an uphill battle not to squander the grace that the MCU earned by sacrificing Fox’s Marvel era to Ryan Reynolds last year. With Thunderbolts* set to rethread the political thriller path that Captain America 4 just fumbled, all eyes will be on the retro superhero genre project Fantastic Four: First Steps and its seemingly calm production process to redeem the franchise.
Captain America: Brave New World is showing in theaters now.
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