Marvel Studios producer considers it a ‘red flag’ if potential writers are fans of original comics, prefers to hire someone ‘who’s out of the culture’
As if that wasn’t obvious enough just by looking at one of the post-Infinity War release, producer Nate Moore revealed that he believes the key to Marvel Studios’ success is hiring writers who are “out” of comic book culture rather than anyone who likes the source material.
Reed Richards (John Krasinski) leads fellow Illuminati members Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch) against the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ( 2022), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
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Moore, whose career has seen him serve as a producer for such Marve Cinematic Universe entries as Captain America: Civil War, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and more recently Black Panther: Wakanda Forevershared his take on Marvel Studios’ hiring philosophy during an appearance on the Nov. 16 episode of The Ringer’s The city podcast.
Namor (Tenoch Huerta) battles Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ (2022), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
Talking with host Matthew Belloni about his general experience working for the Disney affiliate [time stamp 17:00]Moore was finally asked if there was “some sort of ‘Marvel bootcamp’ or something you do with these filmmakers to get them into this world and know everything they need to know”, to which the producer confirmed “not really.”
Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) wields the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the Ten Rings in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
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Noting that some Marvel writers grew up reading and collecting comics, such as Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, Moore told Belloni, “one thing that I find interesting, and I would say especially for writers, is that we’re often writers who love Marvel, and to me that’s always a flag. red.”
“I don’t want you to already have a pre-existing idea of what it is, because you grew up with the comics and that’s what you want to recreate,” he explained. “I want someone who’s going to be tough on the material, who can say ‘What’s this? I think there’s a movie here. But maybe we should watch it this way. way ‘”
Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) confronts Taskmaster (Olga Kuylenko) amid the wreckage of the Red Room in Black Widow (2022), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
Offering an example of what he was looking for in potential writers, Moore went on to point out Captain America Trilogy screenwriters “Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who weren’t rising comedians, but were like, ‘Wait, Captain America…that sounds a little weird. How about we kind of look at it that way?
“And they weren’t married to anything, nothing was sacrosanct,” the producer recalled.
Captain America (Chris Evans) leads the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) into battle against Iron Man ( Robert Downey Jr.) pro-listing Avengers in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
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“I think it’s important to be able to say ‘Look, the source material is awesome, and I love it and the comics work great in the medium they were built in, but that’s not a translation direct and individual to the best version of the film,” he claimed. “And sometimes it takes someone who’s out of the culture to say, ‘Hey, I know you think this should be it, but maybe it should be something else!'”
Turning to provide further support for his argument, Moore then advanced Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder director as “a great example of that too, [because he was like] ‘Hey, I know Thor is traditionally a little stiff, a little Shakespearian, but what if you change it? What if you changed the tone completely? ‘”
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) kicks a pair of Booskan speeders in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
“The tone of Ragnarok is all Taika because he wasn’t married to Thor on the page,” the producer concluded, believing himself to be complimenting the director rather than putting his finger on why many fans were turned off by the Waititi’s take on the God of Thunder. “I haven’t read all the Thor books, I’ve read a lot – I couldn’t tell you about a run that looks like something Ragnarok.”
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) investigate the latter’s downed Quinjet in Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
The latest movie from Marvel Studios, Black Panther: Wakanda Foreveris currently playing in theaters.
Namor (Tenoch Huerta) takes a stand against Wakanda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Marvel Entertainment via YouTube
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