Direk Russo explains why Civil War is very political

SINGAPORE — After the smash-hit Batman v Superman, two other superheroes are pitted against each other in what could be the most political Marvel story so far, Captain America: Civil War.

“I come from a very political family,” admitted Joe Russo who co-directed the movie with his brother Anthony (as they did Captain America: Winter Soldier, the second installment of the franchise). “My father was in politics when I was young; we are a family interested in politics.”

Joe Russo was talking to Asian journalists last week at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center during the Civil War junket in Singapore. The international promo for the movie was split between two groups: Team Cap led by Chris Evans (who reprises his iconic role as the serious superhero Captain America with a shield that magically bounces back bullets) together with Joe Russo and Evans’ co-stars Anthony Mackie (again as Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon) and Sebastian Stan (as Bucky Barnes a.k.a. Winter Soldier); and Team Iron Man led by Robert Downey Jr. somewhere else.

In this third installment (the first was Captain America: The First Avenger), the Avengers are split into two groups when political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability after a bungled attack on terrorists that resulted in collateral damage. One group (with Steve Rogers/Captain America as head) wants to remain free to defend humanity without government interference and the other (Tony Stark/Iron Man as head) opts to support government oversight and accountability. It’s civil war!

Terrorism is a threat in every corner of the world (with the Philippines not spared) and, as the movie’s audience will see, Civil War tackles a topic as timely as this morning’s headlines.

“This movie is about power and who has the right to wield it,” added Joe Russo. “In this movie, Iron Man and Captain America are pitted with each other on a political level but their personal conflict runs deeper — and down a more dangerous path than either could have ever anticipated or imagined.”

Downey was in The Avengers (along with Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, among others) and it’s his first time to be in a Captain America movie. Other members of the cast include Scarlett Johannson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Paul Bettany as Vision, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. (Keep an eye on Spider-Man who makes a surprise appearance in the movie.)

It’s a pity that Downey was not in Singapore so we could have asked his take on the movie, although he was quoted in the production notes as explaining what it means when Iron Man and Captain America find themselves at odds in the story, “You don’t want to see these two characters create a tear in the fabric of their relationship because you know how pervasive it can be. So it gives you a fair amount of shatter to play with. I’ve always liked the idea of how do you recover from that. What has to happen for there to be any sort of homeostasis by the end of a rift like that between Steve and Tony.”

In The STAR interview (published last Saturday), Evans likened the rift like to what happens in a closely-knit family, “except that family members don’t hurl each other against the walls,” unlike in the movie where the protagonists fight to death.

“In this movie,” said Joe Russo, “Captain America is both a protagonist and an antagonist,” praising the cast to high heavens. “I have an incredible repertoire of actors, an amazing repertoire of characters.”

At the press conference and the roundtable interview that followed, Mackie proved to be the livewire, cracking jokes and throwing punch lines in contrast to Stan (as the suspect in the terrorist attack) who was somewhat shy and serious.

Asked which of the movie’s other characters he would switch places with, Mackie (in his booming voice) laughed. “My arms are too big so I can’t play Iron Man. Otherwise, I will have to wear a suit with no arms. Yes, I’d rather play The Hulk, my favorite comics character since I was a kid; I would watch him on the show all the time.”

Same choice for Stan. “I think Winter Soldier is a cool character but I guess it would be fun to be in Iron Man’s suit.”

Said Joe Russo, “Sebastian is an amazing actor, an incredible actor. We really sought him out for the Winter Soldier role.”

It’s a role that looks like second skin to Stan.

“It needs intense preparation,” confessed Stan. “The physical demands are incredible and the first two months were the hardest. We shot a lot of my scenes in big chunks and I was working back and forth for five months. You have to be in Olympic-athlete shape to survive that. I couldn’t think of another job harder than that.”

No, he’s not complaining.

“But it was fun all the way,” Stan added.

Describing Captain America as the best superhero movie he has ever made, Mackie didn’t believe his character is “overshadowed” by what Joe Russo called “an incredible repertoire of characters.”

“Falcon is an all-around hero,” said Mackie of the character that first appeared in Winter Soldier (with Stan in the titular role as a Soviet-Union-brainwashed assassin) as Captain America’s ally. “What’s the biggest sport in Singapore?” he addressed the Singaporean journalists who answered soccer. “Imagine 11 guys in the field. Take away 10 of them. Can a champion soccer player like Lionel Messi shine on his own? Let Michael Jordan, the best basketball player of all time, play by himself. Can he win a championship?”

Evans agreed. “Every movie is a team effort. Actors can’t act without other actors, without a director. It’s a team sport.”

Mackie had the last say.

“What I love about Marvel movies is that every character is given an opportunity to shine, every character has his moment. Every character is just as important as everybody else’s. I’ve made lifelong friends because of this. So if they do well, I do well.”

(Now showing nationwide, Captain America: Civil War is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through Columbia Pictures.)

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