In this week’s cover story for diversefilmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo are clear that their dedication to their independent studio, AGBO, means Avengers: Endgame directors don’t expect to make another movie with Marvel Studios anytime soon.
“We won’t be ready to do anything with Marvel until the end of the decade,” says Joe Russo.
However, Roussos has already returned to Marvel’s parent company, Disney. Through AGBO, they’re producing a live-action adaptation of the 1997 Disney animated feature “Hercules,” with Guy Ritchie — who led the remake of 2019’s “Aladdin.”
“We have a wonderful relationship with them that we’ve built over a decade,” says Joe Russo. “I think we have a view on how to expand their IP boundaries going forward, rather than playing IP management.”
While many recent live-action Disney movie remakes have been criticized for their too sticky to source material, Russo says Hercules will be “more experimental in tone, and a bit more experimental in execution.”
“I think they’re excited to see what we can offer him all in a way that isn’t just a reinterpretation of the animated film,” Russo adds.
Ritchie is currently working on his own script pass from David Callaham (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”).
“A man is perfect for that because he has a penchant for experimentation,” Russo says.
Directed by “The Little Mermaid” filmmakers John Masker and Ron Clements, “Hercules” reimagines the myth of the Greek god of the gods as the story of a rising figure made famous for his heroic deeds. As was the case for all Disney animated films in the ’90s, it’s also a musical, sung largely by a quintet of black women as a Greek chorus.
Russo says the live action “Hercules” will also be a musical — and it shares the original’s unconventional approach.
“There are questions about how to translate it into a musical,” Russo says. “Audiences were trained today by TikTok, right? What is their expectation of what this musical will look like? That can be very interesting and help us push the boundaries a little bit about how a modern musical is performed.”
Besides “Hercules”, AGBO also collaborates with some of the largest streaming platforms in the industry. For Netflix, they have developed a sequel and prequel to “The Gray Man” and directed the sci-fi adventure “The Electric State” with Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt. And for Amazon Prime Video, they’re producing the highly ambitious spy thriller “Citadel” with Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden, and the reboot of “Butch and Sundance” as an action series to Amazon, with Regé-Jean Page and Glen Powell pinned as the honorary outlaw.
[ad_2]
