It has to fit into their schedule.
I know you both said you made this it out of a love for Marvel.
You both grew up with the comics.
But what did you discover while you were making it?
What things came as a surprise to you as you were researching?
We should have guessed, but it came as a surprise.
Like a brick wall, kind of thing.
PG:Yes, absolutely.
And we should have expected that, but we didnt expect that at all.
To answer your question, its the one thing we learned about Marvel.
We really experienced the strength and the power of their love and dedication.
We didnt have a choice.
Our executive producer suspects that Ike Perlmutter doesnt exist.
[Laughs]
Its quite possible.
PG:Like Robin Masters inMagnum PIor something.
PG:Keyser Soze!
PR:He does exist, but theres only one picture of him on the internet.
You wont find another picture of him except that one taken in the 1980s.
So in the course of making this, you genuinely didnt find anything else out about him?
Not another photo, nothing?
PG:Really, no.
Maybe some things exist.
I must say we limited our research of pictures of him to the web.
And we really searched extensively, but we found nothing.
There was something interesting you said yesterday about the film being a financial thriller, almost.
I thought that really came across.
PR:Yes, yes.
Hes inInside Job,too.
Their dreams came true, theyre at the top.
Its this typical American story, and that was important for us.
I have a French word in my mind that I cant translate into English resonance.
We have that word!
PG:Resonance, okay.
We played with that a lot in our interviews.
That was to illustrate the David against Goliath dimension to the story.
PR:We tried to work with iconic images in moments were the subjects talked.
It works, definitely.
Without getting too political, its as though capitalism never learns from its own past.
Because thats pretty much what happened with the financial market in 2008.
PG:Thats whats interesting about this story.
There are so many levels to this.
Our story is also a certain criticism of that.
It was a take-the-money-and-run philosophy, and that never works in the long term.
It seems that capitalism never learns from its own mistakes.
PR:It wasnt easy to make everything understandable in the movie.
So we tried to make it easier and again, today, we hope that people will understand everything.
We made it was easy to understand as we could.
The first draft of the screenplay was way too focused on the financial details of the story.
PR:The first draft was for a 90-minute movie.
So we had to get it down to 52 minutes.
PG:We have to thank our executive producer Thierri Tripod hes been tremendously helpful to us.
We really have to thank him for that.
How do you two divide the job of directing between you?
PG:So the writing has been really 50-50.
It was a fusion.
Im just a journalist.
I was more focused on the interviews and, I would say, the global storytelling of the film.
That said, things intertwine.
PR:Im just the technical guy, is that what youre saying?
[Laughs]
PG:I say it as a mark of respect, of course!
Between the writing and the editing, each of us has his own part.
Youve said you dont know when youre going to get a DVD release.
It sounds as though you need a distributor.
PG:This is so frustrating.
What do you think about crowdfunding turning to Kickstarter or something like that?
PR:Its a really disappointing point.
We showed it at two festivals in France, and the screening yesterday was the international premiere.
PR:Yes, yes.
Because of theGuardians Of The Galaxypremiere.
But were Marvel fans we dont say anything bad about Marvel.
And I think everybody knows what kind of person Ike Perlmutter is.
And hes a great businessman.
It could be this reason.
Maybe it should be released with some extra content.
PR:We have an interview which didnt go into the movie.
Thats the good thing about crowdfunding, is that it tests your potential audience.
you’ve got the option to gauge interest that way.
PR:Yesterday it was amazing to see an English-speaking audience response to it for the first time.
We read English tweets for the first time about the movie this morning.
The response from English-speaking audiences have been different from in France.
PG:We have here warmer reactions to the film.
In France, theyre very positive, but the French audience is more… PG:Reserved, yes.
We didnt meet so many outspokenly positive people in France.
PR:Also, because its an American pop culture thing, maybe its more in the genes.
Not the jeans [gestures to trousers]!
So more generally, then, what do you think about the state of comic book movies right now?
Not just Marvel, but the whole landscape?
PG:Well, 2016 is a very specific year, a very important year.
It has a double or nothing, make or break [feeling].
I really hope the movie does whats expected.
It feels almost as though the hugeStar Warsbuzz has stolen Marvels momentum.
The obviously painful experience Joss Whedon had.
Marvel really needs not only a hit withCaptain America: Civil War,but also positive feedback.
Those superhero comic book movies are at a critical phase.
Maybe weve reached a phase where these movies really need to reinvent themselves.
There were too many things inAge Of Ultron.Too many characters.
EvenTransformersis going to have a movie universe with a Bumblebee spin-off.
PG:Same thing with Universal.
I dont know where theyre at exactly right now with their monsters, or whether its in development hell.
But its the same thing: the shared cinematic universe.
No, I dont think its a good thing.
Im thinkingAmazing Spider-Man 2 that was supposed to set up I dont know how many films.
Probably three of four films.
PG: Yes, yes.
And all those projects went down the toilet.
But it was such a bad movie!
I think that Sony really harmed, severely, theSpider-Manfranchise.
Didnt you both think it was three films at once?
It was like flicking between three separate stories.
It couldnt decide which one it wanted to tell.
PG: Its a total mess.
Almost as bad asGreen LanternorCatwoman.
Its a terrible, terrible movie.
Im a huge fan of Spider-Man and Peter Parker, and when I saw that movie I was…
I really hated that piece of shit!
[Laughs]
Sorry.
Im not so sure, because I dont know the director.
Its not Sam Raimi…
Oh, its the director of Cop Car.
Ive forgotten his name.
PG:Its like Colin Trevorrow.
You go from an indie film to a big blockbuster.
PG:You give him a huge toy and hell be very thankful.
Or like Josh Trank, who went fromChronicletoFantastic Four.
Thats what studios should really learn.
Thats what studios should really learn and put in front of their boards of directors.
PR:Fantastic Fouris a franchise that really could be amazing on screen.
But they dont know where theyre going.
And its such a great comic.
PG:Maybe they should make it as a TV show for Netflix.
Maybe make it a period piece set in the 60s or something.
They should hire us, actually!
[Laughs]
Philippe Guedj and Philippe Roure, thank you very much.
