‘Captain Marvel’ Executive Producer Jonathan Schwartz Reveals Everything He Can About Marvel’s Next Movie [Set Visit Interview]
By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 8, 2019 10:30 am EST
Just as Marvel Studios mastermind Kevin Feige started as the assistant to X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner, Schwartz began his career as the assistant to Feige on Iron Man 2. He quickly proved himself valuable and worked his way up the ladder to the producer of Guardians of the Galaxy, executive producer of the sequel, and now Captain Marvel is his baby. Talking with Schwartz, it’s quickly obvious that he’s the smartest guy in the room and he has inherited a bit of Feige’s playful tease.
While visiting the set of Captain Marvel, we talked with Schwartz for almost 50 minutes, and our conversation touches on just about everything. If you’re looking to learn a bunch about the making of Captain Marvel, this is the interview to read.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview took place before, you know, that]
Question: Can you talk a little bit about Anna and Ryan. It feels like the director style comes through more and more with every movie I’ve seen. What do they bring to this one?Schwartz: All these movies start from a place of looking at the character, finding out what makes them cool, and bringing that out on the screen. And what’s great about Anna and Ryan’s movies is they’re so character-focused, they become these amazing character pieces. And they had a take on Carol, and a take on the movie, that brought all that to light in a great way. And so, now, they’re really sinking their teeth not just into the performances and not just into the character, but the pre-vis, the action, and everything else that goes into making one of these movies, and they have amazing character instincts, amazing skills of getting performances out of actors, and really incredible action instincts and commercial instincts, so they’re really bringing it all to the table and we’re lucky to have them.Question: This is obviously gonna be the first female-lead Marvel movie. Was there something about Carol that made her the character that was going to take on that mantle and be this kind of reinvention of not just the MCU but also be the first female lead Marvel superhero with a solo movie?Schwartz: Sure, I think if you’re going to put that on anybody’s shoulders, Carol’s are the strongest. She was always a character that excited us from the comic books. In all the mythology and all the characters we had to draw from, she always kept rising to the top. Her powers are super-cool, her story’s super-cool, the world she gets to take part in is super-cool. And that sort of all goes into the calculus of, what’s the next movie going to be?Question: Are you going to be using any of that sort of de-aging, CG technology that we’ve seen in other Marvel movies for Sam or Clark or anyone else in the cast?Schwartz: We will. We’ll be de-aging Sam a little bit, we’ll be de-aging Clark a little bit. Thankfully, both Clark and Sam look amazing, which is a big help for us. But yeah there will be a little bit of that. It’s certainly more shots than we’ve had to do in other movies. We’ve de-aged Robert [Downey Jr.], who looks amazing, and Kurt [Russell], who also looks amazing, we’ve been very lucky with the actors who’ve gone through this process. But this will be significantly more in a movie than we’ve ever done before, which is a fun challenge to have, but I don’t think we could ever ask someone to step into Sam Jackson’s shoes, so I’m glad we’re doing it.Question: You’re introducing Maria in this film, and her daughter Monica, so is that obviously going to be a set up for the future?Schwartz: I hope there’s more story to tell with Monica, certainly the movie leaves it open for that stuff. I think one of the things that was really fun about the stories that came together and the Monica relationship and the Maria relationship with Carol was being able to tell this story of female friendship, and intergenerational female friendships.Question: She’s a mother, and you don’t really see that in superhero films. Was that a conscious decision to make her a mother and make that part of the story?Schwartz:It was, and it felt like a natural way into the Maria-Monica characters. It felt like a great way to give Carol a fun relationship that we haven’t seen before. And it’s not gonna keep Monica from being away from the fun of this journey.Question: Can you talk about the character being played by Annette Bening?Schwartz: No. Can I pass on that one? I’m gonna pass.Question: There’s a lot going on in the early 90s in the MCU with Klaw stealing the Vibranium, Howard Stark dying just a month before that. Is any of that tied into this movie?Schwartz: It’s all happening. It’s all happening in the background. Part of what we liked about the 90s, like I said, was giving Carol her own turf. There are a lot of setups, and there are a lot of connections to other things happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I think what’s most important is giving Carol space for her own adventure.Question: Can you specifically say what year this takes place?Schwartz: Uh, I think we say… Actually, no, no I can’t.Question: Is there a unique MCU spin on the Skrulls as opposed to what we know from the comics?Schwartz: There’s always a spin on it, there’s always a take. But I think what people know about the Skrulls is, they’re not to be trusted, they can shape-shift into anybody, and that makes them super-dangerous. And those things I think you’ll definitely find in the movie.Question: I didn’t see the chin. Are you going away from the Thanos chin?Schwartz: Oh no, man, they’ve got chins.Question: Thanos chins?Schwartz: They’ve got their own chins.Question: We’ve been hearing a lot about how Captain Marvel is the most powerful hero in the MCU. What does that mean? Does that mean she can just beat Thor and Hulk in a fight? Or is there more to it than that? Can she beat Thor and Hulk in a fight?Schwartz:I know better than to wade in the ‘Who can beat Thor in a fight’ [debate].Question: Well, if you’re saying she’s the most powerful, I’m interested in hear an explanation on what you mean when you guys say that?Schwartz: I think if you go back [to the tape]… Is anyone recording this? I think it was, ‘one of the most if not the most.’ But part of the fun certainly is that she is super-powered and kind of able to use her powers on a scale that we haven’t seen before. What that means for the movie, I think we’ll wait and see.Question: One of the things about the Marvel films, starting back with Iron Man, that makes them so enjoyable, is that they do feel so grounded even though they get so cosmic. Can you talk a little bit about how this film is going to feel grounded even though it’s very fantastical?Schwartz: Yeah, it’s a little misleading, because everything behind you [on the walls] is super fantastical. We didn’t do a lot of concept art of all the practical locations we’re shooting in. But that’s about half the movie. Part of the fun of shooting in Los Angeles is we get to go to real places and really shoot there. And that’s also part of what Ryan and Anna bring to the movie and part of their aesthetic is grounding this kind of crazy outer-space adventure in the reality of shooting in Los Angeles. And I think that’s going to result in a really interesting, really cool aesthetic that you haven’t seen in a Marvel movie before.Question: Is that why you guys decided to shoot here and not in Atlanta, primarily?Schwartz: There’s a few different reasons. One of them is, not a lot of big movies shoot in LA anymore, so it weirdly feels like fresh territory for a movie like this. I think we really like the idea of shooting LA for LA, especially 90s LA for LA, which is so specific and cool. And part of it is that our crews have been traveling to Atlanta and traveling to the UK and traveling everywhere for a long time, and getting them home to see their families for a movie is not the worst thing in the world.Question: There are a lot of parallels between Captain Marvel and Green Lantern, with being in the Air Force and she’s going to space to fight with aliens, wearing a green costume, getting superpowers. Did you guys discuss that at all? Like maybe where they zig, we’ll zag, that kind of thing, or maybe a cautionary tale?Schwartz: I’m sure we discussed it at some point. I think the characters are different enough and where they come from are different enough that it wasn’t a huge thing. Certainly what we want to do with this movie, and with every movie, is show the audience something they haven’t seen before. And I think that means making it unique from Green Lantern and unique from the other Marvel movies.Question: How do you make Captain Marvel very powerful but not over-powerful for this cinematic universe, because it’s not just this film but everything?Schwartz: Very good question. I don’t know if I know the answer to that yet. I can’t really speak to the movies going forward, part of the pleasure of this movie is going to be seeing Captain Marvel kick a lot of ass. If we’re lucky enough to be able to see more of her going forward then I think we’ll think about how to give her challenges that resonate with the audience still. Certainly, I don’t think heading into other movies that you may see her in, you’re going to worry about her feeling overpowered. [Laughs]Question: We saw a shot of her in the first reel of her with Cap. I assume that’s not in this movie?Schwartz: That’s not in this movie.Question: Can you describe Captain Marvel’s relationship with Mar-Vell, Jude Law’s character?Schwartz: Uh, her relationship with Jude Law’s character, it’s a really mentor-mentee thing. He’s kind of the leader of her squad on Hala and teachers her in the ways of being a Kree warrior. And so over the course of their adventure, when she gets captured by the Skrulls and they get separated, he spends a lot of the movie trying to find her and trying to get her back and rescue her from the Skrulls. It’s a tender relationship, but it’s very much mentor-protégé. And I think Carol still has a lot of the elements that made her human in her, which Jude Law’s character both appreciates and is irritated by.Question: Do they have that kind of long history together? Is he part of that origin story?Schwartz: Uh, is he part of that origin story? I’m gonna passeroo.Question: Did Brie actually go up in the fighter jets?Schwartz: She totally did. She totally kicked ass. I would never do it in a million years. It looked so dangerous. [laughs] Yeah, she really went up there, as did Lashana, as did Anna Boden, our director. I got nervous and nauseous just sitting through the briefings where they tell you what’s gonna happen up there. But she went up, they gave her a call sign, she went through the whole bit.Question: This is Marvel’s first modern female-lead movie. Did you guys look at Wonder Woman at all and take any lessons from that, or any inspirations?Schwartz: You know, what was so great about Wonder Woman was talking to female audience members afterwards about how they felt watching the movie. And a lot of the people I talked to just said, ‘I’ve never felt like that watching a movie before in my entire life. That character resonated [with] me in ways I didn’t even know a character could resonate with me.’ Which was great to hear, and kind of an amazing thing… I think it helped us understand how important movies like this are. So in terms of making the movie feel distinct, I think all these movies chart their own courses anyway. It’s just like Green Lantern. We don’t want to make a movie that people have seen before. But I think that means making the movie feel distinct, not just from other female-lead movies, but from all the other Marvel movies as well, which I think we try to do on every movie. It wasn’t a new challenge, necessarily, but it was one I think we were extra-excited for because of the nature of what this movie means to people.Question: The movie’s a prequel, you have 20 movies that take place after this I was wondering, knowing that she’s around and knowing that she’s still alive at the end of this, not with this movie [but Infinity War], how do you give her stakes?Schwartz: I think the audiences knows enough by now that we’re probably not going to kill off an origin character in an origin movie. So I don’t think that’s a huge leap that she’s going to be alive at the end of the movie. And a lot of the stakes in the movie aren’t centered on Carol, necessarily. I think the way to approach movies like this isn’t necessarily who’s going to live? Who’s going to die? But what do you want the audience to get out of it? What’s the journey you want them to go on? Can you get them invested in this character? And I think hopefully the answer to that question is yes.Question: All films in the MCU have that kind of unique MCU feel. But then you have Guardians and Thor Ragnarok and very, very funny, more emphasis on humor than action, or more emphasis on humor than seriousness. Then you have Civil War and Winter Soldier that are just really heavy, very dramatic, with just a sprinkle of humor. Where does Captain Marvel [relate to those tones]?Schwartz: It’s kind of somewhere in between. You know, Carol in the comics is a very funny character in her own way. In a way that doesn’t feel like Doctor Strange, in a way that doesn’t feel like Iron Man, like Robert Downey Jr., that gets to be her unique voice, and that’s the voice that we tried to get across. Which isn’t joke a minute, Rocket Racoon Guardians of the Galaxy, which is super funny, and isn’t super grounded, kinda heavy, as some of our other movies have been. I think it inhabits a place a lot like Doctor Strange, that takes the movie and the stakes of the movie pretty seriously, but allows the characters to have fun within it.Question: I don’t necessarily expect huge details, but back to the stakes question, what are kind of the stakes? Are we talking about the decimation of the entire universe? Are we talking about mostly personal stakes? What are they protecting?Schwartz: Like all Marvel movies, it’s a mix of both. I think we’ll be rooting along the course of this movie for Carol to reconnect with her humanity, and that really is the stakes of the movie.Question: What is Open World? [The working title of production]Schwartz: It doesn’t mean much, I’m sorry. Very early on in the processes, we have to pick those titles. And at the time we were still very early on in developing the movie, so it was like, it was sort of a like an open world video game in a lot of ways. Like it was a movie that could be a lot of different things.Question: As far as the space battles and things, is it going to be something more like darker like a Rogue One? Are we gonna see a war? Or is it gonna be more like operatic big space, kind of shiny and clean with the explosions versus down and dirty?Schwartz: Um, I’m not quite sure how to answer that yet. It’s going to be PG-13, for whatever that’s worth. You know, I think the hope is to show the stakes of galactic war, but not in a way that’s gonna detract from the fun of the movie. Does that answer your question? Okay. I think that’s the best I can do right now.Question: Were there qualities that you guys immediately recognized in Brie’s performance and interpretation of the character that affected the way you went in the film and the way that, like – there’s degrees of separation between Tony Stark and Robert Downey, Jr., you know, he owns that character. Is there – did you find that with Brie, too, are there ways that she influenced the way the movie unfolds?Jonathan Schwartz: With all of these movies, the voice of the actor can’t help but come through. And with Ryan and Anna’s help, and kind of guided by the script, I think they’ve found a version of Carol that’s really cool, that’s not exactly Carol from the comic books, and not even exactly the Carol that you read when you read the script page, but becomes kind of their own unique creation that’s really cool and really interesting. And Brie certainly has done everything she possibly can to make the character feel as real as possible. I think she spent more time at the stunt gym, training for fights, than any actor I’ve ever worked with. Which is amazing to watch. She’s gone up in fighter jets, she’s hung out with the Thunderbirds. She’s going to do a lot of her own stunts this movie, and a lot of her own fighting, which, you saw a little of in that behind the scenes reel. Not a lot, not a ton of actors would be doing those wire gags, doing that stuff for real. I did that stuff earlier today, because I randomly stopped by the stunt gym, and it takes a lot out of you, man! It’s really hard! I do recommend it if you get the chance, stop by stage A, they’ll put you up on wires. It’s super fun, but it’s … it’s not easy. I was pulling this up to show you guys a video, but maybe another time.Question: Is there anything you can tell us about any of the specific weaponry here?Schwartz: Yeah, I mean, you know, Starforce, like any awesome, outer space fighting force, has their kind of own unique skills and weapons. You know, Korath has his awesome swords, Bron-Char is kind of a bigger, stronger guy, he fights with his fists. Att-Lass is more of a marksman that has those two pistols, Minn-Erva is the sniper of the group who kind of gets to be a little bit removed, and Yon-Rogg … there’s sort of their own, other powers sprinkled throughout. Sorry, did I talk about Djimon’s swords? Yes. Okay, good.Question: For Carol, could you talk about her personality a little bit? Like, where does she get her morality from, what’s her motivation in the movie, what’s her baggage, you know, what’s her flaw?Schwartz: I mean, a lot of the movie is about Carol not remembering her human past. When we meet her at the beginning of the movie, she believes that she is a Kree, and kind of has been inducted into their army, she’s proud as a person, she loves being a Kree. And then over the course of her adventure, realized there’s more to her story than that. So the movie kind of becomes her unraveling the root of her own origin, the root of her own mystery.Question: She believes she’s a Kree, you said? Like, she – it’s almost like a brainwashing type thing?Schwartz: That’s from the early Miss Marvel comics.Question: Okay, but is that – like, she – okay. I’m not saying it’s not, but I’m just saying that she’s under the belief at the time we meet her?Schwartz: Yes, when we meet her, she believes she is a Kree on Hala.Question: In Top Gun, they shot all of the air sequences actually in the air. Are you trying to go more for something like that, because it’s ’90s action, or is a lot of it gonna be CG and on-stage with green screen?Schwartz: We went to Edwards, we shot some practical stuff for air to air sequences. A lot of that will end up being CG, just by the nature of the beast. But to the extent that we could shoot practically, we did. And … even the stuff we shoot practically informs the visual effects stuff so much, and it’s immensely helpful. And the Air Force has been amazing about granting us their assets and their hangars and their airplanes to use, it’s been an incredible experience.Question: Where else have you guys shot in LA? Or, where will you?Schwartz: Let’s see, we shot in that one rando strip mall that you guys saw in the paparazzi photos. We’re heading up to Simi Valley soon, to shoot in a quarry up there. We shot at this other rando strip mall in the Valley, which is where that Blockbuster Video got built. We shot up at Shaver Lake, which is outside Fresno, and at Edwards Air Force Base, which is a couple hours away. We shot in the Lucerne Valley for some of that desert look. It’s been a lot in LA, and then a lot around LA.Question: In the clip, we saw Carol, at one point we saw she had on her suit with a black strip on her chest, is that for CG for the symbol?Schwartz: Suit with a black strip on her chest … oh, I think that’s just her in, like, you know, the chest plate comes on separately as a piece of the costume, so when she sits down and does interviews, it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world to sit down, so it actually comes off.Question: Did you mention we’d be seeing Yon-Rogg in this film at all?Schwartz: Yon-Rogg does pop up, yeah. He’s an important part of the mythology.Question: Like you said, her powers, when you said that they’re, that she’s the most powerful, so we’ll see, like – I’m trying to think, like, the most cinematic thing we’ve seen in the universe is probably Thor, as far as showing off when he blasted all the aliens in the Avengers. Are we gonna see things that are bigger than that?Schwartz: Yeah. Yeah.Question: Can we expect spaceship battles?Schwartz: Yes. Any other requests? We got, like, twenty-five shooting days left!Question: Time travel?Schwartz: Time travel? Okay. Good.Question: The trick with a character that’s that powerful is also keeping her vulnerable. Is there – did you guys put a lot of thought in how to keep her – you know, keep those kinds of stakes with her?Schwartz: We did. And she – I wouldn’t say she’s that powerful for the entire movie, and a lot of the movie is kind of about her understanding her true power. So, it kind of becomes an issue for more the end of the movie, and more going forward than it does for this movie.Question: You said that Nick Fury is kind of going through a slow period in his career, and then he comes across Captain Marvel. Are you able to say what his reaction is, does he see her as a threat?Schwartz: I think he reacts very much as any of us would. First, seeing a person in a teal green Starforce outfit tell you, say, I’m an alien from another planet, and there’s Skrulls infiltrating your world! Okay. But, very quickly, he encounters the Skrulls on his own, and sort of realizes that he’s wrapped up in something much bigger than he could have ever imagined.Question: Can you say how Carol and Nick Fury’s relationship compares to Nick Fury’s relationship with the other superheroes we’ve seen?Schwartz:I think it benefits in its uniqueness by having Carol be the first superhero he’s ever encountered or really heard of in his life. She sort of gets to be the window to him for this entire, bigger universe. So, he’s a little, a little less of the, I know everything there is to know, Nick Fury that we see in the later movies, and a little bit more, perhaps, open to new ideas.Question: Is this where we learn what happened to his eye?Schwartz: Pass.Question: It seems like there’s some big, climactic stuff happening in this movie. How does nobody in Earth or Iron Man, the events of Iron Man, or the Battle of New York, know about what has happened, you know, the big stuff that’s happening in this movie?Schwartz: I mean, you know. I could answer that, but then I’d have to get into what all the big stuff is. I don’t know. That feels like … that feels like a wait and see. Sorry. None of you guys have asked about the cat, I’m really surprised.Question: I was just about to ask about the cat!Schwartz: No, it’s too late! It’s too late!Question: Tell us about the cat!Schwartz: There’s an awesome cat in this movie named Goose.Question: Is that a Top Gun reference?Schwartz: That is a Top Gun reference, kind of a take on Chewie from the comics. Goose is played by a team of four cats, who all have their own specialty. There’s Reggie, there’s Archie, there’s Rizzo, and there’s Gonzo. They’re an A-team of cats who can all do one trick, because you can’t teach cats – I learned all about cats, shooting cats over the course of this movie. So one of them is, like, the face cat, who’s the pretty cat, that’s Archie. No, sorry, that’s Reggie! One of them’s the holding cat you hold and can be held. One of them’s, like, the nuzzling cat who will walk up to your leg and nuzzle it. And one of them’s, like, the cat who will paw you, who’s a jerk. I think that’s Rizzo. If you told me before this movie started that I would be auditioning cats to play the role of Goose, I would not have believed you.Question: Were there any more Top Gun references?Schwartz: There’s probably one or two other ones sprinkled in there. Ones that I only register subconsciously now.Question: Do we see the cat in a costume?Schwartz: Oh, the mask? Maybe, that’d be cool.Question: Gonna do a cat-owner screening, bring your …Schwartz: Oh, man, I’d love to. People are gonna love Goose!Question: Dogs get everything, cats get nothing!Schwartz: It just felt like one of those things from the comics that we couldn’t not do.Question: On the comics, on this last page over here, there’s a big tentacle monster, is that something that’s gonna, we’re gonna see something from?Schwartz: You know, that’s a version of the Supreme Intelligence, and the Supreme Intelligence is a part of the movie. Oh, sorry, that tentacle monster! Sort of, we sort of … no.Question: What can you say about Ronan’s role in the movie?Schwartz: Just like it’s an earlier version of Nick Fury, it’s an earlier version of Ronan, who has not become the radical zealot that we saw in Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume One. So he has his own station in Kree society, on Hala, and has his own role to play in the Kree military that intersects with Starforce in an interesting way.Question: Will we leave him in a place that we’ll kind of see how he gets to where we see him next?Schwartz: Yeah, a little bit, yeah. I mean, I think the seed – just like there’s a Nick Fury origin story buried in this movie, buried a little bit deeper is the Ronan origin story. I’m sure you guys have many more exciting people to talk to over the course of the visit, I don’t wanna hold you up.
