Extraction actor Priyanshu Painyuli preps for his next with Taapsee Pannu and virtual play
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; May 20, 2020)

As the antagonist in the month-old Netflix release, Extraction, Priyanshu Painyuli successfully broke the mould of being a boy-next-door. The actor, who is best known for his role in Vikramaditya Motwane's Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, played the Bangladeshi don Amir Ali, Chris Hemsworth's nemesis. Backed by the Russo Brothers, the film opened to a rapturous round of applause from the audience, who have inevitably shifted to OTT platforms for their Friday fix of entertainment.

The actor tells mid-day, "It's a paisa vasool film and picks you up if you are feeling low. When I auditioned [for it], I didn't know it was a Russo Brothers' film. It's not every day that you appear in a pivotal role in a film made by the people who made Avengers. Chris Hemsworth and David Harbour are huge stars and brilliant actors. It's the kind of film that requires you to up your game. I couldn't have asked for a better international debut."

With Extraction behind him, Painyuli says he harbours dreams of doing action on screen and it may come true with his next, Rashmi Rocket, headlined by Taapsee Pannu. "We were to shoot this month but it stands suspended for now. I play the role of an army officer. So, I ensure to workout regularly at home to avoid taking too long to attain the right level of fitness required for the film."

Amid the Coronavirus lockdown, the actor also seems to be busy with his virtual theatre act titled Lockdown Love. After the success of the English version, which saw him pair up with Shriya Pilgaonkar, Painyuli will feature in the Hinglish version of the same show with Radhika Madan, Kubbra Sait, Shikha Talsania, Siddharth Menon and Saurabh Nayar. "We are adapting a few more characters from the original play. It's about three girls and three boys finding each other through a series of weird dates. Who would have thought that we'd be performing live for 45 minutes in front of our phone cameras? It is directed by Sheena Khalid and the story was adapted by Roshan Abbas from an old script, which was revisited and adapted from Jonathan Rand's Check Please," explains the actor.

Hand-picked to helm the Indian version of global series Citadel, directors Raj-DK explain how they are crafting a desi narrative within the framework given by Russo Brothers
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; February 3, 2020)

Their unbridled enthusiasm was evident as Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, flaunting the Avengers Infinity gauntlet, announced arguably their biggest project — the director duo had been chosen to develop the Indian version of Citadel, produced by Joe and Anthony Russo of Avengers fame. Two weeks after the announcement, we catch up with them in their new office where, they are proud to note, a new project is developing in every room. "Since we are consuming content from across the world with subtitles, there's intrigue about [Indian] stories too," shares Raj.

It was assumed that Raj-DK, as they are better known, bagged the Amazon Prime series because of their much-loved offering, The Family Man. However, DK clarifies that they were in talks much earlier. "The Family Man was on the edit table then. We have been dying to talk about this for six months."

The mothership US series, which will feature Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden, will have versions in Italy, Mexico and India. Stating that the suits at Amazon Prime approached them for the Indian version last year, Raj reveals, "The idea was crackling; there was no chance we would have said no to this. DK, our lead writer Sita Menon and I brainstormed quickly before heading to Los Angeles [to kickstart the writing process]. In India, there's a lack of experience in series writing. We learnt a lot from their writers' room and the pilot readings."

The global event series will feature interlinked stories. "This is the first time that we are exploring someone else's seed of thought. We have 90 per cent creative freedom on how we want to build the series. The world is theirs and the story is ours. There will be intersections as we progress," explains Raj, before DK elaborates, "Each instalment will have its own personality and will be culturally authentic."

Ask them where they stand on casting, and DK says, "Once the final script is locked by the month-end, we will hunt for talent. Priyanka is [only] working in the US version. We will have a pan-India cast."

He won’t hold a spider, is ‘a bit of a loser’ in his love life, and can be trusted to put out the odd spoiler. And that disarming charm just adds to Tom Holland, who is back as the web-spinning wonder in Spider-Man: Far From Home . He chats about spiders, love, charity, and why it was important to change the storyline from the original films.
Anshul Chaturvedi (BOMBAY TIMES; June 19, 2019)

Think Harry Potter + spider. Think LOTR + spider. Think any of the dozen horror movies with names such as Arachnophobia, Infestation, Tarantula, Eight-legged Freaks, The Mist — all of them with not-so-friendly neighbourhood spiders. What comes to mind? Many words, of which, however, cool is certainly not one.

How, then, does a spider sustain this cool-ness over decades and what does Spider-Man Tom Holland make of it? Don’t most people around him actually find spiders, well… “…scary? Yeah! Well, I mean, he can stick to walls, he can climb walls. And I guess the way his fingers climb, is quite spider-like. And… he has a thing called ‘spider-sense’, which is basically him being able to pre-empt when something dangerous is gonna happen, which lots of spiders actually do have. But I think it’s quite cool that we’ve made spiders a positive thing — because I don’t like spiders! I’m terrified of spiders, man! We were doing some press the other day and they had a big tarantula there, and they asked me if I would hold it for a picture and I said, naaah!”

For a moment, one ponders whether asking Spider-Man about how active he is on the web will be too cheesy, and as better sense prevails, one lets it be. After all, Tom is still just 22; is the youngest actor to play this role, being cast at just 19. Apart from being aware of the “huge responsibility” to the superhero’s fans, he’s also just a youngster who is still excited to put on the Spider-Man costume. On which, here’s the next question: As an actor, which transition is more challenging for him — from the teenager to the superhero, or vice versa?

When he put on or takes off the costume in moments, with one change, he expands, becomes a larger persona; in the other one, he abruptly hits a kill switch and is an awkward kid again, in seconds.

Tom takes a moment to respond to this one. “I’m a hyper-energetic person anyway, so I don’t find the transition that difficult. Sometimes I do find the attention quite scary and quite overwhelming. But… when I put the suit on, something comes over me... like this childlike attitude, this feeling of happiness, and I guess that is kind of emulated in the film. I guess the transition, the one from Peter to the superhero, is just basically me being excited to be in a Spider-Man costume.”

As Tom is bombarded with queries by the global press at the promotions for Spider-Man: Far From Home, he displays Spider-Man-like dexterity, always light on his feet and quick to leap when necessary. The press recurrently asks him if he thinks he is a role model, to which he says, “When I grew up watching the Spider-Man movies, I really looked up to Andrew (Garfield) and Tobey (Maguire, who have played Spider-Man before). So for me now, I’m aware that there are probably little kids around the world who’re looking up to me. So I have a huge responsibility to be a good role model. And I really try my best to do that, with my charity work that I do with my family, just the way I hold myself in public, and the way I treat other people — I really try and set a good example for people, and it’s an important part of the job — because I’m playing a superhero, so I should try my best off screen to try to be a positive light for young people. I love playing this role, and if I never escape this role and I play Peter Parker till I’m 80, I’d love to do that. Not that that will happen. But I recognise how lucky I am.” Along the way, he lets drop that his brother’s charity work extends to India and that he’d love to visit Mumbai when he can.

He is then asked about how he feels about stepping away from the traditional story. He likes it, clearly. “I think it’s really important. There’s a fantastic picture of myself and the cast on a boat in Venice, and it’s the most diverse group of people you’ve ever seen, ever. I think we’re representing our generation, and our generation now is incredibly diverse and inclusive, and that’s such an important thing. Jon Watts (director) was really the first person to get that message across. The fact that we changed Mary Jane and Ned Leeds and Flash Thompson, I think is a really huge step forward in our industry, and I hope we can continue to do so in however many Spider-Man movies we make. Because I think it’s a really great positive thing for young people to see.”

Everyone wants to know about Peter and Mary Jane. He explains at length, patiently. “The relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane is very much that of high-school students, it’s not your big Hollywood romance, it’s not your typical romantic relationship. It’s very kidlike, he’s really nervous around her and she’s really nervous around him. They don’t know what to say, they try and hold hands but they’re too scared to. It’s very much like my love life, really. I’m a bit of a loser when it comes to that. But it was really sweet to try and bring that to life because everyone goes through that at some point, everyone at some point has a crush.”

And there’s more of teen pains than just the crush. “It used to be that superheroes fly and throw in some punches and it was all over. Now with characters like Peter Parker, he is only human, he’s only a boy who happens to have these crazy superpowers, and he doesn’t always know what to do with them. And in this film he wants to take a break from Spider-Man, after Avengers: Endgame he’s so tired, and he needs to take a break. But what he realises is that the responsibility of being Spider-Man is not something you can put down. So he slowly realises that his life is now going to be Spider-Man.”

He pauses occasionally, double-checking what he’s saying, wickedly pausing in a self-deprecating acknowledgment of having gained quite a reputation for giving away spoilers. “I don’t think I’ve done any spoilers on this tour yet, I’ve been really careful.”

And then explains where the branding comes from. It’s a fun anecdote. “What Kevin Feige (producer) likes to do when a film is released is, he rents a party bus, and we get all the producers and the directors and some of the actors and we drive around LA and go to different theatres and surprise the fans. I was given a microphone — this is at the time of Infinity War, and obviously at the end of Infinity War I die — and the writer said, this audience has just finished the movie. So I went in and said, ‘Don’t worry everyone, I’m still alive’. And everyone kind of looked at me blankly, and I thought, why is no one laughing? And I looked across and Kevin and Joe Russo (co-director) were like, shut up! And I was like, why? It’s fine, guys, I’m not actually dead! And, well, they hadn’t seen the movie yet and I spoiled the whole movie for a thousand people.”

That’s all right, Tom. You’ve made other movies so much fun for thousands more; safe to guess that thousand won’t hold it against you for long.

Joe Russo and Anthony Russo. Pic/Getty Images

As the first 22 movies come to a close with Avengers: Endgame, Joe Russo talks about the end, his association with the Marvel Universe, protecting the plot, the action and his favourite superhero
Letty Mariam Abraham (MID-DAY; April 7, 2019)

"You have eight minutes with Joe Russo," said the publicist who handled the Avengers: Endgame director's Mumbai visit. As an ardent viewer of the superhero franchise this was panic mode, considering all the things I wanted to know. As the trailer of the film hasn't revealed much, one can't stop wondering — will all the Avengers come back to life, why has Captain Marvel stayed away from the fight this long, will any more Avengers die, what outcome did Dr Strange see in the 14,000,605 possible endings of which the Avengers emerge victorious in just one? — But he wouldn't answer any of these questions as the Russo Brothers are extremely secretive.

As fan theories around the franchise emerge every day, Joe Russo says that his brother Anthony (co-director) and he are obsessed about keeping things secret. "We work very hard to keep the secrets. My brother and I are obsessive about it. We protect the scripts; so, none of the actors have actually read the real scripts of the film. People only read the scenes they are in. The trailers and promotional materials are heavily guarded. They only go through my brother, me, and Kevin Feige [producer] at Marvel," he says and reasons it out as the need to give audience the film experience he enjoyed as a child. "I grew up in an era where we did not have the internet, and so, secrets were never spoilt. That's what I am used to and I want to provide that same experience to the audience."

The Russo Brothers directed four Marvel movies in six years — Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and now Avengers: Endgame — and each one has been bigger than the last, especially, the end. The Winter Soldier featured a massive fight between Chris Evans (Captain America) and Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier); The Civil War had a faceoff between Iron Man and Captain America, and in Infinity War, the Avengers united tried to face Thanos in the ultimate battle, or so we thought. Joe explains that action requires a lot of discipline. "It's a disciplined and meticulous process to create an action sequence. It requires imagination, to dream up really inventive and interesting set pieces. The most important part of it is to define character and storytelling through the action. The human brain can only take about 30 seconds of unmotivated action before it starts to shut down. To keep the audience engaged, you have to keep shifting, so that it illuminates a character, or storytelling points."

However, with over 20 characters in a three-hour film, one wonders how the director-duo manage screen time for every actor. And he casually explains that the final work comes after months of story iterations. "My brother, me, Christopher Markus, who has written all the Marvel movies, sit in a room for months on end, with cards on the wall of every character, and we just try iteration after iteration to unlock the right story that we all want to tell. It requires a lot of hard work and focus."

For fans who already know, and for those who are still discovering the franchise, it's not news that the makers deviate a lot from the original comic books. According to The Infinity Gauntlet comic book, Thanos destroys half the universe to prove his love for Lady Death, the physical manifestation of death in the universe, who is also seen in Infinity. In the film, Thanos tries to bring balance to the universe with his own twisted logic. Joe defends the changed plotline in his film because he wants to give "motivation for the villains".

He says, "Marvel Cinematic Universe is not the same as the Marvel Comic Book Universe. We have to make choices that are very different from the books. We try to find motivations, especially in our villains, that modern audience can relate to. And we wanted to find something that had to do with the preservation of resources. Even in the warped point of view that Thanos has about destroying half the life in the universe to preserve the other half, it shows his motivation. We thought it was an interesting concept because obviously, we are standing at the precipitous of our [bleak] future with issues like global warming, and depletion of natural resources." While this is the end of the Avenger series, it's definitely not the end of the Russo Brothers' association with Marvel. "We are going to go on a vacation for a bit. We have done four of these movies in six years, so I think [we need a break]. We will be back at some point," concludes Joe.

Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; April 3, 2019)

It cannot get bigger than this. “I am not going to answer any questions on the plot of Avengers: Endgame. It took me three years to protect it from Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo, so I am not going to suddenly give it away,” jokes American filmmaker Joe Russo, of the Russo brothers, co-director of the year’s, perhaps, the decade’s most awaited superhero film — Avengers: Endgame, in a candid chat. This is his fourth Marvel film and the twenty-second film in the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In Mumbai, to kick-start the film’s promotions, Joe spoke to Bombay Times on Indian influences in the Marvel series, his comic-book fixation, Stan Lee, Robert Downey Jr (RDJ) being nothing like Tony Stark, need for diversity, longevity of superhero films and more.

This is your first visit to India. Take us through your experience so far.
I have never been here before, so I came with an open mind. I am ecstatic. One of the real values of getting to work on these films is that you get to travel across the globe and interact with people from different cultures. I am a big fan of telling my children that their job in life is to collect as many fascinating experiences as they can. Part of that is travelling, cultural experiences, understanding the world and becoming a global citizen. It’s really meaningful for me to get my family here.

Are you familiar with Indian cinema?
I have seen a few Indian films like Dabangg. I think Indian audiences will love the fact that Robot/Enthiran (S Shankar’s 2010 bilingual starring Rajinikanth) was almost a big influence on Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015 (directed by Joss Whedon). There is a sequence in Robot, where all the robots come together to form a giant snake. In the Avengers movie, there was a bunch of Ultrons, who come together to form a giant Ultron. The scene was eventually cut for time, but that was a direct influence from Robot.

You have made four Marvel films in the past six years. What do you think is integral to the future of superhero films?
The more diverse they get, the more interesting they become. Everyone has a right to see themselves on screen. Audiences become more passionate, when storytellers get more inclusive. The next phase of Marvel movies will get more diverse. Look at the success of Black Panther and Captain Marvel. The new crop of stories will have more pure global influence.

During an interview Tom Hanks told us that because of the rich technology and CGI, superhero films are living up to the promise of comic books. But eventually, the tide will turn. The stories that always remain with you are the ones showing human condition.
These (superhero films) are human stories! They are highly relatable characters. Listen, I think that if it’s not your cup of tea, you tend to shutout. For a whole global generation of film goers, these movies have become very important. They are a part of their growing up years and pop culture. The best of these movies tell compelling stories about humans, who happen to have powers. The powers are secondary to the experiences of characters as people and the choices that they make. I think the best of these movies have incredible thematics in them. I don’t necessarily think you can call superhero films a fad, when it has this kind of global reach. I think you just have to respect the fact the audience finds a lot in these films to inspire and connect them.

Speaking of #Whateverittakes (the punchline of Endgame),what does it take for you and Anthony (the other Russo brother co-directing the film) to work with so many superstars on one film?
It takes a lot (smiles!). It’s been a great experience for us. We have been very fortunate that this cast is incredible. Look, Oscar winners show up just to do one day’s work for your film, so you are spoilt as a filmmaker with the love of your cast.

You hear things like Robert Downey Jr wanting multiple vanity vans. He even jokes about it. He seems like a diva. Is he like that for real?
He jokes about it (laughs!), but you know why he does that? I think it is to play along and create a persona. He acts like a diva, but he is actually the hardest working actor you will ever work with. He is exceedingly professional. There is a reason why he is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. The energy and effort he puts into his work every second and the way he approaches his character and believes what it is, the way he shows up on set everyday, the level of intensity he brings to his work ethic — it’s commendable. Even when he promotes his films... that requires a lot of effort. He has a certain effervescence about him that’s universally translated and it comes at a cost. It requires him to project himself a certain way.

Tony Stark feels like RDJ’s alter ego, Chris Hemsworth exudes Thor’s confidence in his physical strength... it’s amazing how these characters seem like they are based on the actors that play them.
It’s interchangeable, isn’t it? You want the actors to have an emotional connect with the characters they play. When you really get to know Robert, you discover that he is nothing like Tony Stark. He has a public persona that he slips into, which is like Tony but when you have an intimate conversation with him, you realise he is very different. He is warm, genuine and generous human being. Chris Evans relates to one of the important people from his childhood. He based Captain America’s performance on this man he knew, so that’s very personal. They all find a certain sense of themselves in these characters after playing them for so long.

Is this Chris Evans’ last film as Captain America? He had hinted about it.
Chris Evans said this is his last film? I don’t know what he has been drinking (smiles). Impossible to say, anything can happen. This is the Marvel Universe. I won’t give away the plot, except that Infinity War was told from the point of view of Thanos and this one is not.

The legendary Stan Lee is no longer with us. It won’t be the same without him, isn’t it?
I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for Stan Lee. I grew up on his comic books since I was 10, he is my idol. I believe that his final cameo is in this film. To get an opportunity to not only work on the material that he created, but to be able to work with him was a dream come true.

What are the pros and cons of co-directing with your brother Anthony, being part of a joint venture?
The pros are the fact that we have been able to make four Marvel movies in the last six years without dropping dead. There are no cons. Of course there are conflicts. We are always arguing and that makes this process successful. We challenge every idea that comes to the table and the best idea wins. It’s about maintaining the right balance between pushing against each other and backing off. Out of that comes a chemistry that creates these movies.

The superheroes abstain from sex. There was an interesting article on this that recently went viral.
No sex in Avengers movies? There was a bedroom scene in Infinity War, which implied that. But I think it is about the demographics. These movies need to translate with the children as well as they do gravitate towards these movies. The whole family should be able to enjoy these films without having to put hands on their children’s eyes. At the core, the characters are human and their psychology has been the focus more than their sexuality I guess.

What’s next for you in the MCU?
Eleven years of storytelling, nine franchises and 22 movies culminate into this film. Now, I want to take a little break. We have made four films in six years. You need to find the right stories to be able to reach the audience on this scale. It has been an enriching experience for us.

Joe Russo, one half of Russo brothers, on their second outing with Avengers and how TV served as prep for directing the superhero franchise
Vijayeta Basu (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 2, 2019)

In 2013, Steven Spielberg, the king of blockbusters, predicted the implosion of the superhero movie genre in an interview. Over the last few years, the term ‘superhero fatigue’ has been bandied around the internet. All this doesn’t faze Joe Russo, one half of the directorial duo of the Russo Brothers, who is visiting Mumbai to promote the 22 nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Avengers: Endgame. “I don’t think it is a trend. This kind of serialised storytelling in film, it is a new form of narrative,” he shares. “People have grown up with this franchise—it has elicited emotional reactions from them and they have shared it with their families and friends. That’s why it’s the dominant form of storytelling right now,” he says, adding that superhero films have kept alive the tradition of watching films in a movie theatre a little longer in today’s world of digital streaming.

Russo, however, is completely fine with the changing times. “This is the future, and I think every generation deserves to tell stories the way they want to tell it. Movies have had a great run for a hundred years, but technology is changing all that, with the advent of AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality). We are talking to companies that work in those fields and are trying to define what that would mean when it comes to storytelling—it is fascinating where technology can lead us,” he says.

Turning away from the future and venturing into their past, we ask how they went from working on hit comedy shows such as Arrested Development (for which they won an Emmy award) and Community to landing smack in the middle of the action-packed and dramatic universe of Captain America (their first MCU film being Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014). “We didn’t want to be comedic filmmakers really, the first movie we wanted to make was actually a drama, but we couldn’t get it financed,” explains Russo, sharing that Marvel approached them as they were comic book geeks who were “very passionate” about superheroes stories. Russo does concede that working on TV shows prepared them for undertaking the last two films of the Avengers series. “Making content for TV is the hardest thing in the world for a director because it is a constant grind. It is for months on end—you are prepping, shooting and posting at the same time, as you are doing episode after episode. This absolutely prepared us.” Citing Joss Whedon, Judd Apatow and JJ Abrams—all directors who have worked in TV and delivered blockbuster films—Russo explains that TV prepares a filmmaker to handle volume and stress, both of which are present while making superhero films such as Avengers.

Another stressful factor for the Russo Brothers is to avoid spoilers from leaking out—especially when the whole world wants to know how the Avengers saga comes to an end. “People get mad at us sometimes for obscuring facts in trailers and misdirecting them, but it’s the only way to keep information from getting out,” he says, sharing that even the actors didn’t have access to the entire script. He jokes that Tom Holland (aka Spider-Man), who is notorious for accidentally slipping spoilers on social media, got only three pages of the script. “There are only a handful of people who know what happens in the movie. Hopefully, it releases three weeks from now with all its secrets preserved”. While still tight-lipped, he does share that “audiences should prepare themselves for a really emotional ending”.

After Endgame, the Russo Brothers will be done with Marvel movies for a while, but not with their actors. Chris Hemsworth features in the Sam Hargrave-directed Dhaka, which has been written by Joe Russo and was shot in India last year. The brothers will then direct a film called Cherry, a true story about the opioid crisis in the US, featuring Tom Holland. “We grew up in a big Italian family and we treat the cast and crew as family. We like to work with the same people because it creates shorthand between us. Also, it is always fun to hang out on the set, go for dinners and just laugh about things together,” Russo concludes.