In making films for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the ethos of Marvel Studios is to make the best movies possible, and that includes reshoots after principal photography is concluded. However, a new book covering the history of the company shows that Marvel’s view of reshoots differs from that of most other film studios.
As explained in The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry, the company builds time for reshoots into the production schedules for all of its movies. But, unlike other studios, Marvel doesn’t view that work as fixing errors, plugging holes in the stories or including something that was missed the first time. Instead, it’s seen as a valuable and necessary part of filmmaking, enhancing both the storytelling and the bottom line.
Louis D’Esposito, co-president of Marvel Studios and an executive producer on most MCU movies and spinoffs, said Marvel developed this philosophy from what it learned during post-production on its earliest films. D’Esposito said, “After the first two Iron Man movies, we knew we couldn’t get it a hundred percent right during the shoot. There would be something we needed to clarify. Something we wanted to do differently. So we tell all the actors that there is going to be additional photography sometime in the future. We give dates so they can book it out. ‘But what are you going to shoot?’ we hear back. We don’t know. But we know we are going to shoot. And it becomes surgical.”
D’Esposito went on, “The only agenda is to make a great film. And there’s no fear at the last minute even saying, ‘You know what? We can make this better.'”
Victoria Alonso, President of Physical, Post Production, VFX and Animation production for Marvel Studios, agreed. “We’re always looking for, ‘How do we make this thing sing?’ And sometimes you have to go back,” she said. “We never think that going back is because we made a mistake. It’s because, at that moment in time, we didn’t have the full vision of what this was going to be.” In the end, Alsonso said, it’s about “the right group of people that care for the right thing, equally — to have no agenda other than to make the greatest movie.”
The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe covers all the MCU films from Iron Man through Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Source: The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
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