Yahoo Movies Brie Larson was determined to make The Marvels 'joyful' despite trolling
The film's director Nia DaCosta spoke about her experience with Larson on set
Watch: The Marvels director Nia DaCosta discusses making the film with Brie Larson
Brie Larson was keen to make The Marvels a "joyful" experience for herself and her co-stars in spite of online trolling she's received since taking the role of Captain Marvel, director Nia DaCosta tells Yahoo UK.
"Brie is awesome. Brie is so prepared, she's so focused. She really wanted the two other women in the film to have a good experience, I wanted it to be a great experience," the director says.
"We talked a lot about how joyful this should be."Nia DaCosta
Despite the joy being in a Marvel film should bring, Larson has been subjected to horrific trolling over her taking the role, with people complaining she "ruined" the character — a sentiment that often comes from a sexist place.
Larson has dealt with so much trolling that she's hit back publicly on multiple occasions, and once jokingly asked "does anyone want me to do it again?" when questioned over if she'd return to the role.
The Marvels, which lands in cinemas on Friday, follows Larson's Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris' Moniva Rambeau, and Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan as they navigate a new threat after it forces them to switch places with each other when they use their powers.
DaCosta adds that she and Larson felt "we're making a superhero movie, we're making a comic book film, we should be having fun".
"Then Marvel, their job is to get the movie that they want," the filmmaker adds. "And so if they want female leads in their films, they're going to get female leads.
"And if they want the film to be like this, that's what it's gonna be... we both knew we were important parts of this process, but we're just a small part of a very big machine and and we went into it just trying to have have a good time and do our best work."
Not engaging with trolls
DaCosta referenced early negative criticism to her film, as well as the way in which some trolls specifically target their ire on projects with women at the forefront.
Referencing David Fincher's recent comments that he doesn't know how to help viewers who side with Tyler Durden in Fight Club, the director says: "That's kind of how I feel, like I don't know what to say to them, I don't know how to help them.
"I myself really don't engage with it at all. I think that's it's going to exist no matter what you do."Nia DaCosta
"So I think it just lives where it lives and then the rest of us get to enjoy the fun."
Joining the MCU
DaCosta joined Marvel after previously working in independent cinema, releasing films like Candyman prior to The Marvels, and she admits the experience was difficult at times.
"It was really interesting and, yeah, it's at times overwhelming, and also so much fun because I've loved this world for so long and to be able to play in it was really cool," she reflects.
"You also have so much support, like the other directors — calling them was always great... I think most of the directors lately have come from a more independent film, and so we've all had this learning curve to go from the films that we made to something like this.
"So they're very aware of that and there's a really great network of filmmakers that are there that you can connect with."
Bringing in three characters from different areas of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was a challenge, DaCosta says, but one she enjoyed trying to figure it out: "It's a moving target. It's a process, it's a give and take — 'Oh, that's too much, that's too little'.
"And because they have a lot of history between the three of them, and even individually they have a lot of history. So it was constant conversations, constant negotiations and trial by error, basically."
Not only was important for her to add her own spin on the story, she was also keen to hear from her cast during the process.
"They as actors have their own point of view about what was important to be on screen for their character, so we include that as well. It was a big collaboration between all of us," DaCosta adds.
DaCosta couldn't reveal too much about the way the film will impact the MCU going forward — though she did say Secret Invasion takes place "chronologically before" The Marvels — the director says knew how to focus the narrative of the film
"For us, what was really important was honouring the three women, their stories, and how much of their stories had already been depicted in the MCU."Nia DaCosta
"Miss Marvel, she has a whole show, we meet her, we see how she gets her powers, we see her family, we see her community. It's amazing.
"And Carol, it's a bit different because we do see her background but there's so much that's missing because the whole first movie is about how she doesn't have her memory.
"And then Monica, we have the least amount of information about her, but we do see how she gets her powers and we do see that there's this dynamic with her and Carol that's fraught, seemingly fraught.
"So, for us, the most important thing was honouring that and building into that for this film and what happens afterwards."
The Marvels premieres in cinemas on Friday, 10 November.
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