Marvel movies are protected by Kevin Feige, who has managed to find the right of letting the creative talents on each project shine, while also serving the necessary requirements of the brand. Things at Marvel’s TV division are quite different. Quality has varied wildly across their shows on ABC, Netflix, and FX and they still follow the playbook of many other programs on the small screen. They want it done cheap and fast. For every marquee title like “Game Of Thrones,” where HBO doesn’t mind spending millions of dollars per episode, there are many more working limited resources. So it goes with the upcoming “Inhumans,” which even though it was utilizing IMAX cameras for the first couple episodes, still had to use the money and resources of you’re average show.
Roel Reiné, who directed the first two episodes of the series, reveals that his background making action movies on the cheap (“Death Race 2,” “12 Rounds 2: Reloaded,” “Hard Target 2,” you get the idea) is what spurred Marvel to hire him.
“I think they liked me for the job because I was able with my action movies to shoot in a very short time, or with very low budgets, action that looks like a big-budget movie,” he told CNET.
“The schedule was super-tight. I had TV schedule time to shoot it with Imax cameras, 20 days to shoot two episodes. It’s nerve-wracking but I come from a low-budget film world, so 20 days for me is luxury,” he added.
Still, even with not much money on the line, the Marvel brand remains incredibly valuable. And according to Reiné, there was always a suit on set to make sure everything was keeping in the spirit of the comics company.
“There was always a Marvel executive around me, just to make sure that whatever I did, or whatever we did together, would tie in with other characters in other universes, in other comics, in other series or movies,” he said. “They’re very protective. These people are very passionate about their product and about characters and about doing the best version of everything.”
It’s somewhat ironic then that for all that protective purpose, Marvel has made what might be one of their worst reviewed shows ever. Advance buzz for “Inhumans” is dreadful, and even hardcore Marvel fans have serious concerns. We’ll see how it all turns out when “Inhumans” hits IMAX cinemas on September 1st before starting its regular run on TV on September 29th.