As we approach the release date of Marvel Studios’ next big film, “The Marvels,” there will likely be a lot written about how actor Iman Vellani is a big comic book fan. (Hell, she’s even writing a “Ms. Marvel” comic book series this fall.) But according to director Nia DaCosta, Vellani isn’t the only person on set who is a big nerd. In fact, DaCosta said that Kevin Feige would have to tell the director to stop being a nerd on set when she would bring up moments in the comics and how the film was changing stuff.
Speaking in a long piece about “The Marvels” from EW, Nia DaCosta, who is probably best known for her films “Little Woods” and “Candyman,” talked about some of the challenges that she was presented with by working on a huge Marvel film. No, she’s not really talking about tricky action shots or integrating CGI. The “biggest challenge” she faced was having to check her own nerdom at the door.
“The biggest challenge was finding the balance between my point of view as a director and as a comic book nerd,” DaCosta said. “Obviously, there are changes between the comics and the movies, and sometimes I’m like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa!’ Sometimes Kevin [Feige] would be like, ‘You’re being too much of a nerd. Please stop.'”
“The Marvels” serves as a sequel to a number of Marvel Studios projects (“Captain Marvel,” “Ms. Marvel,” “WandaVision,” and “Secret Invasion,” all factor into this film), and because of that, there are a lot of characters showing up in the film. Not only that, the three leads (Vellani, Brie Larson, and Teyonah Parris) and the main villain (Zawe Ashton) are all women, which makes “The Marvels” one of the most female-centric projects in MCU history. This is a fact that isn’t lost on the people involved.
”It’s this all-female sci-fi extravaganza, with a woman on the other side of the camera,” Ashton said. “I felt very moved, actually, being involved in it. It’s not an environment you’re often in — a huge-budget movie with all these badass women and Samuel L. Jackson. That just doesn’t happen.”
Iman Vellani hopes that even though there are so many women in the cast and crew of the film, the situations these characters go through will be universal and will attract all sorts of people to see the film.
“We’re really lucky because we have such a plethora of female characters with real flaws and real arcs,” Vellani said. “Time and time again, it’s proven that not only do these stories have such a robust fan base, but they sell.”
She added, “Marvel has always championed that idea of finding this idealized version of yourself through their characters — a version of yourself that can fly in space or stop a train with one hand. I think that aspiration to be greater than who you are is such a universal feeling, regardless of gender identity. I hope people recognize that and find ways to identify with all of our characters.”
Marvel Studios hasn’t been having the best couple of years, with films underperforming at the box office and several films that haven’t been huge hits with critics, so it’ll be interesting to see how folks react to “The Marvels.” We’ll find out soon enough, when the film arrives in theaters on November 10.