Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders and Joss Whedon Talk THE AVENGERS

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With no question, Marvel’s The Avengers is one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, bringing together such iconic superheroes as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), all under the auspices of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), in order to defeat an unexpected enemy (Tom Hiddleston) threatening to destroy the universe.

At the film’s press day, co-stars Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson) and Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill) were joined by director/screenwriter Joss Whedon to talk about good comic book adaptations vs. bad ones, their most memorable moments in making the movie, the approach to spectacle, finding the balance between action and characters, how the interactions between the characters is just “booze and candy,” and costume envy.  Whedon also clarifies which alien race Loki is working with in the film, and even gave some advice as to what it would take for Warner Bros. to get their Justice League movie off the ground.  Check out what they had to say after the jump, and if you missed our interview with Downey, Evans, Hemsworth, Ruffalo, Jackson and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, click here.




Question: Joss, in taking on this film, what was the most exciting thing and what was the most challenging thing for you to do?

JOSS WHEDON:  I think the exciting thing speaks for itself.  That bunch of characters, that bunch of actors playing them, that much money is a no-brainer.  The hardest part is and always will be structure.  How do you put that together?  How do you make everybody shine?  How do you let the audience’s identification drift from person to person without making them feel like they’re not involved.  It’s a very complex structure.  It’s not necessarily particularly ornate or original, but it had to be right and it had to be earned, from moment to moment, and that’s exhausting.  That was still going on in the editing room, after we shot it.

What is it that separates a good comic book adaptation film from a bad one?


WHEDON:  Well, there’s all sorts, but for me, it’s capturing the essence of the comic and being true to what’s wonderful about it while remembering that it’s a movie and not a comic.  I think Spider-Man, the first one particularly, really figured out the formula of, “Oh, tell the story that they told in the comic.  It was compelling.  That’s why it’s iconic.”  But, at the same time, they did certain things that only a movie can do, that were in the vein of the comic.  You see things likeThe League of Extraordinary Gentleman, where they just throw out the comic, or Watchmen, where they do it frame for frame, and neither of them work.  You have to get the spirit of the thing, and then step away from that and create something cinematic and new.

Cobie, what does being a part of a superhero movie like this mean to you, and did you think about getting to watch it with your daughter?

COBIE SMULDERS:  It means there are a lot more action figures in our house.  I think we have all of them, and she knows all of their names.  But, it’s very cool to be a woman in a man’s world, in this film, and then have my daughter see that.  That’s probably the coolest thing.

What was your most memorable moment making this movie?


CLARK GREGG:  Not just because Joss is here and not just because I want to be impressive, but I’m going to say it’s the day I got the script, just because I felt like this was not an achievable task.  As someone who writes sometimes, and loves movies and watches a lot of them, I just didn’t think it was really feasible to have this many characters and have them all get to move forward and to have this story of them coming together really work.  If it did work with that many amazing superheroes and movie stars, I felt it unlikely that Agent Coulson would do anything but bring some super-coffee to somebody.  So, when I read it and saw that it was my fanboy wet dream of an Avengers script and that Coulson was a big part of it, that was the great day for me.  I just drove around the streets with the script in the other seat, giggling.

TOM HIDDLESTON:  For me, there are so many things that are memorable about it ‘cause it was such a long shoot.  It was the whole summer, for all of us.  We had so many different experiences together.  It was an amazing time for me to work with some of the greatest actors in the world.  But, if you said, “How was The Avengers shoot?,” there’s an image in my mind of the first day on set when everybody was there together.  It was insane, the picture of everybody in costume, and all of these actors and all of these characters, in their chainmail and their capes and their armor, except for Mark Ruffalo in his grey and white pajamas at the back.  To see everybody finally assembled was an extraordinary moment.  Just the picture ofThe Avengers was amazing.


WHEDON:  I don’t remember any of it.  Mine is super-boring, but people kept asking me, “Are you excited that you’re directing this movie?”  And I kept saying, “I will be.  I don’t feel things necessarily in the moment.  It will happen.”  We were in the lab when almost all of The Avengers get together for the first time, and I was giving Chris Evans a piece of direction.  I walked through the hall and I stopped and I said to the producers, “It happened.  I’ll tell you later.”  That was the moment it just flooded over me and I was like, “Oh, that’s nice.  Excitement.”  That was it.  Told you it was dull!

JEREMY RENNER:  It’s when everybody was together.  That’s the most memorable and creepy and funny.  Getting to play with Thor’s hammer while he stroked my bow.  That’s going to get me in trouble!  It was getting all the actors in one room, all in costume.  It was like Halloween.  They were hesitant as humans, but then they were dressed up like silly people.  It was great to laugh at each other.  That will always stick in my mind.

SMULDERS:  I was very much a newbie, coming in.  When I got to do a scene where most of them were there, and I got to see everybody sitting at the table for the first time, I got to stand back.  I also loved any moment I got to work with [Joss Whedon] because I’ve been wanting to work with him for a very long time.


Joss, you’ve done movies with big ensemble casts before, like with Serenitywhen you also had to reintroduce characters again.  How did you go about bringing together and reintroducing the cast of The Avengers?

WHEDON:  It’s the same problem I had with Serenity, and swore I’d never have again.  Tracking the information is more difficult because it’s not as much fun as tracking the emotion of the thing.  You have to know how much people need to know because some people will come in knowing everything and you don’t want to tell them too much, and some people will come in knowing nothing and you don’t even want to tell them too much.  You want some things to be inferred.  It’s fun to see a movie that has texture beyond what you understand.  When I watched Wall Street, I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I was very compelled by it.  It clearly mattered a lot.  If I watch any film about sports, I feel the same way.  If you feel that there is a life behind the life, outside the frame, you feel good about it.  You don’t necessarily have to lay everything out, but organizing that is and was the most exhausting part of the film.  The stuff between the characters is just booze and candy, all day.

What are your favorite video games?


RENNER: Half Life, the first-person shooter, got me hooked on games.

GREGG: Call of Duty: Black Ops, Mass Effect.

RENNER: Dance Dance Revolution.

GREGG:  There was some Avengersaffinity for Dance Dance Revolution.  There was an Avengers edition of Dance Dance Revolution that should be videotaped, or not.

WHEDON:  I have friends.

RENNER:  Says the king of comic books.

WHEDON:  Everybody knows that’s not true.  I actually don’t know any video games because, if I start playing one, then that will be it.  I will be gone, and I won’t be able to do this.

HIDDLESTON:  I don’t know video games either.  The last video game I played, apart from Dance Dance Revolution at Jeremy’s house, which I was very good at - Scarlett [Johansson] and I will always have “Billie Jean” - was Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo.  I’m from the Dark Ages.


GREGG:  Nobody Lambadas like Loki.

SMULDERS:  I’m classic.  I liked Super Mario Bros., the very first one with the mushrooms.  That was my favorite one.

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