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'Deadpool & Wolverine' producer Kevin Feige spoke at his Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony on Thursday, July 25, 2024, at 6840 Hollywood Blvd. in front of the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA. This video is available for editorial use in all media and worldwide. To ensure compliance and proper licensing of this video, please contact us. ©MaximoTV
'Deadpool & Wolverine' producer Kevin Feige spoke at his Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony on Thursday, July 25, 2024, at 6840 Hollywood Blvd. in front of the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA. This video is available for editorial use in all media and worldwide. To ensure compliance and proper licensing of this video, please contact us. ©MaximoTV
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00:00I now declare today Kevin Feige Day in Hollywood!
00:07Take it away, Kevin!
00:12Thank you. Thank you very much.
00:15Until this day, I thought the most nerve-wracking thing was public speaking.
00:21Now I know the most nerve-wracking thing is just standing there while other people speak about you.
00:26But thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you to the City of Hollywood, to the Chamber of Commerce.
00:32Obviously, this is a dream come true.
00:36My parents, whom I'm so thankful are here today. I love you.
00:40Would bring me out here, my sister, when I was a kid from New Jersey.
00:44Once or twice, we came to L.A., we'd go to Disneyland, we'd go to Universal Studios,
00:48and we would come here to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
00:51And I would run with my disposable film camera and take pictures of the stars of the people I knew.
00:57But I would make mental notes of the many, many names I didn't know.
01:01And when I got home, I would go to the school library, pull out an encyclopedia,
01:05because this is how long ago it was, and look up the names that I didn't know here on the Walk of Fame.
01:11And that is how I learned about people who are now my favorite writers and directors and producers.
01:17So I'm incredibly proud to continue that legacy of those who helped make the magic behind the scenes.
01:25Behind the scenes. And we get our names on this street.
01:31It is surreal that I will now literally be a part of the foundation of Hollywood,
01:36immortalized there in concrete.
01:38And to know that someday there will be some young film nerd from across the country that walks and goes,
01:43Who's that? Who's Kevin Feige? Who's that? And they can look me up.
01:50The location here is remarkably special.
01:54When I was a freshman at USC, in 1991, right up the street there where that white tent is,
02:02there was a set of bleachers.
02:04And I was in that crowd, I had come, I think I took a cab,
02:09to watch the original cast of the Star Trek movies come around this corner
02:13and get their hands in cement at the Chinese theater.
02:16And I had a revelation there. I'm by myself, and I'm looking around at all these other people in the stands
02:22waiting to see Star Trek people, and they were all nerds.
02:26And they were all nerds, and I thought, Huh, why is everybody a nerd?
02:29And then I realized, Oh, I'm a nerd. I'm a nerd too.
02:34And it was an awakening, and I couldn't have been more proud.
02:37And I've always felt most comfortable around nerds,
02:40which really means passionate people who care and love with passion.
02:47Of the 34 Marvel Studios films that we have released,
02:5128 of them have had their premiere right on this block between Highland and North Orange.
02:58We filmed over there three times at the Chinese theater, I think.
03:02It was during a fan event on a random Tuesday in October in 2014
03:07when Chadwick Boseman was first introduced as the Black Panther on the El Capitan stage right behind me.
03:14On the street here, Lyle Breyer and her amazing team at Disney have put on amazing premieres.
03:21We had replicas of the Time Variance Authority out there on Hollywood Boulevard.
03:25We've had interdimensional portals built there.
03:27We've had lines of Dora Milaje warriors guarding the way.
03:31And somehow we even had the Air Force fly over once for the Captain Marvel premiere.
03:36And I remember thinking as those planes flew over that that was as close as I would come
03:40to the amazing premiere that you guys should look up from 90-plus years ago.
03:45Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels had the premiere right there at Chinese theater,
03:49and they had planes hung above Hollywood Boulevard.
03:51Look it up. They're awesome pictures.
03:53And I was with my friend Chris Evans right over there when we had our own handprint ceremony for Avengers.
04:00That was an idea I had while being in the stands watching the Star Trek team do it
04:05that if I could ever bring the Avengers together that maybe we would all get our hands in cement
04:10and I'd sneak in a finger or a thumb.
04:13But they let me do both my hands, which was very nice.
04:16So needless to say, to me and to our cinematic universe, this is hallowed ground right here.
04:22Producing is all I've ever really wanted to do ever since I knew it was a thing that a person could do.
04:29And to be able to do it alongside the most talented actors and storytellers in the business
04:33is more than I could ever have asked for.
04:35Ryan, I am very proud to be the newest member of the Deadpool filmmaking team,
04:40and it's a pleasure, and I can't wait for audiences to see it tonight.
04:44Tonight.
04:47And as Hugh so beautifully said, I'm one of the original filmmakers going back 25 years on X-Men.
04:54And as you say, this full circle moment is incredibly special.
04:58And you coming back here, donning the claws again for Marvel Studios,
05:01and putting on the yellow suit for the first time, which we were not allowed to do 25 years ago.
05:09My partner at Marvel Studios, Ludia Esposito, you're an incredible filmmaker, an incredible storyteller,
05:15an incredible speechwriter. Let's hear it again for Lu. Holy mackerel.
05:20I will always be grateful to Jon Favreau for hiring you on Iron Man 1.
05:25And we've been together ever since.
05:28And to Laurence Shuler Donner, who gave me my break in this business.
05:32Thank you. I learned so much from you, working for you. I've learned so much since then.
05:36I'm so happy you're here today.
05:38Avi Arad, who couldn't be here today, hired me at Marvel Studios.
05:43And believe me when I tell you, it is his passion and his vision and his deep-held belief
05:48of what these characters could be up on the big screen that has brought us to this moment right now.
05:53Thank you to Alan Bergman, who is our rock, who from day one, working with Disney,
05:58has supported us in every decision, big and small.
06:01He always has our back, and it allows us to do what we love to do.
06:05So thank you, Alan, very, very much.
06:08To Bob Iger, who couldn't be here, thank you for everything.
06:13Bob changed everything for me, for Marvel.
06:16When he purchased Marvel is really when...
06:19He purchased Marvel a little bit based on what we had done before,
06:22but I think a lot in the belief of what we could do in the future.
06:25And that belief meant a lot and continues to mean a lot to us.
06:28And then what did he do ten years later?
06:30He bought Fox, which among many other things, allowed us to get the Mutants back
06:34and the X-Men back and the Fantastic Four back and lead to this moment right here.
06:38So thank you for that.
06:39To my colleagues at Marvel and Disney, Stephen, Brad, Nate, Jonathan, Trinh, who couldn't be here,
06:46you are not just my colleagues, my collaborators.
06:50You are not just my friends from work, you're my friends.
06:53Assad, everyone, Ryan, you are...
06:56It is a joy every day for the last almost 20 years, as Lou said.
07:01It is very unusual in this business for a group of creative people to be working together for decades.
07:06And we do it because we all get along really well, and we all are good, good friends.
07:11And especially to my wife, Caitlin, to my daughter, Ella, to my son, Eric.
07:18I dreamed a lot of dreams when I moved out here 30-plus years ago,
07:24but I never dreamed that the most successful partnership and the most successful co-productions
07:30and the most important thing in my life would be the family that I get to go home to every single day.
07:35I love you, love you very, very much.
07:38I love you very much.
07:40Obviously, I'm not up here because of anything I did by myself.
07:44Nobody makes this many movies by themselves.
07:47I had all this help along the way, and I really think that is why filmmaking is the greatest art form,
07:53because it is a collaboration each and every day.
07:56It's why we put tags at the end of our movies.
07:58Do you like the tags we put at the end of our movies?
08:01I like them because it makes people, encourages people to sit and watch all of the names of the people that made the movie
08:08and learn what the positions are and learn who the people were,
08:11much like walking on this boulevard encouraged me to learn and to grow
08:15and to enter this business that I love so much and I look forward to being a part of for the rest of my life.
08:20Getting a star on the Walk of Fame seemed about as likely as Disney releasing an R-rated film with Marvel characters in it,
08:28but here we are.
08:29Today, both are happening.
08:30Thank you so much, everybody.
08:31Thank you.
08:32Thank you.