Director Julius Onah chats with THR at the 'Captain America: Brave New World' premiere and explains what it was like incorporate characters from 'The Incredible Hulk' into his new film. Plus, he expresses his gratitude to the firemen who have kept Los Angeles and the pride he feels to be able to honor them at the premiere.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00You know, it's really great to be here and get to honor the heroes who kept us safe.
00:07I got evacuated, you know, just a month ago as we were putting the last touches on this
00:11film and we are safe now because of these amazing people and it's so great to be able
00:15to invite them here and give them a couple of hours to escape from everything and just
00:19to say thank you to them.
00:21It's incredible.
00:22How is your home and your community?
00:23You know, we're all intact.
00:24We're all safe and, you know, at the end of the day, that's what's most important and
00:28as much as I wanted to put everything into this movie and we did, I'm so grateful that,
00:33you know, though a lot of people struggled, a lot of people also were able to stay safe
00:37and it's amazing.
00:38Well, we're here tonight for Brave New World.
00:41It's been a few years since we've seen Sam Wilson's kind of hesitant journey of whether
00:45or not to fully embrace the title of Captain America.
00:48So where do we find him when things pick up now that he has really taken on that moniker?
00:52We find him as the hero that he's meant to be.
00:54You know, this is not him equivocating about being Captain America.
00:58He is Captain America.
00:59For me, what was exciting about this is after you accept that mantle, then how do you define
01:04your role as Captain America?
01:06This is a Captain America who superpowers his empathy and that's what this movie puts
01:09to the test through an incredible journey that he has with Harrison Ford in the film.
01:14I think one of the most touching and kind of tragic backstories of Falcon and Winter
01:17Soldier was the story of Isaiah Bradley, who seems to have, he's continuing to go through
01:23it in Brave New World.
01:24So where do we find him?
01:25We find Isaiah Bradley now also accepting Sam as Captain America.
01:29He doubted him.
01:30He had questions about whether or not he should take the mantle.
01:33Now he's protective and believing in him, but of course something is afoot in this story
01:38and Sam now has to go exonerate, clear Isaiah.
01:41So Isaiah's brought back to that emotional place, but what I love so much is Isaiah's
01:45love for Sam and desire to protect him.
01:48I think it's something audiences are going to love too.
01:50Whenever there's a new MCU movie, I do my proper homework as much as I can.
01:54I'm revisiting Falcon and Winter Soldier and I think this is one of the first times
01:58maybe ever that I've really revisited the Incredible Hulk and had to circle back to
02:02that film.
02:03So can you talk to me about kind of incorporating some of those characters and how that film
02:09plays into this one?
02:10Well, it was very exciting.
02:12Obviously we met Thaddeus Ross for the first time in the MCU in that film.
02:15His name was Thunderbolt Ross.
02:17This is a version of him that's a president.
02:19And what I love about his journey, it's about him trying to redefine himself now.
02:22He doesn't want to be that belligerent man in the past.
02:25He wants to be a man who is kinder, a man who is trying to bring the world together,
02:30and especially a man who's trying to reconnect with his daughter Betty.
02:33So all that factors into his journey in this film and the back and forth between him and
02:38Anthony Mackie, both of them now elevated to these incredible symbols, Captain America
02:42and the President of the United States of America.
02:44It makes for really intense drama in this film and some great action too.
02:48So exciting.
02:49Congrats.