‘Thunderbolts*’ director Jake Schreier was influenced by animated classic ‘Toy Story 3’ during the process of making the Marvel blockbuster.
Jake Schreier was influenced by ‘Toy Story 3’ when making ‘Thunderbolts*’.
The filmmaker has helmed the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) blockbuster and explained that the beloved Pixar animation served as an unlikely form of inspiration for a story that centres on a group of misfit characters.
Jake told Empire magazine: “The first thing I did was make a reel of reference films.
“I had ‘Toy Story 3’ in there. It wasn’t as focused on a genre as much as dynamics amongst characters. They all have that dynamic of a team that is thrown together.”
Schreier explained that he was particularly inspired by the scene where Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang link hands when faced with death via a furnace.
He said: “That sequence works so well because you’ve come to care about these characters so much. Can they get out of the trash can together?
“It really is just ‘Toy Story 3’. Forget Tarantino. That’s my only reference.”
The 43-year-old director explained that he wanted to explore the matter of mental health in the Marvel movie.
Jake explained: “You’re talking about a group of characters that have done a lot of bad things, and maybe are struggling with feeling good about themselves.
“There’s an element that does speak to mental health, and loneliness, and how some of the darkness that we experience in our lives can’t be necessarily fixed, but can only really be made lighter through connection and finding others.”
The ‘Paper Towns’ filmmaker explained that ‘Thunderbolts*’ differs from other superhero movies.
Schreier said: “I don’t like to be so arrogant as to say that no-one’s ever done anything like this.
“But there’s a certain amount of that ‘Beef’ tone in it, that does feel different. There’s an emotional darkness that we brought to this that is resonant, but doesn’t come at the expense of comedy.”
He added: “I think people are maybe expecting just another version of ‘Suicide Squad’.
“But the story felt different. There was a flip of what people expected it to be.”
The picture’s executive producer Brian Chapek explained that film chiefs set out to “surprise” audiences with the “vulnerable” characters at the heart of the story.
He said: “In relation to all the other characters that inhabit our universe, they feel human. Which was very much intentional in building out this roster.
“We wanted them to feel vulnerable. People have no idea what a Thunderbolts movie is, or what it could be, and there’s an opportunity in that to surprise people.”
Jake Schreier took inspiration from Toy Story 3 while making Thunderbolts*
