Avengers Endgame' Cast Full Roundtable Interview On Stan Lee & More (2019) Entertainment Weekly
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00:00I'm Anthony Bresnikan with Entertainment Weekly and we're here with the Avengers.
00:04We're in the Endgame, the original six Avengers and Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios,
00:09who's like the Nick Fury in real life.
00:11That's Sam. Sam Jackson.
00:13But he's dust, so we need you here to help bring the Avengers.
00:17I'm proud to do that.
00:23So you guys can't talk about Endgame, right?
00:25So can you tell me just the most outlandish lie you can think of about your character?
00:29Another lightning round? We've been really killing those lately.
00:34The only thing you can guarantee about Endgame is that it's going to begin and then it's going to end at some point.
00:40A movie!
00:41It's going to be continuous.
00:43Surely there's something else.
00:44It'll be in the theater whenever you want.
00:46It just keeps running.
00:48I'm going to have PTSD from this junket.
00:50I mean, honestly.
00:51You're doing so good.
00:52It really is good.
00:53You're doing great.
00:55At the end of every day, I lie awake at night and I think about all the things I almost said,
01:01and it gives me panic.
01:03Oh, you think you feel that way?
01:05Tell us about it, Mark. How do you feel?
01:08You're a repeat offender, Mr. Ruffalo.
01:10A non-bed re-education camp.
01:14What's the biggest one you've spilled in the past movie?
01:16Well, what about when you streamed the first ten minutes of Ragnarok?
01:20That might be the highlight.
01:22That might be the highlight.
01:23Someone had to walk up to you at the premiere.
01:25I saw people running up and down the aisles.
01:28What are they doing?
01:29And they went to Mark going, okay.
01:31That was the one that got me the call from the up high.
01:36Love me.
01:37Because everyone laughed so hard during that.
01:40You could hear it.
01:41All they could hear was laughing.
01:42They went, it must be good.
01:43Well, it sort of turned around on me.
01:45Because when I came to work on Monday, everyone ran up to me.
01:49I thought they were coming to scream at me, Barry.
01:52And he threw his arms around me.
01:54And he's like, that was genius.
01:56We got more press than we could have possibly paid for.
02:01Spoiler?
02:02Yes, Barry Curtis, one of our supreme security at Marvel Studios.
02:06Who now is immortalized as the blockbuster parking lot security guard in Captain Marvel.
02:11Finally.
02:12That's Barry.
02:14Play your cards right. There's a cameo in the future.
02:16Personally, what's been the biggest change in you since you began working on the Marvel movies?
02:21My waist size.
02:23Thinner?
02:24I don't know now.
02:26I haven't checked.
02:27Fluctuating.
02:29Well, I mean, a lot of people here have popped out children.
02:32Like three of you guys had.
02:33I'm for you.
02:34People have had children.
02:36That didn't affect my waistline.
02:38That means your life changed.
02:39That didn't affect my waistline.
02:44People always ask, what do you bring to your character?
02:47Is there any part of the person you play?
02:51I find there was a much clearer kind of this is who the character was in the first time I played it.
02:56And then out of just like, oh, I'll do something different.
03:01It slowly just became me screwing around and kind of having fun.
03:05I don't know.
03:06I'm not saying I'm completely the character, but there's more of me in the character now than ever, I think.
03:12Just because it's the most honest place you can operate from.
03:15Especially in knowing everybody.
03:17I feel like our own interpersonal or personal relationships start to echo through.
03:22And then what you see, the authenticity of Iron Man and Captain America or whatever on screen.
03:29There is a real friendship with Chris and Robert.
03:31So then it starts to just come through whether we like it or not.
03:33Do you all feel that way?
03:34Like parts of you are in this character?
03:36Yeah.
03:37I mean, well, it's impossible not to take a little piece home.
03:39Anytime you play a role, when you're in a certain headspace all day, you can't help but take some of that home with you.
03:43And sometimes you play roles where that's really exhausting.
03:47And it can be like a cave of darkness sometimes that you can't wait to shed.
03:51And other times you kind of can't wait to get back to it.
03:53And that's the fun thing about the role that most movies, when you're done, you kind of close the book on that when you move on.
04:00This one, you just kind of put on hiatus because you know you're coming back to him.
04:04It's the same way that these are all friends.
04:07The character becomes a friend, too.
04:09You're visiting an old friend.
04:10How do you feel about that?
04:11You kind of kicked it all off.
04:12Quiet as it's kept, consciously or otherwise, Kevin, you put us in a position where we lived our lives looking each other in the eyes
04:21and playing these big stakes moments and being in trouble together and saving each other and worrying about each other.
04:28So it was kind of like these six souls became...
04:32It's just this impossible to explain thing is getting a little tired.
04:38I think it just comes down to the smallness of our lives has been the constant in this massive endeavor.
04:45And I think it's impossible not to be humbled by it.
04:48Hell, if I've been, then it's completely impossible not to be.
04:52How about you, Scarlett?
04:55These characters have grappled with their past and they have grappled with their destiny.
05:04And I think we've seen them over this past 10 years sort of come into their own as fully realized people with all of their flaws
05:14and have an acceptance of their flaws and actually come to see them as strengths.
05:21And I think that's probably reflective of a lot of the journeys we've all had in the past.
05:26I mean, just having 10 years of time and growing and having ups and downs in our lives and sharing our lives with one another
05:35has been a real pillar of strength in all kinds of crazy times.
05:40And I think that's what the audience also reacts to is that the characters have grown in a way that feels reflective of their own experience.
05:51I mean, I met this girl yesterday who was like a Black Widow super fan.
05:54She was awesome.
05:55And she was like, I saw the first movie with you.
05:57I first saw Black Widow when I was six.
05:59And now she was 15.
06:01And she was like, I grew up with you and it's so exciting.
06:04And I was thinking, God, she was a little girl.
06:06Now she's this beautiful young woman.
06:08And she probably feels also like the journey of these characters coming into their own is very much a part of her own experience.
06:17And I think that's how we kind of have reflected ourselves within the characters as well.
06:26People are so emotionally invested in all of these characters.
06:28Anything you tweet about them or any hint in a trailer that they might be in jeopardy and people get really worked up about it.
06:35It's kind of amazing to see.
06:36You're all out there.
06:37You see it yourselves.
06:38Does that feel odd or does it feel moving or powerful?
06:41What's it like seeing that?
06:42A little scary.
06:45You become more careful.
06:48You have a bigger responsibility.
06:53But you also see kind of the power of storytelling.
07:00And the one thing I think about these movies that's really exciting is they're forward leaning in the narrative of good versus evil.
07:13And so we're able to transcend some of the divisive narratives that are happening now.
07:24I mean the one thing is that these stories do kind of touch a lot of different kinds of people, different kinds of belief.
07:30And I really believe that.
07:31And it's about coming together too.
07:33Yeah, it is.
07:34It's about having fun.
07:35And it's about people who have, you know, Civil War is the ultimate example of that, you know.
07:41And look at them now.
07:43Yeah, I know.
07:44They love each other.
07:46I always feel like somehow we're always one or two steps ahead of the political scene.
07:53And the bad guys win sometimes, you know.
07:59And we lose good people.
08:02And unless you lose, sometimes you don't value winning.
08:08Winning doesn't mean anything.
08:10That's true.
08:11I feel like that's been this final journey into our end game.
08:18I feel like he walks perilously.
08:20I mean that is a redemptive act happening in real time.
08:23I think you're back at zero now, buddy.
08:27There's no red left in your ledger, right?
08:30Was that rolling?
08:33That's my note to you now.
08:35We're not just hanging out here.
08:37We're just going to come in and cover it now.
08:38Well, Scarlett, last time we had you guys all together, we were talking about Black Widow and the lack of female superheroes.
08:45What part do you feel that Natasha and Black Widow have played in changing the way people look at female heroes?
08:52I don't know.
08:53It's a good question.
08:54I don't know that I have total perspective on it.
08:57But, you know, the character has certainly grown in a way where we've seen her, you know,
09:05I think Favreau got a little offended when I called her a sexy secretary.
09:08He was like, well, she was undercover.
09:10I was like, okay, yeah, definitely that was true.
09:13But, you know, she, I think through the, you know, through Avengers and then certainly with Winter Soldier,
09:21had an opportunity to become a woman who realized, oh, I have not, you know,
09:27I haven't really made any active choices in my life and was really coming to terms with it.
09:32As S.H.I.E.L.D. like, you know, disintegrated and, you know,
09:37certainly now after Civil War with the Avengers, you know,
09:41also kind of disintegrating and being in all these different places
09:44and everybody kind of having their own reactions to that.
09:47She's come into her own as a woman saying, oh, I actually, like, who am I?
09:51And where is my, you know, like, what do I want and what do I need out of my relationships
10:00and also out of my own self?
10:02And she's someone who is understanding her own self-worth.
10:06And that is such a powerful journey, I think, to see anybody take,
10:09but certainly to see a woman on screen represented in that way,
10:15a flawed superhero with a sort of, you know, kind of gray moral compass,
10:21coming to terms with what's happened to her.
10:24And that's happened over, you know, the course of these films,
10:27ending, obviously, finally with this endgame, and I think in a pretty impactful way.
10:31But, you know, it's definitely, I think, you know, shown some sort of path
10:39for, you know, these other female superheroes to be able to kind of walk down.
10:47I certainly don't take credit for that, though.
10:49But you played a part.
10:50There was a time not so long ago that there was a belief
10:54that there couldn't be a leading female superhero.
10:57Not by this guy, by the way.
10:59No, I know.
11:00Ever, but that was industry standard thinking.
11:03And if they were, it was strictly, like, sexualized.
11:06Well, the secretary with the skill set.
11:08Yeah, exactly.
11:10But I think Black Widow helped change it a lot and changed the way people looked at those.
11:13Yeah, you did that.
11:14And honestly, you know, I think Joss was a huge part of that, too.
11:17He just is such a huge believer of strong female characters and storylines,
11:25and he really celebrated the characters' flaws and wanted to bring them to light.
11:30I say flaws, you know, not really, but what she perceives to be.
11:34And, you know, that was just having his support
11:37and him wanting to shine a light on that character really made a huge difference.
11:41So, you know, part of the journey is the end.
11:43We said goodbye to Stan Lee after a big, long life this year.
11:47Do you guys have any poignant memories of him or stories of meeting him?
11:52I know he didn't always shoot his cameos with you guys around,
11:54but have you all gotten a Stan Lee encounter?
11:58I'm going to make this joke again.
12:02It's okay. I love it. I'll act like I never heard it.
12:04What's the story?
12:06Playing Hulk is like my generation's Hamlet.
12:09We're all going to get a chance to do it.
12:13So it's been, you know.
12:15And so I was really nervous about, you know, would I please him?
12:21And I didn't meet him until the premiere of Avengers.
12:25And I kind of walked up to him sheepishly and he saw me and he's like,
12:29Hey! And he's like, you got it, kid.
12:34And I'm like, oh, that's amazing. Thank you, Mr. Lee.
12:41But I was so nervous about, other than Downey and Kevin,
12:46I was so nervous that he would be happy with what I'd done.
12:53How about you, Robert, on the first Iron Man?
12:55Is that when you met him for the first time?
12:57Yeah. Mine goes to in Civil War.
13:04Rhodey and Tony are having a moment at the end.
13:09And he's like a UPS guy or a FedEx guy.
13:13And so he was outside the glass.
13:15And it was just this thing of like, you know, it's like all of us.
13:19He's a really big deal, but he's just another schmuck.
13:22We have to get his coverage in the can too.
13:25I'm like, and roll sound. He's like, I have a delivery for Tony Stank.
13:30And they're like, great.
13:33It went completely downhill after that.
13:35And I was like, not only is that my memory through the glass,
13:38but also I am exactly like him.
13:41It all goes downhill after take one.
13:43You've got to capture it before I tell you.
13:47You're right. Actually, take two is my strong take.
13:50But we should stop after one.
13:53And he guided it back to himself.
13:55Nothing's changed.
13:58I also had a similar moment to Mark when I saw him.
14:01I think it was after the Iron Man 2 premiere.
14:03And I didn't know how the audience or anybody would react to this beloved character
14:08and my interpretation of her.
14:10Especially because I wasn't originally cast.
14:12And so I also had like a lot of feelings about that.
14:16But yeah, I had a lot of feelings about it.
14:18And I saw him also in the theater.
14:20And he was very excited.
14:23And I, of course, was like, I had a big sigh of relief after that.
14:28He was so happy that he got to see that character on screen.
14:33And it was pretty cool.
14:35You must have a lot of memories of him.
14:37Yes, lots and lots.
14:39The amazing thing is, just as you've all said,
14:42he said the right thing to the right person at all times.
14:45Every interaction was what one's dream interaction with Stan Lee would be.
14:49He made that come true every single time.
14:52I've talked before about he left me a voicemail once in like 2004 or something.
14:57I never got a voicemail from Stan Lee.
14:59And I kept it for years until I think the phone disintegrated.
15:01But it was fearless Feige, Stan Lee here.
15:04I listened to it over and over and over.
15:07And that's sort of what he was always like and always supportive.
15:10We've put a video together that I think, I'm not sure when we're going to put it out,
15:17in the home video window probably.
15:20We've never done this before, a behind-the-scenes of every cameo Stan did.
15:24All the B-roll that was shot and his stand-ups there.
15:27And his passing was very emotional for all of us,
15:30but it suddenly all came back to me just last week when I watched it.
15:34It's tremendous.
15:35And it's, you know, he outside Disney Hall that first time,
15:39and the Tony-stank FedEx, and the deleted cameo,
15:45the first cameo he did on Avengers when you two were in the cafe outside.
15:49See, I was going back to Fantastic Four.
15:52Yes.
15:53The first time I met him was in 2004 when I was doing Johnny Storm.
15:57And the day that he was on set,
15:59we actually happened to have a B-roll crew on set that day for whatever reason.
16:02And one of my first interactions with him, it's all caught on B-roll.
16:06And I found the footage and it's just, at the time he was,
16:10you know, that was very early in my career.
16:12It was the biggest role I'd ever done.
16:13To me, someone like him was so, so overwhelming for me.
16:17And he was so, you know, true Stan Lee format.
16:19You know, just so full of life and just so kind and gregarious
16:24and just made me feel right at home.
16:26And, yeah, we have the entire exchange on film somewhere.
16:29That was, I tell the story,
16:31and the story actually is from Fantastic Four 1 in Toronto
16:36when he came to do his cameo,
16:38and suddenly you couldn't find the crew.
16:41Like Stan was getting ready in the trailer, and you look around,
16:43and we're in the middle of the city, and half the crew is gone.
16:46And I went, what?
16:48And the AD said they all ran to the comic shop on Queens, whatever,
16:52to buy comics to have him sign.
16:54And sure enough, he came in, he shot, and then he signed every single one.
16:57And that was sort of the beginning of what I call the national holiday
17:00every time he came.
17:03Did he ever talk about how, like, that his,
17:06was his like ultimate vision to have this stuff all up there on screen?
17:10He would always, he was always so,
17:12despite how gregarious and taking credit,
17:15I should have more role, he was so humble.
17:18And he always just talked about how overwhelming it was
17:20that this had all gotten this big.
17:22And right up until even the last time I saw him,
17:25all I'd want to do is talk about him creating the characters
17:27and how amazing that was to co-create all these legends, these icons.
17:32And he'd go, yeah, yeah, yeah, but the cameos.
17:35The cameos.
17:37I swear it's what he was most proud of.
17:39That's his curtain call.
17:40You don't get a curtain call if you're writing comics.
17:43How about you, Jeremy?
17:46I aspire to be as strong-minded.
17:51The guy has lived an amazing life,
17:54and he'll still always stick with me
17:56because I spent a lot of time with him more recently.
17:59And, you know, when you're that, you're so full of life, right?
18:04And when you spend time with him, you just know this guy
18:06is just burning a fire of life.
18:09He's got a great sense of humor, smart, smart mind.
18:12And, you know, I hope and aspire to be anywhere half of what he was as a man.
18:19It's really, really fantastic.
18:20I really, really enjoyed my time with him.
18:22That's cool. How about you, Chris?
18:24Just his sort of childlike wonder and attitude and enthusiasm, you know?
18:30It was something that every time he'd come on the set
18:32with all of these sort of stories you hear of him coming on,
18:35you'd want to talk about something more kind of like what it all means and so on.
18:40And it was just like, no, I'm just telling stories,
18:43and we're having fun, and this is entertainment.
18:45And, yeah, there's a deeper meaning in the message and so on,
18:47which he achieves so beautifully.
18:49But the childlike nature about him, I thought, oh, well, it's good.
18:55We can all just stay big kids forever.
18:57And he's the perfect example.
18:59So some movies come and go ever.
19:02They're gone in one week.
19:03These movies have endured for 10 years.
19:05I think they'll last for 30 beyond.
19:08What do you want people to see in these movies 30 years from now?
19:11What do you want them to feel?
19:12What do you hope they'll think about them?
19:14I mean, I'm always amazed with the ability that Kevin has had to house this
19:22giant tapestry of all these woven plot lines.
19:26I just don't think it's ever going to happen again.
19:29I don't think anyone has the ability to kind of launch all these different rockets
19:34and then kind of like years down the road have them all kind of explode at once.
19:38It's just kind of the planning and the care and the subtlety to it.
19:44The choreography.
19:45Yeah, it's just I just don't know that it will happen again.
19:49And I take a lot of pride that I get to have a small part of it.
19:52Yeah.
19:53I wonder what the ripple effect would be of it in 30 years.
19:56Like, oh, look what Vaggie's done.
19:58How do you do a series of films?
20:0122 films, right?
20:03I just hope they're still talking about it.
20:04How do you do that?
20:05That would be nice.
20:06That's what I'm saying.
20:07I absolutely could guarantee that.
20:09I mean, it's impossible not to.
20:11Yeah, there are very few screen shots.
20:13I mean, like, you think about it's like Star Wars.
20:15Indiana Jones, maybe.
20:17I mean, it's like such a small.
20:19Bond, for sure.
20:20Mission Impossible.
20:22But they're not.
20:23The breadth of this is so, so massive.
20:26But even the Bond doesn't have the continuity.
20:28The complexity, too.
20:29Bond is really a constant reinvention.
20:31Star Wars has a similar continuity,
20:33but that was a big start and stop thing.
20:35This all took place in a finite amount of time.
20:38And that finite amount of time is a decade,
20:40which isn't even a snugget.
20:42That's a huge landscape that he managed to make
20:45this unbelievable ribbon of continuity.
20:49Following the footsteps of what Stan and Steve Ditko
20:52and Jack Kirby were doing when it was a small group of them
20:54in a bullpen in Manhattan and having fun.
20:58And it's been a relatively small group of us
21:00at Marvel Studios for a decade or more.
21:02And the advantage we have is we have real people
21:04that can inhabit these characters
21:06and that the audiences fall in love with
21:08and that we fall in love with.
21:09And what's fun for me on the tail end
21:11is I'm intimidated by actors.
21:13I'm intimidated by their ability to do what they do
21:16because I got these cameras on me
21:18and I'm shuffling and I can't and I don't like it.
21:21So it's almost like a whole other species.
21:23And when they're in their costumes,
21:25I get intimidated because I'm standing
21:27in front of these superheroes
21:28that I've been dreaming about.
21:30So it takes me about ten years
21:32to get to realize all of them.
21:34He doesn't give a s*** anymore.
21:37With people as people and these six in particular
21:41and starting to talk to them creatively
21:44and as they've all gotten a,
21:46which even from the start,
21:47but certainly as the films have continued,
21:49a stronger and stronger voice in how the characters
21:52and how the movies are made.
21:54And then I can talk.
21:55Because if we're going to talk about story
21:56and talk about the movies, okay, good.
21:58That's the language I can understand on that creative level
22:01and that's happened with everybody sitting around here.
22:03And it's been, you know, the pleasure of my life
22:06with these six in particular.
22:08Are you really intimidated by me?
22:11Yeah.
22:12Particularly when you're wearing the bow cap.
22:14When you're wearing that.
22:16Particularly intimidated.
22:18I got that.
22:20Bring it back.
22:21I'll just say this.
22:22I'll say this.
22:23You're not going to like this.
22:25I'm noticing over time,
22:26even just the last couple days,
22:28look into Kevin's eyes.
22:29He's looking at us lovingly like a proud parent.
22:33What did I used to look like?
22:34You used to look like you were concerned
22:36like it was DEF CON 5
22:37and you were carrying the football
22:39but you couldn't open it.
22:40I'm just saying it's really nice
22:42that this has really been your labor of love
22:45and you look over it like a conscientious parent.
22:47And now I see fear in your eyes.
22:49But before that, I was just seeing
22:51there is love in your eyes and in your heart
22:54for all of this and for all of us.
22:56And I think you've just loved us up.
22:58Very nice.
23:00I don't have any regrets creatively.
23:04I do regret that we haven't had more time
23:06around tables together and stuff.
23:08Maybe as we begin to junk it.
23:09And thank you, Anthony, for putting us together.
23:12And I'll nerd out for the last episode
23:14of Star Trek The Next Generation.
23:16Picard sits down with his crew
23:18at their weekly poker game.
23:20And they go,
23:21oh, and he didn't attend the poker games.
23:23Why am I talking about Star Trek?
23:25And the crew is like, oh, he's sitting down.
23:28And they go, oh, Captain, is everything okay?
23:30He goes, yeah, I'm doing something
23:31I should have done a long time ago.
23:32And it wouldn't be poker with this team.
23:33It would be boggle and I would be terrible.
23:35Is that the Avenger game, Boggle?
23:37Boggle.
23:38But something I should have done a long time ago.
23:40So I had more time with this.
23:41Thank you so much.
23:42I really appreciate it.
23:43We did have Rome.
23:44We did have Rome.
23:47We did have Rome.
23:49I want to hear about Rome.
23:51Rome was the best press tour.
23:53The Avengers junket.
23:55The Avengers 1 junket was the first
23:57and only junket I went on the entire press tour.
24:00And it was an amazing experience.
24:01And I learned, oh, this is hard work.
24:04Glamorous hotels.
24:05Oh, first class.
24:06No, no, it's nonstop hard work.
24:07And I appreciated that ever since.
24:09But there was one night in Rome.
24:10I feel like I survived that.
24:14That was amazing.
24:16Where we also bonded
24:17and talked a lot about the future.
24:18Yes, we did.
24:19And talked a lot about what could happen if.
24:20And now, here we are.
24:21And everybody wants us to end this, but it's been exciting.
24:23Yeah, they're going to snap their fingers
24:24and turn me to dust in a second.
24:26Manny, thanks.
24:27Thank you so much.
24:28Thank you, not just for this,
24:29but for all your time over the years.