This past Friday, members of the cast and crew of the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Captain Marvel,” met with members of the press to talk about their upcoming film. By Joe Spencer Outside of discussing what went into making “Captain Marvel”, the cast spoke about how they hoped that the film would spark more conversations about representation in film. “Films like this that do end up going international […] It means you get to have a really extensive conversation with movies like this […] [It] allows all of us through the veil of metaphor of a film to be able to reveal some deeper truths and maybe empathize in a new way.” Actress Brie Larson spoke about how she approached playing the role of Carol Danvers, saying, “I was really excited to do this; in particular, the idea of playing a superhero, or a female superhero in particular because my interest is in female complexity.” She also discussed her initial reservations about playing someone as powerful as Carol: “I was a little worried about playing somebody, a superhero that would be perfect – because I don’t feel like that’s realistic, or something aspirational at all. [But] getting to play a character where the whole character arc and turn of this is watching her be this major risk taker, which means it’s not always going to work out the best. And those are the moments, the defining moments of her character, where she doesn’t lay down, she gets back up. I mean, that’s everything. That’s for everybody.” Larson also revealed that training to play Captain Marvel was a difficult process. “I sobbed in the gym many times,” she said. “My trainer would be like, ‘oh, she’s crying again.’” However, the tears and pain were all worth it. “We’re talking about, you know, what I learned from [playing Carol], it’s that I’m stronger than I realized,” said Larson. “Of course, this movie is assisted with the VFX, because I can’t personally shoot photon blasts […] But I can stand here and say that I am really strong.” Actor Clark Gregg was asked about bringing fan-favorite MCU character Agent Coulson back to the big screen for the first time since 2012. “You know, they said, ‘Hey, do you want to come back? It’s the ‘90s. Cool soundtrack. Little origin buddy stuff with Sam. And they’re going to give you more hair and make you look younger. Oh, and Brie Larson is going to be Captain Marvel,’ and I was like, okay, where do I go?” Gregg also talked about how excited he was to share the story of Carol Danvers with his daughters, saying “I’ve gotten the thrill of taking my young daughter to a bunch of Marvel movies, but I’m taking a 17-year-old young woman to see ‘Captain Marvel’ next week and I’ve never been more excited to take her to anything ever.” One of the mainstays of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Samuel L. Jackson, returns in “Captain Marvel,” but with a twist, as this serves as one of his first big missions. Jackson describes his role in the film as “sort of a kinder, gentler, not so cynical world-weary, chip-on-the-shoulder Nick Fury.” He continued, saying “It’s kind of fun to not be the all-knowing, […] angry […] persuader that Nick Fury always is.” Playing a younger version of Fury also came with another perk, the loss of the character’s iconic eyepatch. “[It was] even more refreshing to have two eyes, so I don’t have to cover one eye while I was learning my lines,” Jackson said. “Captain Marvel” takes place in southern California in the 1990s, a decade which has recently been subject to a wave of nostalgia. In preparing to capture the essence of the time period, Co-Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck immersed themselves in 90s culture. “We made a big playlist at the beginning of the movie,” Fleck said, “and we shared it with the crew and some of the cast and […] some of those songs are in the movie.” Working within the trappings of the decade brought back a lot of memories for Fleck as well. “I actually worked at a Blockbuster in 1995, so that brought back a lot of memories, creating that set,” he said. Other members of the cast were asked, given the film’s 90’s setting, what they would bring back from that decade. Co-Director Anna Boden said that she would bring back payphones, while Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva) wants to revive “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Samuel L. Jackson wants to bring back Laserdisc (“He is very passionate about Laserdisc,” said Brie Larson), and Clark Gregg just wants MTV to play music videos again. “Captain Marvel” opens in theatres and IMAX on March 8, 2019. Check out the latest trailer for the film, as well as our video of the press conference, below:<doc-sep>The next order of business for filmmakers was finding the actor to step into the role of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most powerful force, Captain Marvel. And they found that actor in Academy Award winner Brie Larson. “When we found out that Brie Larson might be interested in joining the MCU, we had numerous meetings and pitched her the idea for the film,” recalls Feige. “She was a huge fan of the character in the comic, and one of the highlights of my career at Marvel was introducing her at Comic-Con and having her come out on stage and stand with literally almost every other actor from the MCU. She was at the forefront, which was a great foreshadowing for how audiences are going to embrace Brie as this character.” The great thing with Captain Marvel is that she is human. There’s a real person in Carol Danvers who gets these incredible powers and has these amazing adventures in outer space. But, as with all the best Marvel characters, she needs to be very human. So, this is not just about somebody who is incredibly powerful and can fly around and shoot photon blasts out of her arms. It’s somebody who’s very human, who’s very vulnerable, and who has multiple dimensions. Brie was the only choice for Captain Marvel. In the very early stages, as the filmmakers were conceiving the character, they quickly thought of her, because the character was going to be a combination of emotion and vulnerability, strength and power. They saw all those things in Brie from a very early stage. When you go back through Brie’s body of work, you see someone who is an incredible actor and capable of conveying a great range of emotion but is strong in the way you want Carol to be strong. Brie Larson recalls those initial meetings about the role and film, “When I met with the production team, they showed me some images and they started talking about the legacy of this character. They were interested in exploring the complexity of being female, exploring emotion mixed with honor, which I felt were two things that are really important parallels that coincide within Captain Marvel. This desire for perfection combined with the leniency of having an open heart, and how there’s messiness between those two things. Coming out of the meeting, I quickly realized that this could be the biggest platform I could ever imagine from which to tell this story about the human condition, and walking out I just knew we could deliver something great.” For Larson, being the lead of the first female Super Hero franchise presented an opportunity to put herself in the forefront of breaking new ground in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “It’s such an honor to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and be part of this legacy of characters and storytelling that is so incredibly meaningful to people,” says Larson. “These films are part of what’s shaping our culture, who we are, what morals we value. I don’t think that I fully understood the scope of what it meant in the cultural zeitgeist until the announcement came out that I was going to be playing Captain Marvel. I’ve slowly started to grasp the vastness and gravity of it all.” Check-out the Captain Marvel press conference video to hear from the Cast with insights and perspectives on many of the messages in the film.<doc-sep>Ahead of the upcoming release of “Captain Marvel,” actress and star Brie Larson reportedly chose a female journalist who has cerebral palsy to interview her after coming to the realization that her previous press tours had a tendency “to be overwhelmingly white male.” Journalist Keah Brown, who sat down with Larson, described herself in Thursday’s Marie Claire UK piece as being someone who writes “about pop culture, disability (I have cerebral palsy), blackness and womanhood.” OSCARS WILL HAVE NO HOST, PUBLICIST SAYS Brown acknowledged in the article that Larson had “requested” her to conduct the interview, which she said was “game-changing” and “the biggest opportunity I’ve had.” After asking why she was selected, the actress discussed a trend that she’d noticed. “About a year ago, I started paying attention to what my press days looked like and the critics reviewing movies, and noticed it appeared to be overwhelmingly white male,” Larson said. “So, I spoke to Dr. Stacy Smith at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, who put together a study to confirm that.” ‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ STAR BRIE LARSON CALLS OFF ENGAGEMENT TO ALEX GREENWALD: REPORT The aforementioned study was conducted on the 100 highest-grossing films in 2017 and determined that white males made up 67 percent of the top critics, while white women comprised less than 25 percent, according to the New York Post. Additionally, men of color reportedly made up 10 percent, while women of color yielded a quarter of that percentage. Following the study, Larson said in the Marie Claire interview that she resolved to make her press days “more inclusive.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “After speaking with you, the film critic Valerie Complex and a few other women of color, it sounded like across the board they weren’t getting the same opportunities as others,” the Oscar winner went on to say. She added that upon speaking “to the facilities that weren’t providing it,” each gave her “different excuses.” “Captain Marvel” is set to be released on March 8.<doc-sep>
Brie Larson has had to clarify some of her comments about the press. The actress is in the middle of the Captain Marvel promotional campaign and she had a few thoughts about changing the press junket to make them more inclusive to everybody, not just the predominately white male members of the press. Throughout her years of acting, the actress started to notice that there weren't too many other people, other than white males who were attending these press junkets. Her comments were later misconstrued online, which caused unneeded controversy. In a new interview promoting Captain Marvel, Brie Larson was asked about her inclusivity comments. The Academy Award winning actress seemed unaware of a backlash over her previous statement, but had no problem explaining exactly what she meant. Larson isn't looking for less white male journalists, she's looking for more journalists from all walks of life. She explains. "What I'm looking for is to bring more seats up to the table. No one is getting their chair taken away. There's not less seats at the table, there's just more seats at the table." Brie Larson's original thoughts on inclusiveness in the press stemmed from an interview that she did last week with Marie Claire. Keah Brown was specifically asked to interview Larson and she wanted to know why. Brown noted how unusual it was to have a request like that and Larson explained exactly why she specifically asked for her. She had this to say. "About a year ago, I started paying attention to what my press days looked like and the critics reviewing movies, and noticed it appeared to be overwhelmingly white male. So, I spoke to Dr. Stacy Smith at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, who put together a study to confirm that. Moving forward, I decided to make sure my press days were more inclusive. After speaking with you, the film critic Valerie Complex and a few other women of color, it sounded like across the board they weren't getting the same opportunities as others. When I talked to the facilities that weren't providing it, they all had different excuses." Obviously, people only read the headlines and thought that Brie Larson was bashing white male journalists. Her comments were seemingly taken out of context, which started a backlash from men who believed that they were being attacked by the actress. Bad news spreads fast, but Brie Larson claims she wasn't trying to take anything away from anyone, she was just pointing out a fact and revealing that she is going to use her power to make sure that more people get to interview her and transmit her thoughts. Captain Marvel is only a few weeks away from hitting theaters and there has already been a movement to take the movie down with fake reviews. This happens pretty much every time Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm put out movies under the Disney umbrella. With that being said, early reactions to the standalone Carol Danvers movie have been generally positive and MCU fans are looking forward to see what Captain Marvel brings to the table. You can watch Brie Larson clarify her press comments below, thanks to the Fox 5 DC YouTube channel. The inclusivity comments start at the 1:50 mark.