Captain America: Civil War co-director Joe Russo and Sebastian Stan. Photo: Bryan Huang/Yahoo Singapore

As the title of the movie suggests, Captain America: Civil War is about a conflict between two groups of superheroes who cannot agree on a point of principle. But the storyline goes deeper than that, with a surprising plot twist emerging at the halfway mark.

Responding to Yahoo Singapore’s question about the end game of the movie, co-director Joe Russo said, “I think it’s important with these movies: You have to switch it up on the audience, you have to surprise them.”

“I have a phrase that I use with (Marvel Studios President) Kevin Feige and Marvel all the time where I say: Listen, People can tell you that they love chocolate ice cream. But if you give them chocolate ice cream every day for five months, they’re going to tell you they hate chocolate ice cream, and you’re not going to see it coming.”

Russo added that superhero films often have a “predictable” structure. “The hero has a problem, we introduce a villain in the first act. In the second act, the hero and the villain come into conflict. In the third act, the hero defeats the villain. We wanted to flip that in this movie.”

The movie also blurs the lines between the traditional definitions of hero and villain, in order to divide the audience, said Russo. “We wanted you to walk out of the theatre…arguing with your family and friends about who was right. Was it Tony, was it Cap?”

The journey of the Winter Soldier

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Actor Sebastian Stan first played Bucky Barnes in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Photo: Bryan Huang: Yahoo Singapore

Russo and cast members Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are currently in Singapore to promote the movie, which opens in Singapore on 28 April. They greeted fans at a blue carpet event on Thursday night (21 April) at Marina Bay Sands.

Seated alongside Stan at a media round table with journalists, Russo praised Stan’s performance as Bucky Barnes a.k.a. The Winter Soldier. Bucky is a wanted man who ultimately drives the Avengers into conflict with one another.

Russo noted that over the three Captain America films, Stan has played “three distinctive characters” while dealing with the “incredible” physical demands of the role. “Imagine trying to be in Olympic athlete shape for seven months…while you’re trying to mentally prepare yourself to play a very difficult character. I don’t know if there’s a harder challenge in the business right now than playing some of these superheroes.”

For Stan, the fun lies in the unpredictability of the narrative. “I never know exactly where they’re going to take it, in terms of how they’re going to write it. And in this movie, I got to do a little bit of both. I got to go a little crazy and have some fun.”

Making an ensemble movie

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Joe Russo co-directed the movie with his brother Anthony. Photo: Bryan Huang: Yahoo Singapore



Stan also complimented the way that Russo and his brother Anthony, who co-directed the movie, balanced the demands of an ensemble movie like Civil War. “Every character seems to have been looked after, you’re invested in them.”

With more than a dozen characters in the main cast, Russo added that the goal was to “advocate” for every character.

“We’re working with this incredible repertoire of characters who have been built up over 10 years…Civil War could never be made as a standalone film. imagine if we had to introduce all of these characters in one movie.”

He added, “It would be a seven hour film and too confusing.”

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