hollywood

Updated: Apr 03, 2019 16:47 IST

Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo has confirmed that he is ‘talking to Priyanka Chopra’ about a future project. Joe Russo, who has directed four Marvel Cinematic Universe movies with his brother Anthony, made the revelation at a press event for the upcoming Avengers: Endgame in Mumbai.

Asked about whether he’d like to work with an Indian actor in the future, a visibly conscious Russo said, “I’d love to work with Priyanka,” he said, “I’m smiling only because we’re potentially talking to her about something, I’m just not going to say what yet.”

Stressing the importance of India - the first stop on Endgame’s global press tour - as a potential market for not only Hollywood but also the record-breaking MCU, Russo said, “India is incredibly important. It’s the fastest growing market in the world for Marvel.”

Russo said he mandated that India play a more significant role in Marvel’s future plans after he was shown a video of an Indian crowd reacting to a scene from Avengers: Infinity War. “The moment when Thor lands,” he said, “the cheers sound like it’s a football stadium.”

The filmmaker said that “whenever we used to get tired on Endgame, we used to play that (recording) and get re-inspired”. “To know that audiences here respond to movies that way - respond to these movies in particular that way - is why we make them,” Russo said.

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Sharing his passion for Indian films such as Dabanngg - “I haven’t gotten around to seeing Dabanng 2 yet” - Russo said that Rajinikanth-starrer Robot came very close to influencing a previous Marvel movie. “Interesting story, that I think will be a really good headline tomorrow,” Russo said, “is that Robot almost influenced the climactic moment in Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

Launching into an animated description, he continued, “So you know, in Robot, where all the robots form a snake? All the Ultrons in Ultron came together to form a large Ultron, but it had to get cut for time.”

Avengers: Age of Ultron was directed by Joss Whedon, and was rumoured to be a heavily compromised film, with the filmmaker clashing with Marvel executives over multiple plot points. Whedon departed the MCU following the film’s release, and was replaced by the Russos.

Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and others. The film is scheduled for an April 26 release in India, in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

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