The Avengers Premiere Gets Online Praise; Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo Discuss the Production
Posted 04.12.12 by Ryan
All signs point to The Avengers having a highly profitable opening weekend, and some of that expectation can be attributed to the almost universally positive word-of-mouth. Reviews have yet to make their way online, but after last night's world premiere, plenty in attendance headed to Twitter to deliver their thoughts, including Captain America comic book writer Ed Brubaker, who had nothing but positive things to say about the movie.
Avengers was awesome. Felt like [writer-director] Joss Whedon in all the right ways while still feeling like the best of Marvel. It's going to be really huge.
Before any complaints of hyperbole, Brubaker was far from the only person espousing praise. SlashFilm collected reactions from all over the Twitterverse, with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World director Edgar Wright (who has been co-writing Ant-Man for Marvel) calling the movie a "big tub of popcorn heaven" and Prometheus screenwriter Damon Lindelof admitting that The Avengers delivers "the Hulk we have been waiting for."
Most of the comments state that the last third of The Avenger is filled with action, and the cast would seem to agree. Scarlett Johansson, who reprises her Iron Man 2 role as Black Widow in the movie, recently told THR that she got "the crap kicked out" of her on a daily basis while working on the movie.
I think just kind of going back day after day, knowing that you’re going to get the crap kicked out of you and you do it willingly is sort of a challenge in itself, a mental challenge, but also I have to say that every time you fail at a stunt, it hurts until you get it right.
Evidence of Johansson's "mental challenge" — and, to be fair, her stuntwoman's — was revealed in one of the movie's preview clips, which showed Black Widow beating her captors to a pulp while being tied to a chair.
Mark Ruffalo, arguably, had it much easier, since Dr. Bruce Banner likely isn't in many action scenes and the Hulk is created with CGI. Still, Ruffalo was the first of the three actors who have portrayed Banner to don a motion-capture suit and help create the Hulk's actions, as well. At the Avengers premiere, Ruffalo told THR what it was like to see himself as the Hulk.
There was a lot of talk about whether Marvel wanted The Hulk to look like the actor and Joss and I felt very strongly that it should. And I walked in and saw a maquette — a big sculpture of the Hulk — and it looked exactly like me and I got a huge, huge smile on my face. And it scared the hell out of me as well, because it reminded me of my dad when he was really mad.
For Ruffalo, the most difficult part of performing motion capture was the physicality. "Let’s just say that the leotard that you have to wear for the motion capture isn’t the most flattering," Ruffalo remarked.
But it could all be worth it, particularly if The Avengers performs to industry expectation: An expected opening weekend of over $100 million dollars.