01x04 - The Making of Black Widow

[bunniefuu]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

CREW MEMBER:

All right, clear it. Clear lights, guys.

For the moment. There's a camera test.

- MAN: Clear.

- MAN 2: Clear.

CREW MEMBER: Slate it.

Slate it, Black Widow camera test.

INTERVIEWER: Do you see yourself

Because the Marvel Cinematic Universe

will expand.

There's no question about that.

Your character is set up.

Would you follow her

and do break-offs, other sequels?

I would love to.

I would love to take this character

in every different direction.

She certainly encounters her fair share

of the Marvel Universe,

and it's nice to be able to

play a female, you know,

superheroine, who has a past,

and I think has a real foundation

for all different kinds of spin-offs

or interactions with other characters.

The length is okay.

We may have to scale down.

We may have to scale it just by length

to remain dexterous.

The part that appealed to me most

about her is her dedication

and just her intelligence.

You need smart people

in a movie like this.

There's too much up for grabs.

There's too many things that change,

you need somebody

who's gonna be

a steward of their character.

[AUDIENCE CHEERING]

I've never been able to return

to a character before, so,

in a way, putting on the suit is like

a old familiar friend.

It's really so audience-driven,

exactly what people want to see,

what characters they respond to.

I really can't think of

any other opportunity

to grow with the character as I have.

There is a two-year period between

Civil w*r and Infinity w*r.

There's a lot to explore there.

There were many different

dramatic directions that we could go.

But her past has to come back

to haunt her.

What's very exciting about the genre

is that it's really fan-driven.

It's almost like you're playing

"Choose Your Own Adventure."

And the fans are kind of navigating

through this universe

and sort of demanding of the studio,

what they wanna see.

FEIGE:

Black Widow, sh**ting right now in London.

They flew overnight

and got here this morning.

FEMALE HOST: Scarlett,

you've played Natasha through seven films

over the last ten years.

What are you excited for fans to discover

about Natasha this go-around?

Um

I

As a film fan, I look at, uh, uh,

how do you take these iconic characters

and humanize them even more.

And Scarlett has humanized Natasha

through the course of ten years

worth of movies for us.

But in this one, it really goes further

by introducing this family unit.

I think about Indiana Jones and his

great entrance in Raiders of the Lost Ark,

and Indy was this enigmatic figure,

and in The Last Crusade you meet his dad.

And you see his dad treating him

just like a dad treats any kid,

and you're like, "That's Indiana Jones,

you can't talk to him that way."

Likewise, the way that Natasha feels

and suddenly becomes this little kid,

I think it's very funny, very relatable,

and very unique

to what we've seen

the circumstances of Widow in before.

FAVREAU: Scarlett really wanted to

make the most of it.

Good.

And she assured me that she would work

as hard as she needed to,

to do her stunts and learn all that stuff.

And she spent hours and hours

and hours for months.

By far, the most dedicated actor

when it came to the stunt work

and the physical work.

Giving away the secrets here.

FAVREAU: The fight choreography,

we combined a lot of

different fighting styles.

And she was game for learning it all.

And the biggest one was lucha libre

which seemed silly to me

when they had first mentioned it,

but when you see the acrobatic moves,

and the swinging around,

and the flips and the turns

and the holds

When you see a woman doing it

in the Black Widow costume,

it has a much different effect.

There's a freshness to it,

and it felt right

when you saw it choreographed properly.

So you really believe

that as she's moving through

this hallway full of these guards

that she's able to do her flips

turns and grabs.

It was pretty inspired.

- Really tough.

- [LAUGHS] Yeah.

It's ten years,

and we're really kickin' ass.

Training in general,

I feel like these ten years,

I've just been kind of working up

to this point,

I felt really capable, which is great.

When I first got the role, I remember

I went to go and meet Kevin Feige.

And I was a little bit anxious

about how much you have to do.

Like, I don't know

what's involved in these films,

and every single time I've seen one,

there are these essential athlete actors

just running through the screen

all the time.

And I didn't know if that was required

or enforced or whatever.

And so I asked him, I was like,

"What's the deal, like, do you guys

make me into what I need to be?"

He goes, "No, it's totally up to you."

And so with that,

I kind of felt nicely relaxed

because my favorite thing is

getting in there and doing stunts.

From the moment I could,

I went to the warehouse.

All these amazing stunties were just there

to teach you any one of their crafts.

- Ready?

- Yep.

Hey.

I found that fascinating. And, yeah,

I tried to do as much as I could.

WEISZ: James, the stunt coordinator,

makes it a lot of fun.

He would just say, "Just have fun."

You're about to do something

incredibly violent and vicious.

But he'd just say, "Have fun."

The stunt person is like a dance partner.

They just make you look good.

[INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING]

This was the hardest thing I've ever done.

And I am not at all like a Tom Cruise

about this stuff, where I'm like,

"I do all my own stunts."

I do not do any of my own stunts

and I do not want to.

Put the guy in. He does it better than me.

Please, I will go sit and hang out

and have a croissant.

- Trying.

- I love the teeth!

Aren't those cool? I know.

It's more like in your face.

And then she goes for you again.

So we get the emotion back into it.

SHORTLAND:

I want it to be really truthful,

and I want each fight to have a story.

So for me, it was like

we would choreograph fights,

but we would also be choreographing

dramatic moments between the characters,

of trust or revenge, or different feelings

that they might have.

I think we're all lookin'

for those moments,

and that's something

that Cate did as a director,

where she really galvanized all of us

to bring our best, our A-game,

and to really look for the heart

of the movie,

as opposed to looking for what's cool.

She really always would steer us back to,

"What's the heart of the movie?

"What are we looking for here?"

And, you know, that's real artistry.

- ROB: So, Florence. Just

- Yes.

STUNTWOMAN:

Doesn't matter. Keep pushing on to it.

- Just keep going through that.

- Keep pushing you into it.

PUGH: For me, that opening fight sequence

was scary.

It was our first weekend to sh**t,

and I hadn't really hung out

with Scarlett that much before.

That whole fight is about not knowing

how to say what you feel.

It's so aggressive. It's so face to face,

and I think what you were just saying,

we haven't seen that before. It's true.

You're on land,

and you have these two women

kind of doing a bit of

Jason Bourne-style fighting.

They are just kind of

trying to k*ll each other.

Um, and that was so exhilarating,

as an actor to come to that,

and then they let you

actually do it. Amazing.

ROB: There's a lot of fights.

[CHUCKLES] It's a Marvel movie.

But the next one we come to

will be the bridge fight

which will be the first time we see

Taskmaster come against Natasha.

And it's the first time

we'll see Natasha on the backfoot.

Kevin always said to me,

"We know she's gonna survive it.

"But we have to think, at times, how."

And so we knew we had to put her

in some situations

where you questioned,

were things gonna be okay?

- [GASPS]

- [g*nshots]

Taskmaster is an interesting one

because we've done a little bit

to make the character different than

the comics for our cinematic experience.

Say hello.

PEARSON:

Who says Taskmaster has to be a man?

We had been talking about

this reference that Loki makes

in Avengers about the horrible things

Natasha's done in her past.

Can you wipe out that much red?

Dreykov's daughter?

It was very important to Kevin

that we shed

a little bit of light on that mystery.

It's incredibly redemptive for Natasha

because, in a way,

she can save this person

that she thought she'd m*rder*d.

What the film speaks about a lot

is lack of control,

that these young women didn't have control

over their lives or their bodies.

And Taskmaster is like

the living embodiment of that.

Someone who's completely programmed

and has no say in any of her actions.

TEMIME: The Taskmaster was

one of the film's costume I worked on.

We were quite obsessed by making it

in a way that it was light,

that she could jump, that she could roll,

um, that she could do all the acrobatics

she needed to do.

So we made the armor as light as we could,

the helmet as light as we could.

We printed the fabric

with a very specific little design.

The blue is a gorgeous blue.

That was also a Marvel design,

and then also the interpretation

and the realization is from us.

All of the weapons are concealed

on Taskmaster all the time.

So, they can appear,

and we can decide to lose them.

So the idea of having a shield,

where does it go?

On the back, same as Captain America?

It won't work.

So they wanted to do it so that you could

have it appear from his arms.

Trying not to tie the action down.

The whole thing about these movies

is to try and work out

what the action requires.

Once we started working

with the fight coordinators,

we had to work out that the shield

had to be left or right handed.

Same with the sword. The beauty was

not having a handle involved

and that we can assume

this is held together

by a magnet or some sort of shield

on the armor.

- [EXPLOSIONS]

- [GRUNTS]

What was great was Marvel said to me,

"We'll tell you when to stop.

"You just have to keep having ideas

and don't suppress them.

"Just keep having ideas."

And so, I don't think they ever

really did tell us to stop. [CHUCKLES]

[BOTH GRUNTING]

Cate Shortland is such a gift

as a filmmaker.

The emotional layer

that we added to it was necessary.

It was imperative that we told you

that layer from Black Widow.

Otherwise, it would have been

another action film.

And we've made action films before.

But the emotional resonance had to be

something that got us

through the next two hours.

Because we waited ten years

for these two hours.

So it better be worth it.

And Cate Shortland

is a visionary filmmaker

that takes her time in the detail

of the nuances of that particular moment.

And sometimes it's just with a look,

or with a hand,

or with the camera just tilting.

And you feel it.

And your heart just goes there,

and you're, like, "Oh, I get it."

And that's a true talent

and an all-around phenomenal woman.

Obviously, going into this film,

I knew it was

The most important thing

was having my partner.

Cate was somebody

whose work I really admired.

Her stuff is so deep,

and so character-driven.

And knowing that I had her,

knowing that she and I would be able

to build this character together,

I knew that we were, you know,

cooking with gas.

[TRAIN HORN HONKING AT A DISTANCE]

[GRUNTS]

ALONSO:

For me, the most important scene for her

was at the beginning

of the first Avengers.

Where she fights these Russians

in a warehouse,

in a tight, beautiful black dress.

And as she walks away,

and she's done an amazing fight,

an introduction that anyone

will dream of having,

she picks up her high heels

and she walks away.

The ultimate female badass.

[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]

WHITCHER: Each movie, I think

everybody feels a little bit closer

and less guarded with each other.

I mean, I've seen, uh,

Avengers start their families.

And I've seen, you know, from Scarlett

even being pregnant on Avengers, to

It's crazy. So we've all been together

a long time now,

and I think we trust each other,

and we know that we have

everybody's best interests at heart.

SHORTLAND:

Scarlett was a producer on the film.

So she knew that

she also had to drive production,

and she had to keep people's spirits up.

PEARSON: It was almost too good,

where I was wondering

where the other shoe was gonna drop.

Like, is it really Can it be this good,

that biggest movie star in the world

is actually a really nice person

who's completely dedicated to the movie

and trying to make it better at all times?

And also, when you see her turn it on,

everything changes.

What you taught me kept me alive.

WEISZ: I think Scarlett portrays

Black Widow in a way

that she's obviously

extremely strong and powerful

and can fight and can outwit everybody.

But she also has a heart

and an emotional life, she's vulnerable,

and she wants, and she needs.

Scarlett's been playing the character,

obviously, now for decades.

So she's grown up with Natasha Romanoff.

And she knows her inside out. I really

feel that when I'm playing opposite her,

it's a character that has many,

many layers. She's deeply committed.

She is Natasha. She is Natasha.

She created that character.

And the minute that she walks on set,

she is Natasha.

I remember her daughter came to set,

I asked, "What does she think you do?"

And she goes,

"Fight baddies for a living."

I was like, "But that is what you do.

"That's what you've been

the face of for so long."

The only woman

that has been at the front of it.

And slowly, there's more coming.

And that's a wicked thing,

to be a part of this new search

for more stories about women

in this world, outside of this world,

as you were just saying.

The era of feminism

and finding women

to tell interesting stories.

And she's been, I suppose,

doing it for a very long time.

[CLOCK TICKING]

Five, six, seven.

Just as an exercise. I'm wondering,

is there a way of letting go of the g*n?

This isn't ideal,

but just to give you an idea.

Yeah. I understand you.

I'm just trying to work out

- Doing into the roll, drop it.

- Here?

- Yeah.

- You just release it?

- Yeah.

- Just release it.

- Yeah, we could just

- Release it there?

As you roll.

I wonder, if you make it part of

So that if it's the second time around,

because it feels odd

that they let their g*n go.

- Okay.

- But if you made it part of

the first part of it, so if they all

started with their g*ns on the ground

- Yes.

- and there's a move

- that gets them to their g*n.

- Then your shoulder. Tuck in your head.

- Yeah. That's great.

- Yeah.

- Yeah. So, guys, this.

- Okay.

All the young Widows are training

in what's called Systema,

which is a Russian form of combat.

And when I first met Cate,

we talked about what kind of movement

that the young Russians could be doing.

And I suggested, because earlier

in the Black Widow's history,

she was trained in ballet,

it would be great

if we could find some kind of movement

that was not balletic,

but still had the beauty,

and the discipline, and the rhythm

that you get in a ballet class.

So I went away and looked at

lots of stuff, and I found the Systema,

and I was like, "Oh, this could be it.

This could be it."

Because this is like a dance.

It's beautiful.

But at the same time,

you need so much strength.

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

I fell in love with our Widows.

That was a wonderful process

because I knew we were

gonna have 25 young women

who were dancers, acrobats

and stunt performers

who trained in fighting.

They trained with g*ns.

Something that was so amazing

that I loved Cate did,

she made sure that every single girl

had something from where they were from.

Whether it was the way that they did

their hair or something that they owned.

It really felt like these people

had been stolen from their birthplace.

You get to make your own choices now.

It's only when they escape

and when they leave

that maybe they realize

how twisted it all is.

Even though throughout this movie,

they're presented

as an antagonistic force,

it was important that we kind of show

why they were the way they were.

That, like Natasha,

they too have a sh*t at redemption.

It's not really what people make you,

you can still decide

how you want to live your life.

You know, this is the first piece

of clothing I've ever bought for myself.

- That?

- Yeah, you don't like it?

Was that like an army surplus or

Okay, it has a lot of pockets.

But I use them all the time,

and I made some of my own modifications.

- Oh, yeah? [CHUCKLES]

- Whatever.

Shut up. The point is, I've never had

control over my own life before.

And now I do. I want to do things.

Mm

I like your vest.

[EXCLAIMS] I knew it. I knew you did.

- It's so cool, right?

- It's cool.

SCHAEFFER: In the comics,

Yelena is another Widow

who trained in the Red Room.

And in the comics,

she's more of a competitor to Natasha.

But what we've created is that

Yelena and Natasha were children together.

They were part of a spy family.

Florence Pugh plays Yelena,

and her character,

you know, she is the next generation

of Widows, in a way.

When she comes out of that Widow program,

she's never had any sense of independence.

She wants to write her own story.

PUGH: One of the coolest things

about playing Yelena

is just how complex and broken she is,

for someone who is so sure

of what she does.

She knows exactly how to function

in the things that she's been trained in,

but she has no clue how to live

as a human.

She's a bit of a kid,

but she's a lethal w*apon.

[GRUNTS]

She has this murky side to her life

that she has no idea what it's about,

and she's having to now discover

who she is.

To him, we are just things.

Weapons with no face

that he can just throw away

because there is always more.

Her and Natasha, I think, both have that.

This constant not knowing

of where they come from

and this constant need to figure out

where they came from and who they are.

I mean, that's what

Natasha's always looking for,

is a sense of family and a sense of home.

And it's because of their history.

[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

No!

You do this split with the hair head flip.

And you do it when you're fighting.

It's like a fighting pose.

SHORTLAND: When I came onto the film,

I spoke to Kevin about actors.

And Florence Pugh

was one of the first people I spoke about

because I'd seen Lady Macbeth,

and she and Scarlett as a team

are unstoppable.

HARBOUR: Florence, I adore her as not only

as an extraordinary actress,

but also just as a human being.

I remember there's a little scene in it

where I think I hug the two of them

in this ridiculous way at this

I'm, like, "I love you so much."

And they break away from me

like, "You're a narcissist."

But I remember before that break,

there is a moment that we sh*t.

I don't know if it's in the movie,

where she softens

in his embrace for a second,

like, "This is my dad holding me."

And it is a beautiful moment, I thought.

So sophisticated to find that moment.

You smell really bad.

The thought was,

who do we pair up with Scarlett

that can hold her own, that could shine?

And we needed to have someone that go,

"Those two together are just nuclear."

Which was the whole idea,

to tell that story of sisterhood

and the conflict of that

and how they grow together in this film.

So I think Florence Pugh was a true gift.

I'm not here trying to be your friend,

but you need to tell me what that is.

It's a synthetic gas,

the counter-agent to chemical subjugation.

The gas immunizes the brain's neural

pathways from external manipulation.

Maybe in English next time.

[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

Ochen' umno.

to one of your super-scientist friends?

They can explain it to you.

Tony Stark, maybe?

It was so wonderful to be able to

do those scenes with Florence

'cause she's such a wonderful actor

and playful.

And her work is so touching. And so it was

a ease to feel connected to her

because she's so open in those moments.

And you really feel that when you watch it

on screen, it just feels very natural.

Belts are on the end.

All set, here we go. Ready. And action!

- Charge!

- [YELLING INDISTINCTLY]

[CLAMORING]

The gulag set, we decided very early on

that this would be very remote

in this sort of snowy wilderness,

I suppose.

The set's actually 160 foot in diameter.

We start by building

these sorts of sets as 3-D models.

And then what we do very early on

is we try and populate them.

And we try and see how many extras

we think we need

to try and make the space

feel big enough for camera.

The snow, by the way, is all salt.

It's about the only material

you can use which actually,

really does look like snow.

The really bad news is we're in England.

It rains a lot.

And the salt dissolves in water.

It probably took us about four days

to put the snow down,

and then it just so happens,

the night before we were gonna film,

we had a really bad storm.

And basically, all the snow went away.

So the next morning,

we pulled everyone from everywhere

and put it back together

in about four hours.

Which is what film-making's all about.

CHAPEK: Charlie is such an accomplished

production designer.

His attention to detail is unlike

anything I've ever seen before.

And something that was very important

from the beginning

was creating a world

that Cate saw fit for this movie.

We try and build all of the models.

We try and supply

as much reference as possible,

and we'll go through it all.

But then what also happens is

the stunts department

will then become involved in this

because, obviously,

they have to perform on here.

They'll have their own requirements.

As will lighting.

So the thing about art direction

and set design and that sort of thing,

it's not just for one department.

It's for the entire film.

You have to be mindful and accommodating

of what everyone needs from a set besides

what you're just trying to do visually.

It has to work for everyone.

Otherwise, it, it wouldn't work at all.

[MAN SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[HUMMING TUNE]

[PLAYING TUNE]

The Red Guardian, he's the most

insecure character in the film,

and so he's always hiding.

Did he talk to you about me?

What?

Did he talk to you about me?

You know, trading w*r stories.

- Who? What are you talking about?

- Captain America.

When it first came to me, Cate sat me down

and started telling me about the script

'cause they don't let you see a script

in these things, which I understand.

It's all so top secret. But she started

pitching me this idea of this guy,

and I think the first thing she

talked about was this scene in a prison,

and he has this strength,

and he's this, like, beastly guy.

And I was envisioning this kind of

gangster movie and all this stuff, and it,

and I was like, "Oh, this is great."

And I kind of project where he's gonna go.

And then she said,

"And he desperately wants to be liked.

"He desperately wants people

to think he's funny and charming."

I was like, "Whoa!" So the zig

and the zag of the character in that way

was so appealing to me that you are able

to create this full human being

who has this big, strong,

massive side to him,

but also has all these human qualities

of being an obtuse narcissist

and a guy who is desperate

for the affection of the people

that he loves or as much as

he possibly can love, loves.

He's a very complicated guy,

so when she pitched this to me,

I was like,

"Wow, this is really exciting."

It still fits.

[WOLF-WHISTLING]

It is easier for a designer when you know

the behind of the character

because you can project that

in the costume.

Even when you design a superhero,

like when I started designing

the Red Guardian,

I knew that he wanted to be

like Captain America.

I knew that he was a guy who was

always trying too hard to be somebody.

I knew that his personality was

a little bit overdone, bigger than life.

So I project that in the design.

This is why it's so important to know

the psychology of the character,

what's behind the facade of the superhero.

It helps tremendously for the design.

CHAPEK: Jany has such a great backstory

just in terms of everything

that she's done before.

She's come from the 007 world,

which is a little bit more grounded.

She's also done Harry Potters.

And to be able to strike that balance

was something that we were looking for.

Everything that you see here

is made in our work room.

All the leather, all the rubber bits.

All the costumes here

is made by people here.

For the first time, we are going to have

a white costume for our Black Widow.

- Hey, girl.

- Look at you.

- Day one, White Widow.

- You look good.

- Hmm. You look good.

- Yay. Thanks.

The original idea was that

when they fight in the snow,

they are wearing white uniform

because it's the color of the snow.

So that was the start of an idea.

I was so afraid at the beginning

to start doing it, you know?

I was thinking,

"Oh, my God. Will she like it?"

But the suit is designed in such a way

that you have some graphic line in it,

give an incredible silhouette to Scarlett.

This is the one that Yelena,

her sister, is wearing.

It's more functional.

It was based on a more sportive idea.

And on top of that, she has the vest

that you could see at the end of the film

she's going to give it

to her older sister.

What we are using for fabric

is actually a durable jersey.

Very strong. And we print on them,

we print on them a design

which is different.

And that give her the possibility

of having something very original,

and being able to use any source of fabric

which is necessary

for the elasticity

and the comfort of the suit.

Scarlett and I both have

White Widow suits, which is very cool.

I can move in it, I can fight in it,

which isn't the same

for lots of the superhero suits.

They're usually, you know,

there to look amazing.

So it was cool to be in a suit

that was made for function

and completely summed up

exactly what Yelena is about.

She just puts the clothes on

and then fights.

I think it's never finished.

For me, the costume is finished

when they are sh**ting on it.

When the first take is done,

and I think, "Ha, ha, it works."

[CHUCKLING] This is the moment

where I think that my job is finished.

But I think till that moment,

you are never finished.

CHAPEK: There are so many great characters

that we needed to design for this.

One thing that's interesting

about Marvel Studios

is we have our in-house

visual development team,

led by Andy Park,

who headed the development

of the costumes and everything.

And what was so great

about Jany is her collaboration with Andy,

is that they formed a great partnership

in ultimately bringing

these characters to life.

My father, he go toilet on my hands.

- Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

- Urine is 35°C

- Oh, my God.

- staves off the frostbite.

How is this relevant?

You know, fathers.

I think when you have a juicy scene

that you know you've got coming up,

and especially David and I

get along really well,

we were good mates during the filming.

So we were genuinely excited

about doing that scene.

And then when it came about,

it kind of happened so quickly,

and we [LAUGHS] And then it was done.

And we're like,

"Oh! We really enjoyed that."

It's amazing when you have

that connection with someone.

It's amazing when you all have

the same idea of where you're going.

That's very rare.

And also to have someone like Cate,

who is constantly

pushing for you to not shy away

from feeling is an amazing,

supportive feeling.

PEARSON: David Harbour,

every choice he makes is so funny and big.

And I love that he

I said to him, "You should have

Karl Marx across your knuckles."

And that he has all these prison tattoos.

And he just went for it right away.

[GRUNTS] Oh!

[LAUGHS BOISTEROUSLY]

That guy think he goin' to b*at me.

PEARSON: He was just another

Again, we have a real bounty of riches.

Our cast has been

incredible the whole way.

WINSTONE: Well, me joining

the Marvel Universe was a

I guess a big surprise for me.

I read comic books when I was a kid

like every other kid, I guess.

I always remember

in the early comic books,

that even the bad guy

had kind of a sadness

and a sorrow about him in the end.

So when I kind of read this,

I wondered whether my character Dreykov

might have that same kind of realization

within death or within the ending,

his demise, you know?

FAGBENLE: It's amazing!

Like, it's full on amazing

to think I might be

part of something as big

and important

to so many people as the MCU.

[LAUGHS]

So sorry.

FAGBENLE: I think

I was really attracted to the idea

of working with Cate, our director,

who, you know, is such an auteur

and the movies she's done

are so moving and meaningful.

And so, it would be kind of like,

confluence of her style

with the scope

of the Marvel Universe was just

It was really intriguing to me.

You're gonna go easy.

Let him go.

What was really

interesting for me actually

was getting to spend

some time with William Hurt.

He was so vigorous and so

Like, he wanted to explore and sit

And it really kind of, I don't know,

it gave me a lot of heart,

really, to be honest.

To go, like, "Yeah," you know?

You're still fightin'

for the integrity of the piece.

The perfect model for me,

as an actor, is repertory ensemble, okay?

So that you're an ensemble,

and you're building ethics of trust,

you're learning to trust each other

so that you can surrender

your concentration and trust

to depths that it can't go to without it.

And then one of the things

that you do with that is go to character,

and character demands

all the imagination you have.

So you can't really get to character

unless you can have the imagination

that is only possible with trust.

So trusting the other actor is the scene.

It's the life of the scene. Period.

We got Barton,

we got Wilson, and that other guy,

"The Incredible Shrinking Convict."

Rogers is on the run. You got no friends.

Where are you gonna go?

I think for us, consistently,

we say, "Thank God for our cast.

"Thank God for what they were able to"

That we had that dream

of what they could create.

And then at the helm,

with Cate's help, that they get there.

And you get those scenes,

and you go, "Hallelujah."

Honey. We're home.

Rachel Weisz is playing Melina Vostokoff.

She, in the comics,

is also a former Russian spy

that we wanted to integrate into the film.

[YOUNG NATASHA SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

How long do we have?

I don't know. Like an hour maybe?

I don't wanna go.

With Melina, Rachel Weisz

is such an accomplished dramatic actor.

To have someone like that

step into a role like this,

it's such an incredible

leap of faith for us,

and it validates everything we do.

[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

You look like you have

- Hey, everybody set?

- Set.

Here we go. And action!

CHAPEK: She brings such a gravitas

to this character

who has been a part of this spy world.

Who came from the Red Room before Natasha.

[SNIFFLES]

You know, it's like when you told them

that they could stay up late

to catch Santa Claus.

That was fun, you know.

He come down the chimney, girls.

Look out! Where is he?

But he doesn't come.

Well, I know. But that's the fun.

That's part of the fun of it,

is that he never come.

It's like, you know,

waiting for the thing.

But it gives you hope, right?

And I believe you should

[LAUGHS WHIMSICALLY] No, no.

- No, I do know it give you hope, you know?

- No, I know. [CHUCKLES]

And I believe you should, you should hope.

[LAUGHS WHIMSICALLY]

I'm sorry. Wait, wait.

You were going for Waiting for Godot.

Well, you were.

- Waiting for whatever.

- Just say it!

As soon as they arrive at Melina's,

we kinda see how even though

they've been separated for 20 years,

they sit down, and it's like picking up

from where they were in Ohio.

You haven't aged a day, huh?

You're just as beautiful and supple

as the day they staged our marriage.

I think because we all individually knew

how each one of our characters

felt about the other person,

it actually, in a way, you kind of

don't want to k*ll it with rehearsal,

you just wanna get there on the day

and see what everybody's giving.

SHORTLAND: It was really,

the script was the hardest part

because it was a jigsaw puzzle.

It was comedy,

it was drama, it's spectacle.

And you have to make it all

one beautiful thing.

So, that was a challenge.

Action.

Good boy, Alexei. Good boy.

You named the pig after me?

You don't see the resemblance?

The funny-ness that comes out of it

comes from these missed connections

and from these attempts

to love each other.

And they're just

inadequate people, all of them.

- Change it up. Yeah.

- Yep, yep, yes.

- Can you go to your right further?

- Try to find

PUGH: Cate has made

a film that it isn't necessarily

The heart isn't about superheroes.

The heart is about being damaged

and trying to find a way to fix yourself.

And so, you know,

there's obviously so much humor in it,

and David Harbour's hilarious,

and Rachel Weisz is just a legend.

But equally, when it gets to those scenes,

Cate was really sure that she needed

this to be the heart of the film.

She kept on saying throughout the sh**t,

"What's the heart of the film?"

And she needed this to be about the pain

and how you repair yourself

and how you collect yourself.

You are an idiot.

And you're a coward.

You're a coward,

and our family was never real,

so, there's nothing to hold onto.

We're moving on.

It's important for us

to understand in this film

how this family has shaped

the person that Natasha became.

I'm sorry.

Why she is so guarded,

and why she wears many faces

and puts on the masks.

She's been deeply hurt by the people

who meant the most to her,

and the result is kind

of what you see is what you get.

You got some nerve, I'll give you that.

You could use some of that right now.

I think especially,

coming out of this time,

where we're all really

longing for community,

and there has been so much division,

I think what the film does is it says,

"Accept and love each other

for who you are,

"and look at each other

as precious beings."

And I think that's all I want,

is for people to enjoy it

and see the human under the suit.

It's a security issue, Barry.

- Come on. Come on.

- Barry?

- It's a security.

- I know.

CREW MEMBER: Come on.

So this is my 23rd movie at Marvel.

I've been all around the world.

This is absolutely the biggest

security thr*at we've ever faced.

These guys right here.

I think this is gonna

have a very different look

than most of the other MCU movies

'cause we're on location.

We're in the brush. We're in the mud.

We're gonna probably be

in the snow, in the sand.

And I feel like we're gonna be

in a lot of real natural places.

- Left pocket is the best one for us.

- Yeah.

- Then let's do a pre-wet.

- Yeah.

So she's really, like

But, uh, she probably

won't have to act that.

- You know, like, she's like

- Her, okay. She fell in icy cold water.

And then she's up, and she's like

You know?

- Shout out if I'm overacting.

- No, overact. Yeah.

- Okay. [LAUGHS]

- That'll make me look better.

Guys, what we'll do, we'll pre-wet

and everything just by the water's edge.

- So mean.

- You're sending her in first?

- Um, oh, we talked about it.

- Always.

[EFFORT GRUNTS]

[COUGHING]

[EXCLAIMS]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

Crew away, one more.

Keep rolling. Keep rolling.

- Keep going?

- Coming back, C.C.

- Okay.

- You good?

YOUNG:

We couldn't be happier with our doubles.

For Natasha, we've got

Mickey Facchinello and C.C. Ice.

C.C. has come from our Avengers crew,

so she knows the character very well.

And Mickey

is an extremely talented martial artist.

So both our ladies do the research.

They watch the old movies.

They are at the top of their game.

They're looking

for the moments, those pieces,

and they're very conscious

of what Scarlett's gonna be doing.

I think the most important thing

is that they know

that to be a good double is to blend

when we see the actor stunts.

We wanna make it seamless.

The biggest respect to these ladies.

They are brilliant, you know,

story moments of what we want,

but you wanna see Scarlett.

- I'm going.

- Here we come, she's comin' in.

[INAUDIBLE]

Happy thoughts.

I'm thinking happy thoughts.

MAN: How's that position, Rob?

I love my job. I love my job.

- MAN: Here we go. Everyone ready?

- [GRUNTS]

- And action!

- [GRUNTS]

[WATER TRICKLING]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

- MAN 1: Everybody, reset!

- MAN 2: Reset, Scarlett.

[EFFORT GRUNTS]

It's still cold.

[ANNOUNCING INDISTINCTLY OVER PA SYSTEM]

CHAPEK: From the very beginning,

this movie had to be

something very different.

This movie wasn't something

that could be cheated for other locations.

We wouldn't be able to take another

European city and double it for Budapest.

It was very important that we put

our characters on the ground,

feel the city, and feature the city.

And ever since Avengers 1,

we set up this idea that Clint and Natasha

had this incredible adventure in Budapest.

- Just like Budapest all over again.

- I remember Budapest very differently.

It's something that's become

very important to fans,

and when making a Black Widow movie,

it's very important for us

to kind of pay that off,

or at least shed light as to what

had happened so many years ago.

What b*llet does that?

- Not b*ll*ts, arrows.

- Ah, right.

As Natasha, in our movie, kind of finds

herself thrown back into Budapest,

she's forced to relive things

that happened with her and Clint.

It started out so funnily,

is this thing that,

you know, Joss Whedon threw in there,

as this great sort of quippy moment

between Hawkeye and Black Widow, you know.

That's Clint and Natasha right there,

their kind of history.

Just a fun little Easter egg for people

and for fans to kind of theorize about.

Then we thought, "We gotta find out

what happened in Budapest."

Tell me what happened. Tell me exactly.

- We rigged bombs.

- Who's "we"?

Clint Barton.

k*lling Dreykov was the final step

in my defection to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Simple as that.

The location just felt like it would be

visually, really exciting, too.

And give a kind of flavor

that the Marvel Universe

has never really explored,

this great, like,

Eastern European vibe, which is so fun.

All right, no more smoke. Action!

[GRUNTING]

When I first went to Budapest

over 30 years ago,

I went to a lot of apartments like that.

And, um

And we sh*t the exterior of it

in a courtyard

in a wonderful old building

called the Express Building,

which is right in the center of Budapest,

which amazingly, hasn't been touched

in all the years I've known the city.

So it was a pleasure

to go back and see that.

I guess I just

[LAUGHS] Me too.

I just slipped down, basically.

[CONTINUES LAUGHING]

BUSH: It was very nice on this film

to actually see it as Budapest.

'Cause I'll tell you,

in all the times I've been there,

we've always turned it into East Berlin

or Paris or Rome or somewhere else.

But, um, you know, just for a change,

it was Budapest as Budapest

and celebrated as such.

Here we go. Picture's up.

One of the biggest chases

is set in Budapest.

And we are on a motorbike as Taskmaster

is in a t*nk coming after us.

So for three weeks,

they had a t*nk drive around Budapest,

and I'm sure

that shocked quite a lot of people.

JOHANSSON: The city of Budapest gave us,

like, you know,

basically the keys to the city.

So we were able to really use these

iconic locations in a very practical way,

which is really fun

'cause you don't have to be

sh**ting all these plates and using a lot

of CG, you can actually really do it.

[ENGINE ROARING]

PUGH: It was very funny.

We had stunt doubles going around the city

on a real motorbike.

And then we were on

a pole that had a motorbike on it.

MAN: Three, two, one. Go!

That chase is so many things. [LAUGHS]

As it normally is.

Some of it is us being

pulled by a camera on this rig.

And fire!

ROMANOFF: Hey!

[CHUCKLES]

JOHANSSON: That car-flipping stuff

was all on this weird track.

And then a lot of it is also practical.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

[TIRES SCREECHING]

It was just also one of those things

that you had to fill in all the blanks.

So obviously, your stunts are doing

mega things and making this look real.

And then [CHUCKLES]

we have to come in to do

the corner sh*t

and make it look really scary.

Okay, you got a plan,

or shall I just stay, duck and cover?

My plan was to drive us away!

It's a sh*t plan.

PUGH: I always find that part

of filmmaking fascinating.

It was a lot of fun, and it starts

the film on that energy straight away.

It excels

and basically moves the entire story line

into the main part of the film.

And it's just one car chase.

It's unbelievable.

Every Marvel film,

we're trying to up the one before it

and give audiences something new,

exciting, and creative

that they've never seen before.

While at the same time,

trying to manage and maintain

a constant and consistent story.

YELENA: What about Romanoff?

She's a traitor.

She turned her back on her people.

On her blood.

BAUMANN: For us right now, the third act

is probably the biggest challenge.

It's a free fall sequence.

Sky-diving in and out of planes

and, you know, zero-G.

So, there's a lot of choreography

that's gonna be involved,

both with the visual effects

and stunts and special effects.

And to really try to bring

that sequence together

and giving our actors opportunities

to really perform at their best

in that environment and not be overwhelmed

by the number of rigs or wires, et cetera,

that they're going to be on.

MARRA: Cate has created

a really beautiful palette.

Because this is a new world for her,

in terms of visual effects,

a lot of her questions had to do with how.

"How do we sh**t this?

How to I get this vision onto the screen?"

Which, of course, is our jobs.

So we had lots of early

pre-conversations about, um,

like, how we sh**t visual effects,

whether it's set extensions

or just A over B comps

and showing her

what we can bring to her movie.

[expl*si*n]

Lift those feet a little bit

and push forward.

Heels.

- Nice.

- Need a focus.

- I'll pause it [INDISTINCT]

- Yeah.

Yeah, that would be better.

That's cool. Let's sh**t it.

A lot of the time,

what's written on the page

isn't always what we can produce.

But there are the alternatives that,

if we wanna keep this as grounded

and as real as possible,

this is what we can really achieve.

And then getting everybody on board

with that part of it

and then developing that sequence.

And then go, "Okay, well, that sequence,

that's what we want it to be.

"This is the next sequence.

We will need help to make this work."

It'll be three-quarter visual effects,

quarter stunts.

But are we happy

with the look of what that is?

And then buy into that.

So it's kinda then

It's making the most of our time on each

sequence, really, which is important.

[ROMANOFF GRUNTS]

[WATER SPLASHING]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

If you don't know what's happening,

that is the biggest compliment

that you can give a visual effects team.

If you're so into the story

that you don't question,

"How did they do that?"

You don't because why?

'Cause you're afraid

that they're not going to make it.

Or you're so excited that you're like,

"Oh, my God!"

If that's happening to you as an audience,

every single visual effects artist

around the world,

like the, whatever, 5,000 people

that worked on this movie,

everybody will be grateful.

[BREATHING HEAVILY] Enough.

I think there's probably,

out of 2,800 sh*ts,

is maybe 200

that don't have visual effects.

There's a lot of work in there.

A lot of it you know,

and you realize it's happening

'cause it will be not safe to do it

that way, so then you know it's happening.

But there is so much more

that is happening that you have no idea.

What better joy to have

as a filmmaker or as an artist,

that we can have to create

worlds or to create moments

that you don't even know it's happening,

but you can actually

give that to the audience?

I mean, I think to me,

that's a dream come true.

In every movie we make,

and every streaming show we do,

we have a chance to tell a story

that on paper feels or seems impossible.

And then you allow the artistry

of visual effects artists

around the world,

and they come in,

and they just make it work for you.

Can you pull back? Pull back.

Pull back with the girls.

Florence, can you stand?

I want you to cheat

and go through more Widows.

Come through more Widows. Cheat it.

PUGH: Something that I was always very

For me as an actor,

I've always felt sure about,

what is power, what does power look like?

And when you look at a superhero,

I've always thought,

if I'm in a building, and it's burning,

and I need a superhero

to come and save me,

I need a woman to come and save me,

what would they look like?

And I think for a long time,

we've looked at, you know,

these sh**ting things that come

through the air, and they grab you.

And actually, if you had a warrior

that was coming in

to come and save you,

what would these people look like?

For me, I always found

something very unique about the script,

which is the amount

of women that this will reach.

This film is about abuse

and women finding their path again.

And something as big

and as serious as that reaching

the amount of people that it will do

because of this film is, um

I mean, I didn't have that

when I was growing up.

It was striking how many female, you know,

how many stuntwomen we had on set

at any given time.

I mean, just the power of these women,

all in one room together was something

I'd never experienced before.

It was an amazing feeling to be surrounded

by all these badass women

and really be able to get,

like, down and dirty with them.

- MAN: Action!

- [GRUNTS]

What Scarlett brings to her character,

with what she means to young girls today,

what she means to all the fans

'cause she's got such a following,

but especially to young girls,

is incredibly special and inspiring.

When you're watching it

you feel like, "That's me."

You're kinda watching it

thinking it's you,

so I think when a girl or a woman sees

women being action stars,

they can identify.

And you go along with the story

imagining that it's you who are like that.

So it's just a lot more exciting.

ALONSO: It's imperative.

It's imperative that these kids have

a character that they can look up to.

That on a day when they don't

feel up to facing the world,

that they can put a mask,

they can put a cape, and they can pretend.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

And if that is what gives you the strength

to get through that moment and time,

and it helps you because it empowers you,

then I salute you.

And if we don't do that for every kid,

then we will fail.

One of the beautiful things about comics,

is comics didn't fail you.

People saw themselves.

So that identity that the page created,

we need to continue

to do in the moving image.

- [ALL CHEERING]

- [WHOOPING]

This has been a dream job for me,

and you guys have been

bringing all your creative juice

and spirit and energy to this film.

I think we're making

something really, really special.

Something very, very special

to me, anyway.

And so thank you all so, so much.

- [WHOOPING]

- [ALL APPLAUDING]

JOHANSSON: It's been an incredible

opportunity for me to be able to continue

to come back to a character

that I love so much.

And I really have to thank

the audiences for that.

I'm super happy

with all the work that we've done

with this long-standing series

of franchise films from Marvel,

and it just feels like real family.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]