Warning: This story contains major spoilers forThe Marvels.
The Marvelsintroduces a few new faces to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as resurrecting a few familiar ones.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First things first, let’s talk cats.
Little kittens, erm, flerkens cause chaos in space in ‘The Marvels’.Marvel Studios
Tell me everything about filming the scene where a horde of flerkens eat the S.A.B.E.R.
space crew, set to “Memory” from theCatsmusical.
MARY LIVANOS:The flerken scene was amazing.
Iman Vellani, Brie Larson, and Teyonah Parris in ‘The Marvels’.Laura Radford/Marvel Studios
I mean, talk about art as life.
[Laughs] We had all the crew members trying to wrangle the cats.
We all became the S.A.B.E.R.
Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop on ‘Hawkeye.'.Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios
crew in that moment.
I mean, the whole crew melted.
Every big strong grip guy was like, “Do they need homes after the shot?
Can we adopt them?”
The kittens were all spoken for, and everyone was happy to hear that, but they were alittledisappointed.
Was using “Memory” fromCatsalways the first choice?
That was always the choice.
Nia held that song in her heart, and it was in the first cut we ever saw.
It had to stay, hands down.
Speaking of music, let’s talk about the planet Aladna.
When did you decide that you wanted to choreograph a musical number?
To make Carol the princess she was always meant to be was a delight.
So, does this mean Carol Danvers is an official Disney princess?
I would say so!
Why did you specifically want to pair those two together on screen?
Pairing Carol with Valkyrie and having them share the big screen was another bucket list item.
Nia DaCosta is quite close with Tessa Thompson, so we had to write in a cameo.
note: Thompson starred in DaCosta’s first film, 2018’sLittle Woods.]
She’s such an empathetic, wonderful character.
So much of this movie hinges on the switching between Carol, Monica, and Kamala.
How did you want to approach those action scenes?
The core dilemma of this film is also what makes that relationship so wonderful.
But by far, entanglement was the hardest thing to bring to the big screen.
The switching wassodifficult to crack on the page.
It took so much imagination and tracking.
It really took everyone’s full collective brain power to confirm that it could translate on screen.
We also have to talk about the ending.
We see Kamala doing her best Nick Fury impression, as she waits forHailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop.
What do you remember most about filming that scene and setting up a potential Young Avengers team-up?
It was total fan wish fulfillment.
I really wanted to start to bring the younger heroes of this universe together.
She has information about Kamala, and we wondered who else she might have information on.
And in Monica’s absence, Kamala really is the perfect person to bring folks together.
Why specifically did you want to bring in Kate Bishop?
They’re both younger heroes from the tri-state area.
Did you always know thatThe Marvelswould be the movie to introduce the X-Men?
That was something that was always really intriguing.
That was always a really mind-bending, beautiful storyline that we wanted to bring to life in some way.
How did Kelsey Grammer get involved in this?
Kevin Feigejust called him up!
We were just so lucky to have him.
I’m so excited for whatever the future may bring for her.
I have high hopes, and I know fans really want to see more from Lashana.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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