Louis Leterrier: “At the beginning at Marvel Studios, there was Jon Favreau, Edgar Wright and me”

The director of The Incredible Hulk (back at 9:10 p.m. on 6ter) spoke about the birth of the MCU in Première.

Louis Leterrier gave a long interview in spring 2022 to First to talk about his busy career. The French director has built it mainly internationally, equally at ease at the helm of blockbusters (The Carrier, Elusive) than in the staging of series (Dark Crystal, Lupin). He tells us in particular about his experience at Marvel, during the production of The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton, when Kevin Feige's MCU was in its infancy. At the same time, Jon Favreau, aka Happy Hogan, was preparing the first Iron Manand Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) was working on Ant-Manwhich he eventually abandoned.

We are republishing his comments to keep us going until the rebroadcast of his superhero film, this Tuesday evening on 6ter.

The Incredible Hulk 2: Louis Leterrier talks about the sequels you haven't seen

Is it this lack of interest in tapes that led you to leave EuropaCorp, when you could have made films there for twenty years?

If I had stayed there, I probably would have done that, yes, Taken 3 And The Transporter 5… I was very happy to make these kinds of films at one point, but that wasn't what really interested me. I was 26, I was learning the trade… One day, I started looking for an agent in France to find me other projects, but no one wanted to represent me. I discovered that when you're at Besson, the whole industry avoids you. It woke me up a bit and I told myself that I had to go to where the cinema I loved was being made. So I went to the United States to see the people at Marvel and ask them if they would be interested in starting a studio.

It was the early days of the MCU… And for me, it was suddenly an opportunity to break out of a system – even though I got on really well with Luc and the people at Europa… So I did my Hulk over there, my first American film… Nowadays, a superhero movie director can only handle the comedy scenes. A second team focuses on the action while another handles the special effects. And even if you end up supervising the whole thing, it's not really the same. Back then, I did everything, the action, the comedy, the scenes with special effects. The old-fashioned way, you know.

Did you really contribute to the launch of Marvel Studios?
Yes, yes. Originally, in the creative office, there was Jon Favreau, Edgar Wright and me. It was really the three of us, in a very small work room. We were even all there together at Comic-Con to announce the thing and the room, already not very big, was only half full. Kevin Feige was already there but, at the time, he was simply Avi Arad's right-hand man [fondateur de Marvel Studios]. Marvel Studios was a small business.

They called you back after Hulk ?
Yes, we often saw each other again afterwards. We had talked together Guardians of the Galaxy. They offered me Thor also… It's been a long time since we talked to the Marvel people, but we used to talk regularly. I like to keep in touch and, to tell you the truth, I don't have any enemies in that environment. Even at Sony after the affair GrimsbyI haven't developed any enmity with anyone… And that's also why I'm coming back to film in France: I'm always keen to broaden my horizons. I want to make French films, American films, English films… Right now I'm filming in Chicago, then I'm going to do a project in Africa. I'm just wandering around.

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