Some of Hollywood’s biggest names, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Sinners director Ryan Cooller and Deadpool & Wolverine filmmaker Shawn Levy has a simple strategy for dealing with the relentless noise of internet fandom: tune it out.
The group came together this week to offer a rare and honest look at what it really takes to make blockbuster movies, and how not to lose your mind in the process.
The occasion was a celebration at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts where the Kevin Feige Division of Film & Television Production was officially dedicated in the producer’s honor.
All three men are USC graduates, and the evening’s centerpiece was a candid conversation between them that touched on Internet culture, screening disasters, and the messy, loveless reality of making good movies.
Feige, widely considered to be the most successful film producer of all time, was characteristically direct on the subject of online fandom.
Marvel has always had a close relationship with its audience dating back to the lettered pages of its comics, but the Internet has changed the nature of that relationship significantly.
“It can be wielded with such force now that you have to watch out,” he said. The sheer volume of theories, opinions and hot takes across YouTube, TikTok and Reddit, he warned, is something filmmakers engage in at their peril.
“You can read everything about everything and get a different perspective on it. You can go crazy. So we don’t.”
Levy echoed the sentiment, framing it as a matter of professional survival.
Working on big franchise projects, he’s currently in post-production on the next one Star Wars film, the ability to switch off becomes essential.
“You have to know when to put it down, shut up and go back to what you had in your head and in your voice when you started,” he said.
The conversation also turned to something filmmakers rarely discuss publicly: the guts of a bad test screening.
Feige described the experience with striking honesty, noting that for Marvel, audience previews happen after big investments have already been made.
“That happens when you’ve already spent almost $200 million on a movie and you show it to people and they’re like, ‘What was that?'” Levy didn’t shy away from what’s next.
“And then the panic sets in. You panic, you feel like shit, and then you go back to work.”
What made the conversation particularly compelling was Feige’s admission that he spent years believing that Marvel was uniquely bad at getting movies right the first time.
He has since learned otherwise.
He turned to Coogler midway and asked about sinners, the most nominated film in Oscar history this year, was perfect from its first cut.
Cooler laughed. “No,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s perfect even now bro.”
It was a disarmingly human moment from three filmmakers at the top of their industry, a reminder that even the biggest movies in the world are works in progress right up until the credits roll.
