Joe Johnston, the auteur behind Academy-Award-celebrated touchstones like “Jumanji” and “Jurassic Park III” is obviously the man directing Marvel’s “Captain America.”
There’s been a lot of internal fan talk about how you pull-off a Captain America movie in this day and age. A jingoistic approach is obviously not going to fly, and the character in several ways feels very dated, especially in an age of semi-sophisticated movies (“Avatar” aside) where the protagonist (especially a comic-book hero one) is generally struggling with some kind of personal crisis. By and large, Captain America doesn’t have that psychological problem, but in speaking with Boxoffice.com, the director says the film will be far from what most people are expecting. And yes, it will be set in WWII in the 1940s.
It’s something different. It is influenced by the comic book, but it goes off in a completely different direction. It’s the origin story of Captain America. It’s mostly period — there are modern, present-day bookends on it — but it’s basically the story of how Steve Rogers becomes Captain America. The great thing about Captain America is he’s a super hero without any super powers. Which is why this story, among the hundreds of super hero stories, appealed to me the most. He can’t fly, he can’t see through walls, he can’t do any of that stuff. He’s an every man who’s been given this amazing gift of transformation into the perfect specimen — the pinnacle of human perfection. How does that affect him? What does that mean for him emotionally and psychologically? He was this 98-pound weakling, he was this wimp, and he’s transformed instantly into this Adonis. You’d think he got everything he wanted. Well, he didn’t get everything he wanted. The rules change at that point and his life gets even more complicated and dire. For me, that’s the interesting part of the story. It’s got some great action sequences in it and some incredible stuff that we’ve never seen before. But at the heart of it, it’s a story about this kid who all he wants to do is fit in. This thing happens and he still doesn’t fit in. And he has to prove himself a hero — essentially go AWOL to save a friend. Eventually at the very end, I don’t want to give away to much, but he does fit in. But it’s the journey of getting him there that’s interesting. And it’s a lot of fun.
We gotta give Johnston credit. He’s looking into the psychology of the character far deeper than we would have imagined. Then again, he probably thought there was emotional depth behind, “The Rocketeer” as well. Look, we’d like to see an interesting Captain America movie. We’re not sure he’s the guy for the job, but well, he at least sounds like he’s on the right track (though how they cast an actor who’s supposed to be a 98-lb weakling and then becomes the buff and tough Capn’ is a bit beyond us unless they’re going to go big — presumably a Sam Worthington type or older — and then make him puny with CGI effects).
Johnston also talked “Jurassic Park IV” which apparently some people actually care about and evidently will spawn an entire new triptych.
Well, there is going to be a Jurassic Park IV. And it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen. It breaks away from the first three—it’s essentially the beginning of the second Jurassic Park trilogy. It’s going to be done in a completely different way. That’s pretty much all I can tell you.
Last we heard, “Captain America” is supposed to start shooting in June and yes, Sam Worthington has been rumored for the part, but he’s pretty much rumored for everything these days (“The Flash” is another one that came up recently). This probably means an actor should be named in the next few weeks, but we’ve got a feeling some people are going to wait and see what happens with Johnston’s troubled and production-maligned “The Wolf Man,” which hits February 12, before any major announcements are made.