It’s going to be a tough ask for writer/director Joss Whedon to top his hugely enjoyable and successful superhero ensemble THE AVENGERS. As we wait patiently for the follow-up, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, we’re left to ponder the script direction and just what our favourite comic-book characters will be up against this time around. Most recently we learned not only will S.H.I.E.L.D.’s finest battle James Spader’s robotic villain in the sub-title but Thomas Kretschmann’s Baron von Strucker!
In a recent interview, Whedon has commented on the upcoming sequel and which franchise – or more specifically ‘entry’ – he’s going to be drawing his inspiration from:
“The events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier will definitely affect the world of Avengers 2. But at the end of the day, I have to make my movie assuming that people will only have seen the first one, or possibly not even seen the first one.
I can’t assume that everybody went to see Thor: The Dark World, Captain America, and Iron Man 3 in between. I have to go from one movie to the next and be true to what’s happened [in the previous movies], but not be slavish to it.
The model I’m always trying to build from, or my guiding star, is The Godfather: Part II where a ton has happened in-between and it’s a very different movie [from Part I], but you don’t need any information. It’s there in the film about what’s happened since, what’s different, and why is this a different film; why is it a different kind of structure, and why is it darker. It’s all there, you’re in the vernacular of the first movie and you’re just ready to pick up in this new place, and hopefully that’s what will happen with my movie.
Obviously I’m talking about one of the greatest films ever made (The Godfather: Part II)… I hope mine will be good, but that is my guiding star.”
In addition, a number of filming locations for the film has been revealed. While the majority of shooting will take place in the UK at Pinewood and Sheperton studios, Fort Bard in Northern Italy, nearby municipalities of Aosta, Donnas, Pont-Saint-Martin and Verres will also be used for location. It’s also being rumoured that some shooting will include Seoul’s Gangnam District and surrounding Gyeonggi Province, Korea.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON will also star Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Don Cheadle, Cobie Smulders, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen. It begins shooting in March and hits cinemas 1st May 2015.
