HAWKEYE Director Rhys Thomas Reflects on Jeremy Renner’s “Genius” Performance and Marvel Future
Director Rhys Thomas didn’t exactly have Marvel on his bingo card. Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the Saturday Night Live alum shared that he was “as surprised as anybody” when he got the call for what would become Hawkeye. His reaction?
“Hey, look, we are all whores, right?” he joked. “You get an opportunity for a bigger budget and it’s Marvel.”
But it wasn’t just the scale that drew him in, it was the character. “What interested me in that show was that fans were not interested in Hawkeye because he doesn’t have any superpowers. He’s a real guy,” Thomas said. “It was really the story of an ordinary guy with a poor sense of self-worth.”
Thomas cited the Matt Fraction comic run as a tonal inspiration and noted how the project didn’t “feel like Marvel” in the beginning. With no initial time pressure due to the pandemic, he had a chance to offer ideas before jumping on officially.
“Of course, it being Marvel, I came on board and they completely threw everything out they had before and we started writing the show again.”
And while James Gunn once stated, “You never go into production without a script at DC Studios,” Thomas says Marvel was a different beast. Working on Hawkeye was “fluid,” allowing for unexpected changes and spontaneous evolution, especially once Jeremy Renner got involved.
Thomas praised Renner’s performance as deeply instinctive and understated. “Jeremy frequently didn’t want to say much, you know,” he said. “His character in the script had all this exposition. We had him saying a lot. He was genius [in] that kind of knowing, ‘I can, I can say that entire paragraph just like this [grunts].’ And he could. Not many people can.”
Renner’s minimalism paired with Hailee Steinfeld’s energy gave the show its grounded-yet-playful tone. Thomas appreciated the Marvel resources, recalling how they built Rockefeller Center in Atlanta, complete with an ice rink and full plaza. “There are not many places you get to do that,” he said. “That side of it, of course.”
When asked if he’d work with Marvel again, Thomas laughed and simply said: “Good question.”
While he valued his time at Marvel and the creative freedom it offered, Thomas admits he left it “longing for another season” of Documentary Now!, his mockumentary series with Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers.
The show, hosted by Helen Mirren, was designed to trick viewers into thinking they’d stumbled upon a real documentary. “We kept saying Helen Mirren as an example and someday we realized: Why don’t we just ask Helen Mirren? And, weirdly, she said yes,” he said. “I don’t think she realized she was committing to four seasons’ worth of hosting duties, but she’s great.”
Now, he’s back in development mode, juggling film ideas and leaning on longtime collaborators. “Nothing is real until you’re actually making it,” he said. “The idea of starting with a blank page terrifies the hell out of me. But I’m very good at giving notes.”
So, Marvel Round Two? TBD. But one thing’s clear, Thomas is still carving his own path.
Source: Variety