Cleveland's Marvel-ous Movie Premiere

Cleveland natives Joe and Anthony Russo directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, out Friday. 

Tuesday night at Cinemark at Valley View, about 1,500 people all witnessed an incredible underdog story good enough for Hollywood, but made in Cleveland. We're not talking about the movie screened there, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but the blockbuster's directors, Joe and Anthony Russo. Read our April issue for the full story.

As kids, the self-taught filmmakers from Cleveland's East Side first picked up a video camera to film the family vacation at Disney World. This time, Disney bankrolled the brothers to shoot The Winter Soldier for six weeks in their hometown. About $80 million (of the estimated $150 to $170 million budget) was spent in the region, Joe says. The local cast and crew, along with the Russos' family and friends, were invited to the Cleveland premiere, which followed screenings in Los Angeles, Paris, London and Beijing.

This was the Russos' third time making a film in Cleveland. The first was a darkly comic student film Pieces, which premiered on the wall of their parents' garage. That led to the caper comedy, Welcome to Collinwood. Then the always affable directors were approached by Ron Howard to make Arrested Development. Though they won an Emmy for directing the pilot, the show was eventually canceled due to dwindling ratings and has been rebooted by Netflix. Their biggest success, Community, airs on NBC Thursdays at 8 p.m.

The Winter Soldier was spectacular, but you'll have to see for yourself Friday when it hits theaters nationwide. No spoilers here. It's no secret Marvel has already negotiated with the Russos to film the next chapter in Captain America's saga. Before the film, a live presentation appeared on all five screens, in which Ivan Schwarz, president of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, mentioned the possibility of that film being made here, too. "If you want to make that promise today, it's cool," he told the brothers, only half-joking.

Joe and Anthony stole the show, thanking the state for providing the $9.5 million tax credit, the city for putting up with the West Shoreway shutdown, and of course, their family, which probably filled up half the theaters.

Afterward, Joe was out in the sea of people, where he is most comfortable, getting his picture taken and hugging everyone who walked by. Anthony, who prefers a more quiet environment, hung back by the theater doorway and talked to people one-on-one.

"We really feel like we made this movie for ourselves, like we're the audience," Anthony said. "To be around other people, to see them react the same way we did to the film, was just really exciting, especially because they were people so close to home."

Reintroduction to Community Affairs

So you're counting down the days until Captain America: The Winter Soldier premieres nationwide April 4. You've read our April feature story and know the trailers by heart (we're a little partial to the Super Bowl version), hunting for glimpses of the West Shoreway, Theater and Warehouse districts.

But if you need even more insight into what Cleveland natives Anthony and Joe Russo have done with their piece of Marvel's universe, it's time to sign up for Hulu Plus and binge on Community.

That's because, while the duo was in postproduction for the first blockbuster of 2014, Joe directed two episodes of the show they got off the ground.

And you don't need Superman's X-ray vision to see the big screen's influence on the quirky NBC cult-comedy.



“His directors’ eye is even keener,” says Yvette Nicole Brown, the Cleveland native who plays Shirley Bennett. In “Geothermal Escapism,” the Community students play a schoolwide game of hot lava (you remember that kids game, right? You must walk on chairs, tables or whatever to avoid the floor, which is deadly) to win Abed’s (Danny Pudi) prized $50,000 comic.

“We don’t have a huge budget on Community, but Joe made that episode look like a movie,” she says.

The action-packed episode was loaded with special effects, stunts, laughs and even LeVar Burton. It echoed the premise of the paintball saga the brothers directed to conclude season two, which put them on Marvel’s radar and got them their career-changing gig.

“He’s learned how to make it even bigger with even less,” Brown says.

“Geothermal” also marked the final episode for Donald Glover, who plays Troy Barnes. “Most of us were blubbering messes,” recalls Brown. But Joe kept the set light and loose, which allowed the actors to stay composed long enough to pull off the scene’s “heartstring moments.”

And for a look at how proudly geeky the brothers really are, queue up “Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.” Anthony read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy three times each by the end of high school and Joe collected comics for 20 years.

"I was a big fan of Marvel growing up, a big fan of X-Men, Wolverine and Spider-Man," Joe says. That should make it a fun summer of movies for the Russos. Besides their own Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sony's Amazing Spider-Man 2 debuts May 2 and Fox's X-Men: Days of Future Past opens May 23.