Film Event: Captain America: Civil War European Press Conference

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This week I was offered the opportunity to attend the European Press Conference for Marvel's latest release, Captain America: Civil War. Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and Paul Rudd to name only a few of it's impressive Hollywood cast members, I could not wait to have the chance to speak to them, face to face. Here's some photos and a little breakdown of the event...

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Many of you will be aware that I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As you can imagine, my heart was racing as I entered the Ballroom Corinthia, just a stones throw from Embankment Station. I had never been to a press conference of this size so combined with the opportunity to come face to face with some of my movie star heroes and be at a Marvel press event, this was pretty crazy. For those of you not yet familiar with the Captain America films (where have you been?) Civil War is the second sequel and a follow up to Winter Soldier. The plot follows a political interference between the Avengers, causing a rift between former allies, Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). Caught up in the feud, the other superheroes must pick a side and defend the future of the Avengers and the future of Shield.

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Moderated by Edith Bowman, the event kicked off with a brief introduction before welcoming the cast to the platform. In attendance was a whole array of Hollywood’s finest; Robert Downey Jr., Paul Rudd, Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Renner, Emily Van Camp, Daniel Bruhl, directors Anthony and Joe Russo as well as Marvel Studios president and producer, Kevin Feige. Despite being the third Captain America film, Civil War had always been in the pipeline for Marvel following its comic book publishing back in 2006. Feige felt it was important that the studio hold out long enough that they would be able to do it well and make it a reality. In response to the question asking him when Civil War came about he said –

 “It was before the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe] even existed, in the early days…we were just beginning to dream about our studio and getting financing…it was an amazing comic series and I could remember reading it in the month that it came out and thinking it would probably be impossible but it would be cool someday to do this. It wasn’t until about two years ago, two and a half years ago that we thought now’s the time, we’ve assembled enough players that we could do it now”. 

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Following a few words from the directors, the floor opened up to the audience, all with their own light-hearted curiosities. Captain America: Civil War not only sees the return of the old cast but also welcomes Chadwick Roseman as Black Panther and the initiation of Scott Lang as Ant-man (played by Paul Rudd). I managed to pluck up the courage from the third row to ask newbie Avenger, Rudd, if there was any hazing from his fellow cast mates but he insists that the whole team was very welcoming although it was perhaps “a little intimidating seeing them all in their suits”. However, having not specified which Paul my question was aimed at, this sparked some light teasing from the other members of the cast in which Paul Bettany told myself and Rudd to “get a room” and said "why don't you just marry her". For the record, if the offer is there I would gladly have accepted. After some witty ribbing, the conference steered more towards the underlining political and contextual analysis behind Civil War.

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Civil War sees a divide between the superheroes in a way that we’ve never seen before. Team Captain America is very much about defending their freedom from government whilst Team Ironman believes there has to be rules set in place, with the government overseeing all Avengers missions. However, it seems that, given the choice not all the real life actors would have picked their given side. Actor Chris Evans (who plays Steve Rogers and Captain America) was quick to state that there would a great level of responsibility on the government - “You have to answer to somebody. You couldn’t just let these group of vigilantes sort it themselves. That’s the sad truth. If there really were Avengers, I’d be Team Ironman for sure”.

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There were, of course, some brazen questions questioning Marvel’s supposed rivalry with DC following the formation of the Justice League on the big screen. Feeling no need to defend the studio, Evans stated “I don’t think anyone up here makes movies based on what other people are doing” with Feige adding “we do because we do it really well” and Downey Jr joked“…when they get a Bucky then we’ll start talking”. 

The conference closed with a rather amusing story in which Anthony Mackie (Falcon) explained that Robert Downey Jr. introduced him to quinoa at Mr. Downey’s private village of onset trailers. The cast joked that each day it was a fight to see who would be invited to attend. “That’s everybody’s goal every day, at lunch to see whose going to get invited to the village. You get so jealous, like, the day he was invited [pointing to Daniel Bruhl], I saw him whizzing past my trailer and I’m like motherfff…” he jested.

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Captain America: Civil War is in cinemas today (April 29th) and I can't wait to see it this weekend. So there you have it, the highlight of my entire blogging career! Whose side will you be on, Team Cap or Team Ironman? What's your favourite Marvel movie? Let me know what you think of the film. As always, I love reading your thoughts so please do leave me lots of lovely ones in the comment section below.

Until next time movie fans,