Did ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Stars Improvise Any Scenes?
Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are teaming up as Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The Marvel films they’ve worked on previously famously featured improvised material. And knowing how well Mackie and Stan gel on-screen, some fans wonder if the actors ad-libbed any scenes for the new Disney+ series.
Most Marvel movies feature improvised moments
While Marvel Studios meticulously preplans most of its projects, the studio also allows its filmmakers and actors to improvise certain scenes. Tom Holland once revealed that Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) death scene in Avengers: Endgame had no prior script and was made up at the moment.
“It was interesting because when we shot that scene with Robert, there was no real script at all,” Holland told PinkVilla. “It was just Kevin Feige, the two Russo brothers, myself, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and Don Cheadle. They kinda brought us to set. They kind of told us what was gonna happen, or what they wanted to happen. And then we sort of just improvised.”
And according to director Taika Waititi, 80 percent of Thor: Ragnarok was improvised — like the Thor and Loki “Get help” scene, which was created by Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston during filming.
‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ was created because of Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s chemistry
Captain America: Civil War featured a short scene between Sam and Bucky. And as revealed by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner, Kari Skogland, that brief 12-second interaction and the chemistry between Stan and Mackie is what inspired the new Marvel series.
“Like that 12 seconds or whatever it was — it wasn’t just obviously that promise of something that was fantastic and had lots of potential,” she told Collider. “They’re personal friends. So we looked a lot to their interviews and to how they interacted with each other. Just in the green room before events and stuff, and really use that as our guidepost.”
‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ stars did improvise some scenes
When talking to Collider, Skogland revealed how well Mackie and Stan work together on set. And she noted that it wasn’t hard to capture the two creating genuinely compelling moments all on their own.
“It was a natural fit,” she suggested. “I thought, ‘Well, all I have to do is show up and point the camera,’ because they will take care of the rest. They’re terrific at ad-libbing and doing improv together, so they keep it very organic and real.”
Skogland didn’t pinpoint exactly which scenes were improvised — probably because it’s still early in the season. But she did credit Mackie and Stan for adding emotions and inspiration in certain moments.
“I allow the collaboration and I trust that the actors, particularly these actors, because they’re both very thoughtful and very smart, are going to come up with nuances to the character while they’re in the moment, that you just can’t possibly think of whether you’re a writer or director or both,” Skogland said. “It’s always an organic process of collaboration.”
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier airs Fridays on Disney+.
