The Russo Brothers Reveal It Took Over a Year of Planning For Just 1 Shot in ‘Avengers: Endgame’
To say Avengers: Endgame was a massive undertaking is an understatement. The movie marked the end of an era and required meticulous planning to unite all of the beloved superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, there was one shot that proved to be particularly challenging for directors Anthony and Joe Russo. This iconic scene featured all of the superheroes in a single frame, and it required over a year of planning and preparation to get it just right.
The Russo Brothers open up about the most iconic scene ‘Avengers: Endgame’
Avengers: Endgame remains the most successful superhero film ever, but it was also Marvel’s most ambitious to date. The movie wrapped up a decade’s worth of storylines for the studio and featured every superhero in the MCU.
With so many actors appearing in the film, the Russo Brothers had a big scheduling task ahead of them. And one scene, in particular, proved to be the most challenging of them all.
The scene in question is at the end of the movie when Marvel’s finest heroes are gathered together for Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) funeral. The shot includes all of the heroes who appeared in the MCU up to that point, which only added to the emotional scene.
In a recent podcast on Smartless, the Russo brothers revealed that they planned the funeral for a whole year before finally shooting it.
“That took a year of planning. We referred to it as the wedding. It took us a year to plan that and get all those people together. We had a couple of months to plan out that shot,” they shared. “We rehearsed that shot. We scouted that location multiple times.”
A closer look at Tony’s funeral scene in ‘Avengers: Endgame’
The loss of Tony in Avengers: Endgame was a heart-wrenching moment that left many fans devastated. However, the original MCU hero was given the ultimate ending after he donned the new Infinity Gauntlet and defeated Thanos.
Moviegoers loved how the Russo Brothers incorporated his famous “I am Iron Man” line into film. But the bigger payoff was the funeral sequence, which featured everyone’s favorite characters.
In their podcast interview, the Endgame directors revealed that they filmed the iconic scene on a ranch outside of Atlanta. With every actor bringing their own trailer to the set, the base camp was larger than anything they had ever seen.
“I remember the day that we sent a drone up just to get footage of basecamp that day. I’ve never seen anything like it,” they stated.
The Russo Brothers revealed that there was well over 50 trailers at the ranch for the funeral scene. Given how many people were involved in the shot, the directors went to great measures to keep things secret.
The Russo Brothers kept the funeral scene tightly under wraps
Tony’s funeral in Avengers: Endgame was a star-studded affair, with a cast of MCU characters paying their respects to the fallen hero. However, the presence of so many actors also posed a risk of spoilers leaking out about Tony’s untimely ending.
To prevent any leaks, the directors told the cast that they were filming a wedding scene, supposedly between Tony and his love interest, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). This clever ruse kept the secret under wraps until the film hit theaters.
Paltrow was one of the only ones who knew what was really going on, as she needed a little more time to prep for the scene. But for most of the actors who arrived on set, they thought they were going to be filming a celebration.
This, of course, was not the first time Marvel went to great lengths to keep a storyline secret from fans. And it likely won’t be the last.
If fans don’t already own Avengers: Endgame, it is available to stream on Disney+.
