After the Russo Brothers’ record-breaking success with Avengers: Endgame, they became the most popular filmmakers in Hollywood. Constant requests from every production company kept flooding into their office, and when they were in front of the interviewer’s mic, the question was always, “When are you going to work for Marvel again?” Successful, but not foolish, the Russo Brothers took their reputations and funneled them right back into their own production company, AGBO. Needless to say, the producers have plenty of work ahead of them, but as directors, they’ve taken a step back from the spectacular world of superheroes and Marvel.
In recent years, aside from pushing money into independent film projects akin to the A24 style, the Russo Brothers have directed an espionage film for Netflix, The Gray Man. And natural to what the Brothers are famous for, Netflix is looking to expand the one-off action movie into a whole universe of spy films. Because the Russo Brothers are known for Marvel, and Marvel is known for being the most successful movie franchise in history.
So, it goes to follow that anyone looking to hire Joe and Anthony Russo is looking to make their own fictional cosmos. The brothers take inspiration from a number of different things. With their next production, The Electric State, just around the corner, one wonders if we’ll see a Russo-colored Hollywood in the future.
The Russo Ethics
AGBO
The Russo brothers’ filmmaking style reflects their experience at Marvel. While working for Disney, the center of their talent was focused on creating a film that could expand into other films. The reason the two are so desirable now is they’ve learned how to create not just a single movie but an entire ecosystem of films that communicate and interact effectively. Now that they’ve left Disney, they’ve said they probably won’t do anything for Marvel again until the end of the decade, and it shows.
The Gray Man has a distinct lack of visual effects and big computer-generated landscapes. What we see in there is an opportunity for the Russo brothers to escape from billion-dollar productions and – although they still have ample budgets available to them – a chance to return to the more visceral act of filmmaking.
With a Hollywood reputation safe in tow, the Russo brothers have begun investing in more artistic films and working with artists more than producers. Their studio AGBO is known for being quite artist-friendly. And working with studios like A24 has helped them gain a reputation for respecting the artistry of filmmaking, as opposed to selling out to a producer-friendly perspective on the industry. The Russo brothers have taken their success and channeled it back to the artists that were once like them.
Now that they are in the position of producers, they can share their resources with enough empathy and appreciation for the arts to retain the title of artists themselves. In their tenure working for Disney, they haven’t forgotten their artistic roots, and now that they’re successful, they aren’t going to add another face to the sea of executives in the movie business.
If the future of the movie business is in these expansive interconnected franchises, the Russo brothers are the most desirable filmmakers in that genre. And not only are they popular, but they are also committed to defending artists.
When Zoe Saldaña was making Infinity War and Endgame, Variety reports that the Russo brothers took her aside, “They looked me in the eye, and were like, ‘If you ever have a project, you need to count on us because we’re going to have your back.’” She adds, “They really are building solid, strong relationships with actors that want to expand their craft. Not just from acting, but as producers and writers and directors.”
The Russo Style
Netflix
With how things are currently going, it seems the Russo brothers are apt to create more of these cinematic universes. Netflix is eager to expand the world of The Gray Man, and their new in-house production, The Electric State, is based on a book of artwork that is ripe for expansion. Its inspiration was taken from a book of illustrations that imply a very light narrative that is open to great interpretation. It creates a setting big enough to house any number of stories in a strange alternate past with a retro-futuristic vibe.
But while it’s hopeful to see such successful moviemakers stay true to their artistic roots, the Russos still have some amount of doubt about the coming future of movies. “Filmmaking is going to transform into some other medium,” Joe says. “I don’t know what that media is going to be. My guess is that when you can sit in your house, turn to one of the actors that is standing in front of you and say, ‘Hey, Tom Cruise, hold on a second. Tell me about how you filmed this scene.’"
Despite this foreboding change in technology, the Russo brothers have no plan to stop the change. Rather they only seek to prepare for it. They plan to keep AGBO fully independent and wield their influence well in this changing landscape of streaming and films. But it’s good to know they plan to do it ethically and with a focus on artistic independence.
