Drew Peace is not “The Other Drew,” and despite his protests he is not “The Non-Drew.” He is the co-writer of Iron Man 3, one of the most successful blockbusters of all time, and now the writer/director of All Hail the King, a Marvel One-Shot available on the Blu-ray for Thor: The Dark World. The short film stars Sir Ben Kingsley (whom we also recently interviewed) as The Mandarin, who was the subject of much speculation after the unexpected revelation near the end of Iron Man 3.
In my interview with Drew Pearce, we discuss that twist at length – what it means, how it came about, and how it affects Hail to the King – so be aware of MASSIVE IRON MAN 3 SPOILERS. We will also allude to the story of All Hail the King, so if you haven’t seen the short yet you may wish to hold off reading this until afterwards. But I heartily recommend you do read this interview, as Drew Pearce directly responds to the fans’ reaction to that big reveal, and how All Hail the King responds to their concerns about The Mandarin and the villain’s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Drew Pearce also discusses at some length his cinematic take on Runaways, the comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan that’s been in development at Marvel Studios for many years, and is still “actively in the vault” as the screenwriter puts it. He draws parallels to both Spider-Man and The Godfather, and holds out hope that there may be room to begin that potential franchise in Marvel’s Phase Three.
All Hail the King is now available through the Blu-ray extras of Thor: The Dark World, which premiered on home video today.
CraveOnline: I have enjoyed a lot of work lately. I’m new to your work but I think you’re a very good writer, and now you’re a good director. So thank you for the interview.
Drew Pearce: Oh, thank you very much. So you’ve seen the short?
I have seen the short, and it is possibly my favorite Marvel One-Shot.
Woo-hoo! Don’t tell Louis [D’Esposito]. No, I’m very proud of it. I’m excited for it to get out there in the world. It’s quite a nice thing to do as a director or writer, where you make something that you’re proud of, but then there’s no level on which you’ll be judged by its box office. [Laughs.] It’s quite freeing. It’s certainly not a sensation I should get used to.
Would that mean you don’t plan on doing more of these?
Oh, I’d love to. If they come around again that would be brilliant, but I feel very lucky that Kevin [Feige] and Louis trusted me to even do this one, so if any more came along, god, it would be brilliant. But no, hopefully next time I’m directing something it will be a movie that can be horrifically judged on its own terms rather than hidden away as the most elaborate Blu-ray extra in history.
I want to talk about your upcoming stuff, but let’s talk about your elaborate Blu-ray extra…
[Laughs.] The student film follow-up to the sixth biggest movie of all time.
How do these Marvel One-Shots come together? Do they accept pitches or do they come up with an idea in development and then farm it out to directors?
Like everything with Marvel it tends to be more about just creative “What If” conversations had around lunch tables and hotel bars while you’re filming. It’s definitely not something they take pitches for, or really kind of exist outside of the family. I myself am not even really in the inner sanctum part of Marvel. I’m a person that comes in to work with them. I think they’re some of the most creative people working in movies today so it’s a pleasure when that actually happens.
But this one came about because I had been badgering Kevin and Louis for years to write and direct a One-Shot for them. We discussed tons of different characters and scenarios. The One-Shots have a habit of nearly happening and then not happening, because there’s a very hobbyist business model for doing them, and you have to kind of will them into existence because they’re really just in there for the love. Again, which is one of the things that makes Marvel brilliant, the fact that Kevin and Louis would be in the edit suite for my student film as often as they’re in the edit suite for Captain America 2 speaks volumes about why they make these movies.
But on the first day of filming with Sir Ben in North Carolina for Iron Man 3, Kevin and Louis and I were sitting at lunch, and Kevin and I pretty much at the same time came up with the thought that, “Why don’t we do a short with Sir Ben?” I wrote it that night in a North Carolina hotel room. In the course of a year and a half it went away, came back, went away again, and then last summer I sat down with Joss [Whedon] and Kevin and Louis and Stephen Broussard and some of the other brain trust at Marvel, and we were just kicking around what I could write and direct.
It was Joss who, looking around at the whiteboard, said, “Do you really think you can get Ben Kingsley for one of these shorts?” And I said, “Well, you know, we stayed in touch and he loves Trevor. If he likes the script maybe he would do it.” And it was Joss who said, “If you can get Sir Ben Kingsley to be in your short movie then you absolutely should do the Sir Ben Kingsley idea.” So I went away and wrote again, and sent it to Sir Ben, and he said “yes” instantly. Which is incredible, because he’s doing seven movies back-to-back and he took three days out to sweat it out with me in a disused women’s prison on the East Side of Los Angeles.
And drink with a monkey.
Well to be honest, that’s got to be in the “plus” box, if you’re flying in to do something like that. And not just ANY monkey: Crystal the Capuchin, a legend in Hollywood. The Hangover monkey, as well as many, many other credits.
