Thursday, February 03, 2011

Friends Till The End

Director Joe Johnston tells The L.A. Times that James “Bucky” Barnes, sidekick to Captain America will be different in the film Captain America: The First Avenger from that of his comic book roots...

In the comics, he’s like Robin is to Batman, but this is not that at all," Johnston says. "We took some liberties with the relationship between the two guys. In our story, Bucky is already in the service, he’s already joined up and is being sent overseas while Steve is still struggling to get in the army. That’s different than what you may have read in the comics. It adds a nuance to the relationship that pays off later. They’re closer in age, too — they’re virtually the same age."


In the film, Rogers (Chris Evans) and Barnes (Sebastian Stan) grew up almost as brothers. Rogers is too sick to enlist so he volunteers for a dangerous and secret experiment that might make him the first of an army of super-soldiers. That fact changes the dynamics of the friendship from less paternal than in the comics, and Bucky is used far less as comic relief in the film

Part of the reason for the changes was the hiring of Stan  as Bucky, "Sebastian brought something really interesting and slightly on the dark side and really compelling to watch... Sebastian has a dark, slightly quirky side to him — and that’s the case when he’s in character or not — and he brought that to this movie“

The director adds that Stan was originally up for the role of the Captain himself.

You know, he was originally up for the lead, for the Steve Rogers role, but he didn’t have quite the same earnest, I-want-to-fight-for-my-country aura that Chris has for this role. Sebastian has a little bit of the bad boy, he’s a little bit of the James Dean type and that goes somewhat counter to the general perception of Steve Rogers. He wasn’t quite right for Captain America, but I think he’s perfect for Bucky"

Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, and Samuel L. Jackson co star.

Given Bucky's potential story arc should the films continue the changes also make for a stronger narrative down the road

Cap will be released in 2D and 3-D plexes on July 22, 2011.

No comments: