‘The invisible agent’: the movies that inspired her, Chris Evans’ mustache and more keys according to the Russos

‘The Invisible Agent’ marks the first collaboration between the successful Russo brothers, directors of some of the most acclaimed Marvel films such as ‘Avengers: Endgame’, and the Netflix film catalog. And neither of them comes here to play: the platform of streaming It has offered them the highest budget in its history. The result? An adrenaline-pumping action film loaded with impressive action set pieces and a leading trio (Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas) that seems to be having a great time.

Before the premiere of the film (it hit theaters on July 15 and has landed on Netflix this Friday, July 22), We talked to Joe and Anthony Russo about the secrets behind ‘The Invisible Agent’: how it all started, its inspirations, Ana de Armas’ engagement, who the hell chose the mustache for Chris Evans… And their responses have been most interesting.

Do not miss the complete interview in the video that leads this article. And here we collect the keys that have left us about one of the best action movies of 2022.

1 – The genesis of the project

‘The Invisible Agent’ is based on the novel by Mark Greaney, which follows CIA agent Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), aka Sierra Six, as he fights for his life after he steals a powerful document. “We read the book ten years ago, and were moved by the vibrancy of the narrative, how excessive it was, how interesting the world it set out to be, and how contemporary it felt”, the Russo brothers tell FOTOGRAMAS. “It was very cinematic and we thought it could translate very well to the screen,” they add.

2 – The action movies that inspired them

When watching the film, other examples surely come to mind: the ‘Mission: Impossible’ saga, the Tom Clancy novels… For the Russo brothers, this is almost a nostalgic pill. “We love action movies. We consumed a lot of content when we were young. We had very diverse tastes, but we loved John McTiernan movies, ‘Dream Glass’, we loved ‘Lethal Weapon’, we love a great John Frankenheimer movie called ‘Ronin’“, they reveal. Thus, ‘The invisible agent’ is, they say, “a nostalgic film in some way: it is action with a great sense of humor and is made to be fun, entertaining and exciting to watch with family and friends”.

3 – Repeating with Chris Evans (and the mustache)

The big question that ‘The invisible agent’ leaves us is not what will happen to Sierra Six, but who the hell had the idea to put chris evans a mustache. According to the directors, he was the same actor! “The mustache, we have to give Chris Evans credit. He came up with that idea, and we loved it,” Anthony Russo confesses. Beyond this funny detail of his character, the truth is that the Russos and Evans have a long professional relationship that continues to bear fruit. “One of the things that we liked the most about working on the Marvel movies is that we got to work with all those actors for all those years on those four movies and you get to develop a very sophisticated understanding of each other as creatives, as people. It allows us to turn the page on that experience at Marvel and continue to do very interesting work together, because we have a very interesting mutual understanding.”

4 – Ana de Armas, the secret weapon

If Chris Evans (former Captain America) is a proven action hero, Ana de Armas is a rising star who is proving especially effective in the action genre. We saw her be one of the strongest points in ‘No Time to Die’, the latest James Bond film, and in ‘The Invisible Agent’ she shines again. The Russos are delighted. “He committed so much to the role, he’s so talented. He’s going to be a huge star. He’s got a fantastic screen presence, and he put a lot of effort into training him for the movie,” says Joe Russo. “These movies are unique for the actors, because they require a lot of physical work. They’re doing Cirque du Soleil-level choreography and they have to train for months to be able to do it on set and do it safely. So it’s really them doing it.” Anthony and I are very insistent that the actors do most of their action scenes, as long as they can do it safely. And her [Ana de Armas] went for all He worked very hard and we are very impressed with her“.

5 – Next stop: a sequel?

After seeing the end of ‘The invisible agent’, it is impossible not to wonder if it could become a franchise. “We love full-length stories, we’ve worked with that format for a long time, and we’ve certainly thought of this world as a more complex mythology”, say the Russo brothers, leaving the door wide open to, at least, a sequel. “Part of the reason there are so many interesting characters in the movie and played by such incredible actors and actresses is because we think we can continue the story in so many ways with this cast. So it’s something we’re very interested in and what we’ve been thinking about.” Will their dreams come true? Everything will depend on these first 28 days after its premiere, in which Netflix expects it to become one of the most viewed movies in its history.