‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Director Julius Onah Breaks Down the Film’s ‘Paranoid Thriller’ Influences

Ready to enter a brave new world?

Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters now, following high-flying Avenger Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as he officially takes on the mantle of Captain America.

Ahead of the film’s red-carpet premiere, director Julius Onah sat down with Marvel.com to go behind the scenes, revealing how classic ‘70s thrillers (and some key input from Mackie) shaped Sam Wilson’s story.

MARVEL: Take us back to the beginning. What was it about the character of Sam Wilson that made you want to tell this story?

JULIUS ONAH: I was really hooked by Sam Wilson because there’s this great humanity that’s at the core of him. He’s got those values that Steve Rogers saw in him that make a great Captain America: the innate goodness, the desire to want to help people. But then, he’s got this unique superpower, right? He has this super-charged empathy that we know is at the core of the character. He was introduced in The Winter Soldier as somebody who was counseling veterans. That element of him immediately grounds the character and makes him relatable. That, for me, spoke to the things that I’ve always loved — grounded stories with characters that you can connect with.

You’ve described this film as a grounded paranoid thriller. What were some of the influences you were thinking about? I know you’ve mentioned the 1973 film The Day of the Jackal.

The Day of the Jackal was where the conversation started, and then I brought in movies like Le Samouraï and Point Blank. There’s a great TV series called World on a Wire by [Rainer Werner] Fassbinder. It was a wide range of influences. It’s not to say that it was necessarily a one-to-one [comparison], but it was about taking key images, textures, or lighting of those stories and finding a way to weave them into this. I think it really helped add up to a unique style and texture to this film, and it allowed us to tell our own version of a paranoid thriller within the MCU.

Anthony Mackie has played Sam Wilson for more than a decade now. What kind of input did he give, and how did he shape Sam’s journey in this film?

The input he gave that really helped us was to never lose sight of the true north of the character. One of the things that was very important to Anthony was Sam’s history as a counselor. Because I was working on this as a director and also as a writer, that made me really think, What does it mean to counsel? What does it mean to care? Well, it’s about empathy. That helped guide us toward a thematic true north that ended up shaping the journey Sam takes in this film and his relationship with Thaddeus Ross.

These are two people who are technically on the same side of the things. One is Captain America; the other is the president of the United States of America. Yet they have a history coming from Civil War that also is fraught. How do these two work together? How do these two people have a common humanity, despite their differences? Thanks to Mackie’s guidance, we never lost sight of what made this Captain America so special. And I think it takes the audience to an emotional place that is really satisfying and surprising.

Speaking of President Ross, tell us a little bit about working with Harrison Ford. What’s something that people might be surprised to learn about him?

Harrison is such an incredible professional with the way he prepares. He comes across so relaxed and relatable, but he’s a guy who really cares about the work. I remember the first time I went to his house to really start to dive into [the film]. His script was already completely marked up, and there were already highlights. He was already thinking about his character. He had questions. He had a lot of thoughts that challenged me.

Here's a guy who has worked on some of the biggest franchises. He’s been Han Solo. He’s been Indiana Jones. Here he is now in a massive franchise in the MCU. But despite how long he’s been doing this, he still cares. He’s still curious. So, I loved every moment of working with him. He puts so much heart into Thaddeus, and I think it’s going to be really surprising when people see how emotional the journey is that Thaddeus [goes on].

For you, what’s been the biggest surprise about joining the MCU?

Part of the genius of the MCU is how incredibly connected and well-conceived everything feels. Yet the thing that surprised me the most is that there’s still room for discovery and spontaneity. You’re not shackled, in that you can find beautiful moments — whether it’s moments between characters or moments that lead to plot turns and are going to have huge effects on the universe going forward. It’s this living organism that you get to participate in and help shape. I think that’s why audiences love this universe and thee characters because it’s a living, breathing organism. These characters are all evolving and growing with us, and I’m just so grateful that I got to be a part of it.

Was there a day on set where you really felt that spontaneity?

I don’t want to give away too many spoilers! I will say there was a scene where [Danny Ramirez, Carl Lumbly, and Mackie] are in a limo. We started with what was on the page, and they just started to riff. The way they were riffing brought the characters to life in such a meaningful way. It was a lot of those kinds of moments, where there’s a way something is scripted, and behavior comes in that takes it to a whole ‘nother level. That was some of the stuff I really cherished.

Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters now.