A big-budget, studio-backed comic book origin story might seem unexpectedly fitting for the director of prestige drama films like this one Everything is lost And An extremely violent yearBut JC Chandor says he’s found the origin story of Marvel’s iconic supervillain Kraven the Hunter be irresistible. This is not least thanks to a script story by Richard Wenk (The equalizer), which focuses heavily on morality and defining choices, particularly Kraven’s complex relationship with his crime boss father (Russell Crowe).

Starring Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor Johnson with Oscar winners Crowe and Ariana DeBose in supporting roles Sony Marvel Kraven the Hunter is a R-rated, action-packed origin story with an unusually contradictory figure in the middle. In this exclusive conversation with Collider, director JC Chandor talks about Sergei Kravinoff’s moral ambiguity, iconic action film influences and what defines him Kraven the Hunter stand out from all of Sony’s other Marvel films.

“Kraven the Hunter” Is an unusual, morally ambiguous story

“It’s essentially a villain’s building.”

COLLIDER: What was it about? Kraven the Hunter Why did you want to direct your first comic book film?

JC CHANDOR: There are several ways to answer this question. Basically, I think I’m a genre filmmaker. It’s heightened, and maybe I’m certainly looking at the genres from a slightly different angle, but if you look at the films that I like to watch as a director – and I haven’t stayed in one particular place – I want to keep them challenging myself . I have children who are now 19 and 14 years old. The first film I ever saw in the cinema was Richard Donner’s SupermanThat’s why these comic book films have been a core part of my cinematic experience throughout my life. I grew up in suburban New Jersey; Nobody in my family was in the film industry or anything like that AND, superman, and Star Wars were the films I grew up with. Sure, I’ve been offered a few different versions of these things over the years, but The first thing that fascinated me was the story that Richard Wenk came up with. It wasn’t finished at the time, but it was a great yarn. Then I dove deep into the Kraven canon and followed it to the end.

As crazy as it seemed and there were a lot of challenges, there was an opportunity to structure it as a classic origin story, but not a hero story or a classic superhero story. It’s essentially a villain’s building. The last part of it was in it for Aaron and for me Kraven’s Last Huntand if the thing works and becomes a success, then that would be the end of this story. It’s obviously very tragic and sad. The journey there is a wild, crazy ride with a lot of fun, but the character we’re trying to create is one that, if this film is a success, that’s what it could realistically end up being Last hunt. As a storyteller, this can stand right next to my other films. If I succeeded, and I wasn’t that afraid to start a movie Everything is lost, I thought I might not have a movie left when it was over. (Laughs) We tried to make it a Marvel movie, and by the third act it is, but even the stunt work is supposed to be completely integrated into the world that you and I live in.

“Kraven the Hunter” pays close attention to a detail that most films ignore

At the time of this interview, I’ve seen about half an hour of the film and the action scenes I saw were really impressive. I was definitely reminded of that First blood And Predator.

CHANDOR: (Laughs) Well, these are core films of my teenage years. That’s the sweet spot right there.

I mean that as a huge compliment: It’s been ages since I’ve seen a studio-produced movie about men killing each other in the woods.

CHANDOR: I know. Eunice Huthart is the second stunt coordinator and director. She is an amazing woman; She was actually Angelina Jolie’s stunt double for years. She was the only female gladiator in the world – remember, there were those on TV American gladiators And British gladiators. She was the only participant invited to become a real gladiator. She received her stunt license as a gladiator and was then cast as Angelina Jolie’s stunt double in the ’90s. I think she’s the first woman ever to serve as a second-unit director on a Marvel film.

I try not to comment on other people’s films – it’s really hard to make a film – but I’ve found that in films like this gravity no longer exists. There was no longer any law of gravity. People bounced off the shit. (Laughs) I know that my children and their friends who saw these films started laughing in the wrong place. I’m just taking my teenage son and his friends to the movies. Without gravity… I mean, I guess if it’s a movie about space, that’s fine, but gravity affects all of us, even birds, almost more than anyone else. I gave everyone a chart that showed how gravity affected certain people and things.

For example, imagine an Olympic long jumper, and then you or I jump, that arc is not very impressive. A long jumper’s arch is really cool. We took this gravity diagram and looked at how gravity affects things like (trapeze artists) jumping from ring to ring in the circus, or BMX jumpers, and different animals, and then we started limiting ourselves. Like him may Do X, but he can’t do Y because it doesn’t fit into our film. It’s not perfect because it’s really hard to do, but it’s damn close. I think your reaction is that gravity wins out at the end of every stunt in this film.

Teenagers are much better judges of these things than they are given credit for, and gravity is definitely a thing.

CHANDOR: Yes. (Laughs) And that’s from the books too. Kraven is constantly hitting shit and falling through things. Don’t tell Aaron, but Kraven is the self-proclaimed “Greatest Hunter in the World.” He has his limits and that’s what makes his interactions with other people so cool.

In the footage I’ve seen, Kraven is pretty likable.

CHANDOR: They support him. The rule I set for myself is In the last frame of our film you had to believe that the character could live in a world in which… Kraven’s Last Hunt is a real thing. But in this part of the journey he is not yet at his destination. I hope it humanizes the story a bit. You can see the meetings on the path to which a direction leads Kraven’s Last Hunt, and one leads to success and more moderate happiness. What I’ve tried to do in all my films is to make these crucial moments the key to the film. Usually there is no one. You can make a wrong decision and completely reorient and correct yourself. Aaron and I always joked about this when we were making the film; 70% of murders go unsolved, which means there are murderers everywhere.

Well, that’s reassuring to hear.

CHANDOR: I know, right? The reassuring fact is that once you’ve done this once, and you probably realize you never want to do it again, this way you won’t get caught. Of course, if you know anything about Kraven or have seen the trailer, you will be able to see these deciding moments in our origin story. He believes he is doing all of this for the right reasons. He’s still charming, but he takes justice into his own hands, and of course that usually doesn’t end well.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson transforms for Kraven the Hunter

“He has incredible body control.”

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s physicality in this role is remarkable. How much of his own stunt work did he do?

CHANDOR: A lot. His background is that he was a dancer as a child. Anyone who has seen one of his performances can control his face in a way that you and I probably can’t, even when he’s not doing stunts. He has incredible body control. Certainly there were elements here where an injury would ruin the rest of our schedule and the whole thing would fall apart. I’m not going to sit here and say there wasn’t a great team of stunt professionals who did some of this, but wherever possible. Almost as important is the way the character moves in life and in the lead-up to the big stunts. This character has an animalistic quality where, whether true or not, she believes she has the soul of an animal within her. In the way Aaron has transformed, it’s obvious that if it’s not himself, it’s almost always another person. There’s not much that’s digital. There are some digital improvements and the removal of safety equipment. There are certainly a lot of captivating visual effects in the film, but from a stunt perspective you mostly only see the actual performer. I think what you’re hopefully responding to is the feeling of, “Holy shit, I can’t believe that just happened.”

Kraven the Hunter hits US theaters on December 13th.

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