The Big Picture

Emmy-nominated Beef director Jake Schreier will direct the upcoming MCU movie, Thunderbolts. Schreier discusses what compelled him to take on a Marvel movie. He also teases that Thunderbolts will offer a unique approach to Marvel storytelling.

We’ve got a Marvel movie from an Emmy-nominated director on the way. Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier recently scored an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his work on Beef and also one for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as a producer on the hit Netflix series. While celebrating those nominations just ahead of Phase 2 voting, Schreier joined me for an interview about the making of Beef. During that conversation, he also took a moment to offer up some insight into what drew him to commit to directing Thunderbolts and to tease what the story will offer.

Expected to conclude Phase 5 of the MCU, Thunderbolts will be a team-up movie focusing on a group of heroes made up of individuals who would never consider themselves heroes. As confirmed by Kevin Feige, the Thunderbolts will be led by Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes and include David Harbour’s Red Guardian, Florence Pugh’s Yelena, Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster.

Image via Disney+

Schreier’s got some impressive titles to his name including Beef, Brand New Cherry Flavor, Robot & Frank, and more, but Thunderbolts will mark a pretty significant leap into new territory for the filmmaker — massive studio blockbuster territory. On the one hand, yes, it’s a huge career opportunity to get to direct an installment of one of the largest film franchises in cinematic history, but what about how directing Thunderbolts could impact Schreier on a personal level? Here’s what he said when asked how he thought the project could help him hone his craft as a director:

“I think what jumped out was, I mean, first of all, the cast is just incredible and I think any movie with that cast, how could you not be excited about getting to work with that group of people? And then also Jon Watts was my roommate from college and we’re good friends and so knowing what a great experience he had making those films. And I even did second unit on the LA portion of one of the Spider-Man movies, so having a little bit more kind of connection or insight into that world.”

Image via Netflix

In addition to his connection to Jon Watts, his experience doing some MCU second unit directing, and his enthusiasm about working with the ensemble which also includes Beef star Steven Yeun and The Bear breakout Ayo Edebiri, Schreier found himself drawn to Thunderbolts due to its unique approach to Marvel storytelling.

“It was just a really different approach and a new kind of story to tell amidst that, which I know they’ve made so many things, but it’s not a sequel. Yes, these characters have appeared before, but it is a new story being told and a story, I think, with a very different perspective than maybe people aren’t expecting, and I think that that felt exciting and felt like a real challenge worth taking on.”

While Thunderbolts was gearing up to begin filming, production was ultimately suspended due to the Writers Guild of America strike. Until that strike and the Screen Actors Guild strike are resolved, Thunderbolts cannot move forward, but Disney does currently have the film dated for a December 20, 2024 release.