DirectorsJoeandAnthony Russoare currently in the middle of one of the most herculean filmmaking attempts of all time, but they’re already setting their sights on life after Marvel. The duo, whose credits range fromArrested DevelopmenttoCommunity, made their Marvel debut directing the well-receivedCaptain America: The Winter Soldier. After the success of that film, they came back to direct the nextCaptain Americamovie, which turned out to be something of a mini-Avengers film:Captain America: Civil War. When they proved they could handle such a massive ensemble, and withJoss Whedonexhausted after makingAvengers: Age of Ultron, the Russo Brothers were tapped to direct the biggest Marvel movies thus far:Avengers: Infinity Warand theuntitledAvengers 4.
The Russo Brothers shotInfinity WarandAvengers 4back-to-back throughout 2017, and withInfinity Warreleased, their attention is currently on post-production and additional photography ofAvengers 4. That super secretive film hits theaters in May 2019, but it sounds like the filmmakers are looking to switch things up for their next directorial effort.
Per Deadline, the Russo Brothers’ production company AGBO is in negotiations to acquire the film rights to authorNico Walker’s just-published bookCherry, winning a bidding war that also included aJames Franco-directed package from Warner Bros. Based on the author’s own life experiences, the story revolves around an Iraq War veteran who returns home with undiagnosed PTSD, falls into opioid addiction, and begins robbing banks. He’s currently behind bars and is scheduled to be released in 2020.
Deadline says the Russos are looking to make this the next film they’ll direct, and while some Marvel fans may think this is a significant change of pace, it’s actually pretty in line with the filmmakers’ own tastes. The Russo Brothers have made no secret of their love for gritty, grounded films from the likes ofMartin ScorseseandFrancis Ford Coppola, and while that has seeped through into their Marvel films a bit,Cherrygives them the opportunity to make a genuine hardened drama without the superhero genre packaging.
Jessica Goldberg(The Path) is currently scriptingCherry, and if all goes well, it’s possible the Russos could get into production on this sometime in the second half of next year, afterAvengers 4is released and their press duties are complete.
It’ll be interesting to see if they stick around Marvel Studios in a consulting capacity likeJon Favreau, or if they opt to focus their attention on their own studio and films. Whatever the case,Cherryand the Russo Brothers is an exciting marriage of material and filmmakers.
Here’s the synopsis for the book:
It’s 2003, and as a college freshman in Cleveland, our narrator is adrift until he meets Emily. The two of them experience an instant, life-changing connection. But when he almost loses her, he chooses to make an indelible statement: he joins the Army.
The outcome will not be good for either of them.
As a medic in Iraq, he is unprepared for the realties that await him. He and his fellow soldiers huff computer duster, abuse painkillers, and watch porn. Many of them die. When he comes home, his PTSD is profound. As the opioid crisis sweeps through the Midwest, it drags both him and Emily along with it. As their addictions worsen, and with their money drying up, he stumbles onto what seems like the only possible solution—robbing banks.
Written by a singularly talented, wildly imaginative debut novelist,Cherryis a bracingly funny and unexpectedly tender work of fiction straight from the dark heart of America.
