Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/834195
30 cgw m ay . j u n e 2 0 1 7 F E A T U R E it's the fact that they don't open the doors for women to take the job. It's not one or the other, it's both. Who are some of your early role models? I understand producer Kathleen Kennedy inspired you. My mother is probably my biggest role model. She was one of those people who never gave up and was incredibly smart and able to provide everything we needed for my sister and me when my father died and we were in the middle of a military dictator- ship in Argentina. So that was not easy. Talk about strength and courage! I saw that on a daily basis my entire life. But later, I would look at posters when I was in Argentina, and I would look at all the names and who the producers were, and they would say 'Kathleen Kennedy.' I would consistently say, 'I want to be what Kathleen Kennedy is to Steven Spielberg,' and, in a way, I think I got that with Marvel. Marvel films rely heavily on visual effects – Doctor Strange was one of the most complex films yet. What are your thoughts about the role of visual effects in Marvel films? All we make are visual effects movies. Out of 2,500 or 2,800 cuts, all but 20 shots are not being touched or worked on. We don't have two hours and 10 minutes of spectacle; we have a bunch of other things. So we have designed a creative way to express what we can do in technology and what we can do in the visual arts that combines all of our creative visual effects departments across the world. We can aid the story, li the story, and combine it in different ways. For us, the most important thing is the story. So, if the cra of visual effects can help us li it and aid it and push it along, we will use them. And if we can't, we won't use them. We don't ever want to create shots that are unnecessary just for the hell of it. We have too many already. The story is king, and queen, and consistently we serve it, the story, and serve the franchise. Doctor Strange was technically one of the most difficult [films] to date. It was not only difficult in how to attack it, but the volume of difficulty was large and we had to create things we hadn't before. We also had to create magic in a photoreal way because we wouldn't dare go near the Harry Potters of the world – they've done it, they've done it well, and they've done it for eight movies, so what's the point? You have to do it in a different way or just don't even step on that area. What do you think makes Marvel such an innovative and cutting- edge studio? I've been here for 12 years, and it's the same people. I think one of the key things is that we service the story and there's healthy ego. Don't get me wrong, the ego is the story, the ego is the character, the ego is the franchise, and because nothing else gets in the way, except for hard work, to ensure the best story is told. That is hermetically sealed as what people call 'the secret sauce' or 'the formula.' Everyone who is there is striving for the same thing. Sometimes what you see in other places are people positioning themselves for the next job. But we have people here who are very happy doing what they're doing. Of course they want to grow, but not at the expense of the relation- ship or harming the story. I think it stems from the top – Lou (D'Esposito, co-president), Kevin (Feige, president), and I have not changed. We DOCTOR STRANGE