As the president and CEO of Marvel Studios, he heads a production juggernaut that's currently nurturing two franchises and hoping for a few more with the imminent arrival of the long awaited big screen debut of The Fantastic Four and the upcoming Punisher. Oh yeah – there's also a few dozen properties in various stages of development as well.
Avi took a break from his hectic schedule to discuss Marvel's Hollywood ventures, comic books, audience expectations, and more…
IGN FILMFORCE: When you first arrived at Marvel, obviously there was a bit of a mess with all of the properties in Hollywood.
AVI ARAD: Yeah.
IGNFF: What was your initial assessment of the status when you first arrived?
ARAD: Well… That's a very good question… No one asks me these questions! Wait a second… Shucks… Something new… Okay, as you know, I'm a lifelong fan with a very high opinion of our properties, and my assessment was that the world still doesn't understand. When they refer to us as "comic book movies," there is an image. If you stop someone in the street and you say "a comic book movie," what they think is that it's something for kids, it's something animated, and maybe even frivolous – not in a good way.
IGNFF: Disposable entertainment.
ARAD: Yeah. "Yeah, it's a comic book movie… It's for the kids…" You know? No one bothered reading the books and understanding – and again, I'm not being high-falutin' about it – but I think our books are great literature with great metaphors of real life dealing with fears and hopes. And, as you know, comic books reflect the times – at least the times in which they were written, and unfortunately with this s***ty world we kind of repeat ourselves, so it's as relevant today as it was 40 years ago. My favorite example is Namor dealing with pollution in 1939 – look how topical it is today…
IGNFF: Even more so…
ARAD: Right, more so. So to me, the first thing was to spread the gospel, because it's really good stuff. You start with great stories, and probably the best storyboards that have ever been drawn for any movie or television show, on an ongoing basis. The company, despite all the craziness and economic issues and management issues and bankruptcies – the characters endured. So for me, coming from toy design and animation and so on, there are very few things in this world that are better, stronger, longer-lasting brands than Marvel.
IGNFF: Before you arrived, the Marvel properties were generally spread to the Hollywood winds at bargain basement prices…
ARAD: Yeah, and no one wanted them.
IGNFF: And amongst certain properties, there was – shall we say – a tangled web of poor deals…
ARAD: Well, the first time that I thought "It's gonna be hard climbing, but we're going to get there…" is when we relaunched X-Men in November 1992 on Fox Kids…
IGNFF: The animated series…
ARAD: Yes. Obviously, X-Men was always a huge book of ours, but no one knew X-Men from a hole in the head. Everybody knew Spider-Man, but we actually, consciously, made the decision to start with X-Men because it had a very hardcore following, it had a high collectibility, the story was probably one of the more relatable stories we have… the metaphors really touched all of us… and Margaret Loesch as the time, god bless her, was running Fox Kids. Margaret used to do Marvel Productions, so she knew X-Men … and actually she was kind of nervous, because it was more of the serious end of Marvel. And the rest is history…
IGNFF: It was also serial storytelling as opposed to standalone…
ARAD: Exactly. So we got that going, and then other shows happened. Still, there were a lot of issues making movies.
IGNFF: When you would go in to pitch a property to a studio at that time, what would be the reaction you would get?
ARAD: Polite… skeptical… couldn't figure out how to make these movies… Obviously, CGI in the last ten years has gone through such leaps and bounds that today, people are looking for these kinds of movies to wow audiences with technology. And the other thing that happened – and it's probably one of the biggest joys of doing what I do – is there is a huge community there of artists and filmmakers and cinematographers and writers and directors who grew up on comics. At one time, there were closet comic readers, and then obviously with the advent of animation and videogames… sci-fi… Star Trek and Star Wars … All this stuff exploded. That's what got these kids to the movies, and to want to go to film school and be writers, and to design videogames. This culture became wider and wider, and this passionate talent pool – there are a lot of great writers out there, and if there is a book to adapt or an original idea, these are the people that say, "One day, I hope I deserve to write The Fantastic Four, because I earned my stripes and I can do it." So that started developing, and the first one that we hit out of the park was Blade. Blade actually came in during the Marvel bankruptcy – I don't know if you remember…
IGNFF: I remember it well…
ARAD: The word "Marvel" wasn't even on the movie, because we had some people in the war between my partner and I and Eichen and his people that didn't want to put "Marvel" on it because it was an R-rated movie. But the community knew Blade, and everybody but us was shocked at the box office, and subsequently the DVD. That was the beginning of the DVD revolution, and Blade was just like wildfire.
IGNFF: Was it a palpable climate change in Hollywood when you would go in to pitch things after Blade?
ARAD: After that, people were listening very carefully. Very carefully. Still nervous, because it's very hard to make our movies… Let's just say that low-budget movies are very difficult to do. They're hard work, but can be very satisfying. Punisher is a very good example of a medium-budget movie that came out sensational. It's just harder work.
IGNFF: But as you say, even with Blade it wasn't a high-level budget. It still hadn't been proven that a high-budget vehicle could work yet… It wasn't until X-Men …
ARAD: Believe it or not, X-Men was very tough to get made. It was prodding and pushing – it's scary. The studios at the time felt like we are a small community versus a large community, and they said, "Okay, okay, okay… I got it, I got it… So your geeks are going to come in on the opening weekend, and what happens next?" That's where they felt that… Listen, Blade 1 did $70 million domestic – which is a huge number. There are some very big stars out there who would kill to have a movie running $70-$80 million these days.
IGNFF: It tripled its budget, didn't it?
ARAD: Oh yeah! But the point is, movies like X-Men, you cannot make for $50 million. You know what? They thought, "Ah! Male-only…" so I wouldn't get the females, and that limits the market – but anybody that knows anything about overseas today, when you make a movie, you really want to make sure internationally you've got some weight.
IGNFF: So the main issues that they had were sustainability at the box office and demographic accessibility…
ARAD: And in all fairness, there were a lot of executives out there who just didn't get it. They just didn't get it. Listen – Bryan Singer never read X-Men. He actually never read comics… He's a great sci-fi guy, but comics really weren't his thing. Once we got him to understand X-Men, I mean, he's going to make X-Men 3.
IGNFF: And a huge factor in his understanding the books was Tom DeSanto…
ARAD: Well, Tom was very helpful, of course, but Bryan had to relate to the message of what it is to be a mutant. I think Bryan had the unique opportunity to get something across – a message across. Being brilliant, Jewish, and gay – what a combination for a mutant. And I think when Bryan looked at the literature and said, "Oh my god…"
IGNFF: "There's a metaphor here I relate to…"
ARAD: It's a big message. The actors he was able to bring into the movie – think about an Ian McKellen, a Patrick Stewart… there were tremendous – what we call the "Marvel Babies." Look at these young stars and where they are today, it's unbelievable. I mean, Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry – all these kids are, like, big time now.
IGNFF: How painful was it to get that property off the boards, but know that your biggest property was still locked up in a legal battle and untouchable at that point?
ARAD: You know what? It's about patience… longevity… and Spider-Man is too good not to have gotten unlocked. Believe me, it was a passion… It was more than a business thing. It was a passion. It was a story that had to be told, and we knew how to tell it, and it was worth too much money for people to be stupid about it.
IGNFF: The opposite argument is it was so powerful and worth so much that no one who staked a claim on it wanted to let go…
ARAD: No one wanted to let go of it, but it was worth the fight. You pick your fights, and it was a good fight, and we won.
IGNFF: Was there any time where you despaired of it having an amicable outcome?
ARAD: No… When you get to know me, I don't despair – I just get up, clean up, and start again. Listen – there is no way for people not to have understood that there is nothing bigger than that, so everybody will be stupid not to somehow compromise here and make it happen. And everybody did, and some people just had less of a good time in the process – but it's okay. You know the good thing? We made a class act out of it, and the first movie was awesome, and movie 2 is bigger, and… It worked.
IGNFF: What is your reaction when you have fans of the comics that attack the films based on a perceived lack of fidelity to the source material?
ARAD: Well, you know, the curse of the blessing of the Internet. It's kind of an open forum, you know? In the old days, you had to write letters and only you could read them – now it's public. The good news – it's public, it's noisy, it's loud, and it's passionate because they care. The bad news is that they're loud and passionate because they care. So sometimes they're right, to a degree, and then they look deeper into it. Every movie we come out with – absolutely 100% of the time – we'll have a pretty large community there that is nervous. It's like taking the baby first time to the daycare center… and you stand by your car, and you wait for the baby to cry and something to go bad. People waited for so long, and they're nervous about it. Some of the things that we had to do – yeah, not consistent with the book. Wolverine is not 5'6 – he's Hugh Jackman at 6'2. Can you see anybody else but Hugh Jackman as Wolverine today? Of course not! People were starting with us, "Well, Tobey – we are not sure, blah blah blah blah." Tobey was brilliant. He is brilliant. So you have to trust us. Every so often there will be a glitch, that's part of life – so far, we are 7 for 7. Hulk was controversial – "What story did you get it from, that's not the story…" and so on and so on. Well, guess what? They missed one of the books that had exactly this story… The baby, the secondhand radiation – the whole thing.
IGNFF: But Hulk and Daredevil are widely considered to be both critical and financial failures – they didn't exactly meet expectations…
ARAD: Okay, I'll give you my point of view on it. I love Daredevil. I thought it was enjoyable. Okay? There were critical issues with it, and that's why I wear black, some people wear red – we are entitled to our opinions. And that's cool. At the same time, as you know, unless you are a comic book reader, Daredevil is not a known thing. If you do "Jaywalking," no one will know what you are talking about. We launched the movie in February, if you remember, on Valentine's Day, when the country was under ice and snow. It was probably one of the biggest snowstorms in history, 1 year ago on Valentine's Day. It was like a disaster – half the country was closed. And we did, opening weekend, $42 million, and the movie went over $100 million. There's some megastars today that will kill to go over $100 million – and that was in February, not in the summer. A risky date. It worked. I got as many e-mails saying, "I loved it," "My wife loved it even more than I did" – all this mail. And I got mail that said, "You should drop dead."
IGNFF: And which box filled up faster?
ARAD: Actually, you know, I was surprised – I got more positive than negative.
IGNFF: I know that Marvel is really keen on franchise building right now…
ARAD: Yes…
IGNFF: After X-Men and Spider-Man, there was an anticipation of what the follow-up would be – but with Daredevil and Hulk, there is no expectation.
ARAD: Why? We are about to start Elektra …
IGNFF: But there is no buzz about Elektra. No one walked out of the theater chanting, "Boy, I can't wait to see that Elektra movie…"
ARAD: I'll tell you when you'll see the buzz – when we announce the movie, when we announce the director, and it will all of a sudden be an announcement that Jennifer Garner is teaming up with so-and-so to start the movie Elektra, and your site will get the buzz. It will happen. There's speculation about Hulk 2, but Hulk is a very different situation. Some of us are very, very proud of the movie. In retrospect – totally, blatantly honest – we shouldn't have gotten that deep. It was hard… There were a lot of moments that were hard to watch. But that's what it was about. It's about getting to the inner soul, to understand anger, and it's hard. Listen – some of the critics loved it. We got reviews in some countries that usually kill our kind of movies. Kill it. Like in France, for example, that was a revered movie there. When you go with an Ang Lee, you're going to go to the depths of the soul. Now, some people didn't want that depth. They wanted Rick Jones and a motorcycle across the thing, and basically follow up the television show – that probably had more awareness.
IGNFF: I'm all for depth, but when you have a scene with an attack poodle, that kind of kills the argument for me…
ARAD: That was right from the books, the hulk-dogs.
IGNFF: But within the context of Ang Lee trying to make a grander piece, it was incongruous to what he was supposedly trying to do to have this blatantly cartoonish sequence. And the dogs were very cartoony in their design…
ARAD: Correct.
IGNFF: It's this mental shuffle that caused me to throw down the cards and say, "I fold."
ARAD: But then when you saw him lifting the tank or going up on a jet, or emptying the soldiers out of the tank… I mean, there were a lot of things about the Hulk… I actually love the opening, with the little boy. For me, the toughest thing for kids to deal with is when the parents are fighting. It's not violence on them – it's the feeling of violence in the family.
IGNFF: It's the mental violence…
ARAD: Exactly. And, you know, you go with a genius like Ang Lee who just is the master of the soul, and that is a risk you take. And it wasn't an easy movie to watch. It wasn't like you go in there and it's popcorn. It was hard. It was wrenching. There were moments that were scary. They were really scary, the mother and the father and all this stuff – that was the scary stuff. The kids loved the Hulk thing. As you know, for Marvel, it was a windfall. A huge, huge success. It launched the franchise in a way that I couldn't have hoped for better. I wish the movie did more money for Universal, really, but for merchandising? Hulk was hugely successful.
IGNFF: It's interesting that you bring up the subject of kids coming away from these movies like Spider-Man and Hulk, and coming away with an enjoyment of the character – because when you turn to Marvel's comics-side of the business, there's no access point for those kids to actually start reading the books the characters originated in. Marvel doesn't have any all-ages comics…
ARAD: Trust me, we are working on it. We are working very hard on it, and you will see major changes. We have new people in editorial in Marvel…
IGNFF: Were you hearing feedback about the lack of kid-friendly books?
ARAD: Absolutely! Listen, my day job is also Chief Creative Officer for Marvel, and it's a very painful job because we publish a lot of books, and there are things I see where I can punch people out. Therefore, we have some new people now, and the kids are going to read our books.
IGNFF: But the previous editorial regime you speak of was in place for a several years, and they were years when there was virtually no consideration given to bringing new readers in… And that just leaves a diminishing reader base of established older fans.
ARAD: We are doing actually good stuff now. Listen, people like Brian Bendis did great things for comic readers, great things for comic readers.
IGNFF: But are those comics that a 6- or 7-year-old can come in and read?
ARAD: Not yet. Bu they are coming. I can promise you that. Let's have a follow-up just on comics. It's a fair issue that, trust me – it upsets me. Because there's no reason for kids not to read it. I am from the school, having not grown up here, that reading is fundamental. Kids go to college, they do well, they don't do well – it's all bulls***. I think well-read people – the world is open to them.
IGNFF: And there's an entire generation of adults that owe a large part of their vocabulary to reading comics as kids…
ARAD: Absolutely. So I… Listen, we are now working very, very hard to get our books into mass market, and we are successful. We are not ready to show it, but it's coming, and you'll see an incredible effort.
IGNFF: And no other company is actively pursuing it, which disappoints me.
ARAD: No one is doing it. I can tell you, no one is doing it because there will always be the fear – to be honest about it – that, "Ah, if I do the books for the younger kids, are the older kids going to walk away from it?"
IGNFF: But that rationale results in diminishing sales, because there are no new readers entering the fold… It's a death sentence for the industry…
ARAD: Yeah. Listen, that's exactly where I close my ears and go, "Listen guys, everything has a risk. Childbirth is a risk – you never know what comes out of there, but we have children." I believe that our material is terrific if you choose it right. If you go to the kids with the things that are good for them, they're going to read it. X-Men: Evolution, the comic book, is fantastic! It's for all ages. Anybody who ever picked it up, loved it.
IGNFF: But it's one book in a sea of titles, most of which are mature bordering on adult…
ARAD: I know.
IGNFF: As you say, getting things in the mass market is the key…
ARAD: We are on our way. I promise you, we are on our way.
IGNFF: Going back to the films, when you talk about a huge recognition factor with Spider-Man and the X-Men – people know these characters and know who they are – how difficult a sale is it to turn to a character like The Punisher, which isn't well-known at all? And if it is known, it's known for a bad film from the late '80s…
ARAD: I'm glad you brought it up… I'm glad you brought it up. First, Punisher, I look at it as a very famous book. It's an icon. It's very famous. It's known for a cheesy movie from the past that – I tell you what's odd about it… Everybody remembers the cheesy movie… They remember who's in the movie… They can tell you what it was about. That's not bad for some cheesy stuff, to have this kind of awareness.
IGNFF: But it's also a Catch-22, to have that as the public's source of awareness.
ARAD: Well, therefore, we have a job to do. And I can tell you, we showed one of our stars – Travolta – the movie two nights ago, and he was so proud that he did take it. It was not an easy decision – "Well, there was a Dolph Lundgren movie, it was a cheesy thing…" – that was it! And Thomas Jane is a superstar now. He is The Punisher. But what we did, we went right into the book – the movie has a lot of stuff from "The Apartment," which is probably the best thing about "Welcome Back, Frank." It has this wonderful moment where The Punisher now stands up for the little people. I mean, you should see Joan played by Rebecca Romijn – it's unbelievable. It just… I think – not I think, we've shown the movie enough… We have a very special movie. The fight in the books? You should see it in the movie – you're going to fall on the floor laughing in the middle of this violence, that's how strong it is. It's like Pulp Fiction meets True Romance.
IGNFF: But how do you overcome that perception of cheese and get people into the theaters?
ARAD: No problem. It's like wine-tasting… They're going to try it. They're going to come in, they're going to like it, and they're going to come back.
IGNFF: But the problem is still getting them to come in in the first place.
ARAD: Then no problem – I can tell you that the theaters are clamoring. We are going to have a very wide release… a very wide release. It's a very appealing cast. You have Thomas Jane, who's amazing… you saw him on some of the posters – he's amazing. You have Travolta. I'm telling you – he thinks it's one of his best roles in a long time. You have Rebecca Romijn, who is loved for all the right reasons – and doing a very unique role here, playing Joan… to try and make her run down and ugly. You have Ben Foster, who I think this guy is going to be the Sean Penn of the future. There's some pretty amazing moments in this movie. It's just fantastic. And the way you get over the stigma, you put in the kind of writers like Jonathan (Hensleigh) or (Michael) Tolkin – Tolkin is an Academy Award winner. He took it because when we went into this movie, we went into to put special class into this movie – and it worked. And when you see it, you'll understand what I'm saying. People are going to see it – they're going to come in, and they're going to love it.
IGNFF: One film that I have to ask you about, because I'm so terribly worried about it…
ARAD: Yes…
IGNFF: Obviously, anyone who's read comics has one in particular that resonates with them, and for me that would be The Fantastic Four …
ARAD: I knew you were going there…
IGNFF: People have taken you to task for some of your past statements, calling it a sitcom and things like that – where does it stand right now?
ARAD: Well, funny that you ask – sitting here right in front of me is the latest draft, and we're going to make this movie, and it's going to be great. And everything that you ever wanted to see in The Fantastic Four – which is the family dynamics, vis a vis Victor – it's all here. You wanted to see Alicia and Ben? Why does that make sense? It's here. Every hot button that the fans – someone like you – will want to see in this movie, is in there. You want the ancestry? It's there.
IGNFF: How would you describe the tone of the film at this point?
ARAD: The tone? Big action movie. A big action movie dealing with these characters. They come out of this tragedy, as you know – these superpowers are public, unlike the X-Men who can hide. And it's not easy. It's not easy for a person to get these supposed-to-be-superpowers, but they are not. It's not only for Ben. Obviously Ben is the monster in the group and the most sensitive, but everybody else – if a woman like Sue materializes, what does it do to everything else inside her? I don't want to go too deep and give too much away, but what I'm saying to you is we're dealing with the vulnerability on one hand, and then the fun in it.
IGNFF: I've always thought that the key to The Fantastic Four was that it was an adventure comic with a family at its core…
ARAD: I'm telling you – it's a big action movie. If you remember what was so successful in X-Men and X-Men 2, is that the powers were being used in an individual way… in an emotional way… and resonates great.
IGNFF: But with The Fantastic Four, it's the unity issue or working together as a group…
ARAD: Well, there's no unity when everybody's in deep s***. And what works with The Fantastic Four, for me, is the learning curve – Johnny, from being a sort of carefree jerk… He's a good guy, but he's carefree, and you want to bop him…
IGNFF: He's a teenage hothead.
ARAD: Exactly. But he eventually realizes, "Wait a second – it's not as easy as it seems." It's not as simple… A crowd falls in love with a pitcher when he wins the game – and if something goes wrong, they boo him the following game. And that's one of the great things about The Fantastic Four – nowhere to hide. So we are dealing with all those emotions – what are the outside pressures, what are their personal fears… What happens if this s*** is progressing? What happens if what happened to them is maybe life-ending? There are a lot of little things in a movie like that – what an opportunity to really take advantage of the emotion. At the same time, seeing the beauty of how do you use your powers when you stretch? And how do you use your powers when you can vanish?
IGNFF: And the villain remains Dr. Doom?
ARAD: Yeah, and he's better than ever.
IGNFF: And has the name remained Victor von Doom, or has it changed?
ARAD: Nothing changed… He is still Victor.
IGNFF: It's my understanding that Sean Astin has been making a play for the directorial duties. Is that still in play?
ARAD: Uhhh… I love Sean, he knows it… You know, let's put it this way – it's an open call, and we'll see.
IGNFF: Is it still planned for that to go into production by the end of the year?
ARAD: No, it's planned for production to go very soon.
IGNFF: So we're still looking at a 2005 release…
ARAD: Correct. Summer 2005.
IGNFF: What is the big marquee title in development after that? A lot of the lesser known characters are in development, but what's the next big one?
ARAD: There are no small characters! You see, now you're driving me nuts…
IGNFF: I meant characters that are less recognizable by the general public…
ARAD: Ahhh….Like Blade, right?
IGNFF: Like Blade, or The Punisher…
ARAD: And you know, today Blade is a billion-dollar franchise…
IGNFF: Believe me – I would not make the mistake of demeaning the characters…
ARAD: Okay… I just have to correct it, because it drives me crazy. We have characters – like, we have a script in-house that we are feverishly working towards production, Deathlok, which is probably one of the best stories in Marvel, ever.
IGNFF: And has a nice time travel aspect to it, as well…
ARAD: Ah, there are things about it that are amazing, and real! This is the real world, man. We are all turning into machines, if we want it or not. Iron Man is going into production this year…
IGNFF: Who is the current writer on that?
ARAD: Gough and Millar, the guys from Smallville and Spider-Man 2.
IGNFF: At one point, wasn't Joss Whedon up for that?
ARAD: Joss Whedon never wrote a draft of it. We wished! Believe me, we tried very hard, but he got busy with Firefly.
IGNFF: Are there any hopes to tap him again at some point for another project?
ARAD: Oh yeah! We're going to land him… He's a tough cookie, but we'll get him.
IGNFF: What's the current status of X-Men 3 ?
ARAD: Uhhh, negotiations…
IGNFF: Which I'm assuming are much more difficult this go-round since nothing's in place…
ARAD: It's never easy.
IGNFF: That's currently slated for 2006, correct?
ARAD: Yeah… Absolutely.
IGNFF: And what are all these recent comments regarding Marvel's discussions with Pixar?
ARAD: No comment.
IGNFF: You can't just say no comment!
ARAD: Of course I can! I can say anything I want… No comment…(laughing)…
IGNFF: How cagey…
ARAD: No, I'm honest! No comment!
IGNFF: But there have been discussions…
ARAD: I don't know. I don't know… I'm just a guy trying to make a living…
IGNFF: Because obviously one thing Marvel has not broken into, is CG…
ARAD: Ahhh… I don't know.
IGNFF: Well, your "I don't know" speaks volumes…
ARAD: I don't know…
IGNFF: Okay, okay. So when you look at it, what is the one property that hasn't been done yet, that you hold personally – since you've said you've been a fan for years, there must be one you hold close…
ARAD: Oh, there's so many. We are working now on Killraven…
IGNFF: But there must be one that you look at and say, "This is the one that means the most to me…"
ARAD: Well, you know, Sub-Mariner is very close… very close…
IGNFF: What is it about that character that you identify with?
ARAD: It's an amazing idea, how these two worlds converge… What we do to things and what are the consequences. The one that we are just about to start with and work on, which I think is – if you'll say, from the message standpoint, the most important one… It's dangerous to say "the most important one" when you have more than one kid… but Captain America has to do some very special things. It's a huge opportunity to do some very special things. I mean, there's a whole new world out there. The things that interest me today are things like Captain America, like Nick Fury – these are big messages.
IGNFF: But how do you treat something like Captain America, that as a film would play much better as a period piece…
ARAD: Well, that's where there is magic in cinema, because this is a specific character that belongs in both. You need to know what gave birth to it, and that's the period piece, and I'm more interested seeing this man coming into our world. How does he evaluate it? What do you find today? What would your grandfather have said about your world today? Would he think that it's better? Worse? Interesting…
IGNFF: But it's a delicate line to walk without being heavy-handed, or too trite, in its social and political message…
ARAD: You know what? I really believe that most movies, at least under the Marvel banner, have the right – I'm not saying the responsibility, but the right – of not being preachy, but if we have things to say, we've said them in the comics forever. That's why you liked it. And there are things to put into use in it that are still contextually correct. So it's not bad just to hold the flag up – the flag stands just for freedom, anywhere. I think Captain America is the least likely to be the guy, and there's something there that made him the guy – and how does it compare to these kids today? I think that's very interesting, and therefore yes – you do have the opportunity for a period piece on one hand, on the other hand you have a time part that is fascinating.
IGNFF: I've been worried since the heavy-handed approach entered the comic books…
ARAD: No, no, no… These are movies.
IGNFF: But the one question you haven't answered is what is the one character that appeals to you, and what aspects resonate with you on a personal level?
ARAD: Oh, there are so many of them… so many of them…
IGNFF: Obviously there are certain ideals, particularly with your personal history, that must resonate…
ARAD: I just relate to…
IGNFF: And that's the beauty of comics – that you can latch on to certain aspects…
ARAD: Absolutely. That's why I feel the need to explain it – it's not just about a guy carrying a shield… God forbid, that's not enough to make a movie. There's something about this and about all of us – call it the opposite of cynical – that is so worth going into…
IGNFF: So in your eyes, would that be idealistic or optimistic?
ARAD: Both. Optimism is more important. And I am optimistic. I think things are a little crazy now, but it's this pendulum, and it's been like this throughout history and it will happen again. And there will always be this guy. That's why, again, one of the projects close to my heart is Killraven … I don't know if you've ever read it…
IGNFF: Oh, yes…
ARAD: Think about it – Spartacus did it then, and he will do it many, many years from now… And the way technology is going, god help us, we'll need him! It's true! That's what is so amazing about this library.
IGNFF: It will be interesting to see where things go. So when are you going to try and bring John Byrne back to the company?
ARAD: Oh, now you're getting…
IGNFF: Obviously he had some serious issues with the previous regime.
ARAD: You know, a lot of them are going to come back. You'll see.
IGNFF: There's no better person to do design work for the Fantastic Four film than him.
ARAD: I know. Believe me. We will get all these people to come back. Believe me.
IGNFF: Well, I'm very interested to see what Marvel's all-ages plan is… It bothers me that kids aren't reading comic books today…
ARAD: When we got the rights for Lord of the Rings, it was based on my upbringing. When the movie came out in December, people didn't know Lord of the Rings here. Outside of this country, when you are 10 years old, 12 years old – you read it. It's like, you read it… That's life. You read it. And I assumed everybody's read it! Thank god the movie was so amazing and magical, otherwise I would have been fired!
IGNFF: Comic books are the American literature…
ARAD: Exactly.
IGNFF: And to have an entire generation not reading them is a damn shame.
ARAD: Listen – you have no idea how much time I'm putting into that, and I know we'll prevail. It will be great.
