IRON MAN 3 Co-Writer Drew Pearce Talks Working With Marvel Studios And How It Helped When Making HOTEL ARTEMIS

Drew Pearce is no stranger to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was the co-writer of Shane Black's 2013 film, Iron Man 3, and he also directed the Marvel Studios One-Shot, All Hail the King. Sitting down with /Film last week, Pearce discussed his upcoming film Hotel Artemis, which actually feature appearances from MCU actors Sterling K. Brown (Black Panther), Jeff Goldblum (Thor: Ragnarok) and Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2). The interviewer eventually turned to his co-writing efforts on Iron Man 3, to which he divulged that he used those past experiences to guide himself throughout his directorial debut with Hotel Artemis.

Here's what he had to say when asked about his experiences and what he learned from working with Marvel:

"God, I mean, I’ve learnt so much from my time at Marvel, both just as a writer on Runaways the movie, which is very different from the TV show, which was the first project I did there, than on the two and a half, three years I worked on Iron Man 3. Shane and I were literally the only writers that ever worked on that film. There was never anyone else brought in. That’s pretty rare in any tentpole filmmaking. In many ways, Kevin Feige gave me my break here in America, my ability to make movies. Plus, he backed me to make All Hail the King, the Marvel short. I owe him a lot. I think Marvel has had a varied reputation over the years, and my experience, though mostly as a writer there, was just amazingly positive. I think one of the things that people don’t realize about Marvel movies is they’re kind of like gigantic Cassavetes films.
 

You know, there were five of us that essentially made all the central decisions in Iron Man 3, because Kevin is the studio. So it was Shane, Robert, me, Kevin, and Stephen Broussard, the producer. We were the five the people that kind of started the movie and ended the movie, and over that three year period, made all the decisions. Now, we’re aided and abetted by the most extraordinary crew that money can buy, which is one of the other brilliant things about working on a Marvel movie is the resources that you have at your fingertips, and believe me, nothing will make you miss that more than directing an indie movie for two years."

He then went on to discuss what he learned from Kevin Feige (and director Shane Black) specifically, and how he used that when working on Hotel Artemis, the upcoming film which will be his directorial debut:

"I think some of the stuff I learned was to be ruthless with your script, to not be afraid to just throw stuff out even when you love it. I think what I learned from Kevin is … I always loved the edit. One of Kevin’s secret weapons is he has the ability to restructure story in the edit in a way that actually improves rather than is just [frick]ing with it just for the sake of it. Those skills are in Artemis. I don’t want to pull back the curtain, but a bunch of the scenes are not in the order that they were expected to be in the script. That sense of adventure in the edit is something that Kevin instills.

I also got to work with a legendary writer in the shape of Shane, and as I say, the affirmation of working with someone who you really admire who then shares the same values as you is pretty priceless confidence-wise going forward. He’s also a total sweetheart, and never afraid of a crazy idea. One of the other things he says is like, “The only thing that works is bold ideas.” In many ways Hotel Artemis is full of bold ideas, and is a bold idea in and of itself, which is yeah, okay, let’s make a high concept thriller about a secret hospital for criminals, and let’s make the main character a 65-year-old woman who listens to folk rock from 1970. It’s definitely a movie that I think owns its idiosyncrasies."

You can catch Hotel Artemis in theaters now.




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