'Avengers: Doomsday' Directors Officially Comment on Why They Filmed Without a Final Script

'We always view the script as a living organism,' the Russo Brothers say

Avengers: Doomsday is coming to movie theaters this December and Marvel Studios hopes it will get the Marvel Cinematic Universe back on track, following a handful of whiffs like The Marvels, Captain America: Brave New World, and Thunderbolts*. Marvel is aiming for a box office showing on par with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Endgame. That's why the studio brought back hitmakers Joe and Anthony Russo for Doomsday.

But the Doomsday directors started shooting without a finished script after Marvel pivoted from its Kang the Conqueror storyline in response to controversy surrounding actor Jonathan Majors. In a new interview, the Russos weighed in on why they began filming without a final script, relying on on-set decisions.

Joe defended the move in an interview with AP News, saying that they are "improvisation-based, rehearsal-based directors" and that they "like to see what the actors bring to the characters." The pair previously worked on the comedy series Community, which was known for ad-libbed dialogue from actors like Donald Glover and Gillian Jacobs. Joe's full quote from the interview reads as follows:

“We always view the script as a living organism. We’re improvisation-based, rehearsal-based directors. We like to see what the actors bring to the characters, and sometimes you don’t get the actors until a few days or few weeks before you shoot them. And a lot of the time, that’s when the magic happens.”

Is it a red flag that Avengers: Doomsday began filming without a script?

With Avengers: Doomsday fast approaching, a major concern is that the film began shooting before the script was finished. While it isn’t unprecedented for Hollywood movies to start filming without a complete screenplay, this situation can often lead to disjointed, poorly plotted films. It doesn’t help that the circumstances around Doomsday don’t seem ideal.

The fifth Avengers film was originally envisioned as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but was retooled after Jonathan Majors, who was cast as Kang, was convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. At this point, production was rebooted with the Russos coming on board mid-project. Because Doomsday is an unplanned pivot, it will likely lack the same amount of buildup as the previous two Avengers movies.

Another concern is that the Russo brothers’ output since directing the Avengers movies hasn't been critically well received. The last three films that they directed — Cherry, The Gray Man, and The Electric State — all have dismal Rotten Tomatoes scores, with their most recent, Netflix's The Electric State, sitting at 14% on the Tomatometer.

Avengers: Doomsday will face stiff competition when it releases on Dec. 18, the same day as Dune: Part 3.