Don't tell Spider-Man your secrets (and don't trust the Hulk)
April 29, 2018 9:45 PM Subscribe
Now that the movie's out, we can talk more freely about Avengers: Infinity War, and the fact that Tom Holland, the current Spider-Man, wasn't allowed to read the script because everyone knew he is terrible at keeping secrets. He even let slip the poster design and movie release date in a live unboxing video that was a fake-not fake leak/present from fellow secret sharer, Mark Ruffalo, who accidentally livestreamed part of Thor: Ragnarok on Instagram.
Later, Ruffalo blabbed about a Infinity War in an interview ... sort of, and the back-and-forth jokes between Tom and Mark continued. According to an interview with Extra TV where Holland almost spoils a scene in the movie, Tom says he might have even shot an alternate ending, just to avoid knowing something he might let slip. While filming, Holland wasn't told who he was fighting to avoid him spilling the beans. But he shouldn't feel bad -- very few people were given the burden of knowing too much with regard to the complete script. The plan worked, and there was still much uncertainty around the movie through April, as no one was quite sure what was really in the movie.
Later, Ruffalo blabbed about a Infinity War in an interview ... sort of, and the back-and-forth jokes between Tom and Mark continued. According to an interview with Extra TV where Holland almost spoils a scene in the movie, Tom says he might have even shot an alternate ending, just to avoid knowing something he might let slip. While filming, Holland wasn't told who he was fighting to avoid him spilling the beans. But he shouldn't feel bad -- very few people were given the burden of knowing too much with regard to the complete script. The plan worked, and there was still much uncertainty around the movie through April, as no one was quite sure what was really in the movie.
Hat tip to my wife, who is more up on pop culture than me, because when she told our kid that he keeps secrets like Spider-Man, I was baffled. She elaborated, and I wandered off to read more, and here we are ;)
posted by filthy light thief at 9:51 PM on April 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:51 PM on April 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
All I know is the part with Sean Connery in a bear suit came completely out of left field.
posted by ckape at 9:52 PM on April 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
posted by ckape at 9:52 PM on April 29, 2018 [35 favorites]
I was spoiled on an early point by the title of a Youtube recommended video. Which was mainly frustrating in that it exposed yet another way people endeavour to be low-key jerks?
Also at my screening the cinema had a branded "Please do not share spoilers" card at the start (I believe this was common?), which ended up looping for maybe 5 minutes or so. So there was a groan of approval/excitement once the film started proper, but for not the usual reason.
posted by dumbland at 10:50 PM on April 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also at my screening the cinema had a branded "Please do not share spoilers" card at the start (I believe this was common?), which ended up looping for maybe 5 minutes or so. So there was a groan of approval/excitement once the film started proper, but for not the usual reason.
posted by dumbland at 10:50 PM on April 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Avoid seeing the movie, it's a total spoiler
posted by mbo at 10:54 PM on April 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by mbo at 10:54 PM on April 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
ckape:
All I know is the part with Sean Connery in a bear suit came completely out of left field
I guess the script had him say something like "Does a bear sit in the woods?".
posted by Captain Fetid at 10:59 PM on April 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
All I know is the part with Sean Connery in a bear suit came completely out of left field
I guess the script had him say something like "Does a bear sit in the woods?".
posted by Captain Fetid at 10:59 PM on April 29, 2018 [10 favorites]
I missed that that was Connery. When Character X runs off, the bear chasing him, I was too caught up in the moment to realize who it was. Good catch, another cool cameo.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:08 AM on April 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by From Bklyn at 12:08 AM on April 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
eXeunt, pursued by a bear.
(I saw it yesterday, unspoiled. Remarkable.)
posted by chavenet at 12:54 AM on April 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
(I saw it yesterday, unspoiled. Remarkable.)
posted by chavenet at 12:54 AM on April 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
I was unspoiled, but the effects of some of the story details were somewhat lessened by knowing that several characters have their own future movies coming up....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:24 AM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:24 AM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
I paid extra for the Wade-O-Vision version, which has Ryan Reynolds doing running commentary on the movie in MST3K-meets-Deadpool style, although I was distracted by the guy in the audience who thought that Deadpool was Vision.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:37 AM on April 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:37 AM on April 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
I couldn't believe they killed that dog. And the baby!
Didn't see those coming.
posted by dobbs at 6:19 AM on April 30, 2018
Didn't see those coming.
posted by dobbs at 6:19 AM on April 30, 2018
am i a cynical and jaded fuck for assuming there is nothing accidental about this sort of thing and that it is actually carefully calculated viral marketing?
posted by entropicamericana at 6:31 AM on April 30, 2018 [11 favorites]
They wasted a lot of time sending Thor and Stark to figure out what the word "rosebud" meant to Thanos.
I didn't think that subplot added anything to the film at all.
posted by gauche at 6:37 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I didn't think that subplot added anything to the film at all.
posted by gauche at 6:37 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I couldn't believe they killed that dog. And the baby!
Didn't see those coming.
Right, but when the new DogBaby movie comes out and DogBaby restores the MCU, it's all gonna be worth it.
That started as a one-off joke, but I actually would like to see Thanos defeated by a half-dog, half-baby.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:56 AM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Didn't see those coming.
Right, but when the new DogBaby movie comes out and DogBaby restores the MCU, it's all gonna be worth it.
That started as a one-off joke, but I actually would like to see Thanos defeated by a half-dog, half-baby.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:56 AM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
All I know is the part with Sean Connery in a bear suit came completely out of left field.
I totally missed that part because I was counting how many times they passed the basketball.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:07 AM on April 30, 2018 [16 favorites]
I totally missed that part because I was counting how many times they passed the basketball.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:07 AM on April 30, 2018 [16 favorites]
entropicamericana: am i a cynical and jaded fuck for assuming there is nothing accidental about this sort of thing and that it is actually carefully calculated viral marketing?
The poster "leak" was totally a publicity stunt, but played up as an accident (he even deleted the original video, which played up the "was it an accident or not?" online discussions and focus on a frickin' generic movie poster and release date - nothing was spoiled about the movie with those details).
Ruffalo, on the other hand, seems like he honestly flubbed with Instagram.
At this point, you can probably treat every "leak" from either one of them as a half-joke.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:32 AM on April 30, 2018
The poster "leak" was totally a publicity stunt, but played up as an accident (he even deleted the original video, which played up the "was it an accident or not?" online discussions and focus on a frickin' generic movie poster and release date - nothing was spoiled about the movie with those details).
Ruffalo, on the other hand, seems like he honestly flubbed with Instagram.
At this point, you can probably treat every "leak" from either one of them as a half-joke.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:32 AM on April 30, 2018
Considering there is stuff in the trailer that is not in the movie, I have a feeling some of those alternate versions that Holland was talking about weren't shot to keep him from blabbing but because they didn't know how the movie was going to end.
We're at a point were so much of this is all CG and compositing that making changes very, very late into the production cycle of these films is baked into their workflow. So maybe they were trying to throw Tom off, or maybe they really didn't know exactly what they wanted to do with Spider-Man at the end of the film, or they had competing ideas and went ahead and filmed both.
posted by thecjm at 7:59 AM on April 30, 2018
We're at a point were so much of this is all CG and compositing that making changes very, very late into the production cycle of these films is baked into their workflow. So maybe they were trying to throw Tom off, or maybe they really didn't know exactly what they wanted to do with Spider-Man at the end of the film, or they had competing ideas and went ahead and filmed both.
posted by thecjm at 7:59 AM on April 30, 2018
I am extremely online and pleasantly surprised that I managed to walk into Infinity War yesterday entirely unspoiled.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:05 AM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:05 AM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
am i a cynical and jaded fuck for assuming there is nothing accidental about this sort of thing and that it is actually carefully calculated viral marketing?
The poster stunt was exactly that--a stunt--and from the get-go the viewer is 100% in on the joke. It was never a "leak." It was just some goofy fun (though kinda stupid and ran too long. We got the joke. Move on. Oh, we're not moving on. Okay.)
The Instagram streaming thing was a 100% real accident: Mark had been asked to livestream the "backstage before the premiere" behind the scene stuff to Instagram, and he put his phone in his pocket with the ringer off when he took his seat, not realizing he was still streaming live. There are several interviews with Ruffalo talking about it and he is genuinely chagrined. It was a spectacular fuck-up, and the minute Marvel realized what was going on, one of their producers or marketing heads found Mark in the theater and freaked out at him to shut off his fucking phone.
If you still don't believe it (seriously, go look up the interviews on YouTube), the #1 way you can tell it wasn't viral marketing is that viral marketing is meant to drum up excitement. Do you think Marvel films need help in that department? There has never been viral marketing for any of the Marvel films because they are their own hype.
posted by tzikeh at 8:21 AM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
The poster stunt was exactly that--a stunt--and from the get-go the viewer is 100% in on the joke. It was never a "leak." It was just some goofy fun (though kinda stupid and ran too long. We got the joke. Move on. Oh, we're not moving on. Okay.)
The Instagram streaming thing was a 100% real accident: Mark had been asked to livestream the "backstage before the premiere" behind the scene stuff to Instagram, and he put his phone in his pocket with the ringer off when he took his seat, not realizing he was still streaming live. There are several interviews with Ruffalo talking about it and he is genuinely chagrined. It was a spectacular fuck-up, and the minute Marvel realized what was going on, one of their producers or marketing heads found Mark in the theater and freaked out at him to shut off his fucking phone.
If you still don't believe it (seriously, go look up the interviews on YouTube), the #1 way you can tell it wasn't viral marketing is that viral marketing is meant to drum up excitement. Do you think Marvel films need help in that department? There has never been viral marketing for any of the Marvel films because they are their own hype.
posted by tzikeh at 8:21 AM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Question for Avengers fans- is it possible to watch this movie and understand it without having seen any of the other previous Marvel/Avengers movies?
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 8:25 AM on April 30, 2018
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 8:25 AM on April 30, 2018
I was a little dubious about going to see the movie after Age of Ultron was such a meh experience, so I didn't avoid spoilers and have yet to see the movie because I figured I might just skip it. And now I simultaneously want to see it because it's apparently a good movie, and don't want to see it because it apparently is doing one of the things that frustrates me most about comic books. I am uncertain. I enjoy most of the individual movies so much but the big combo ones after the first Avengers movie have been steadily more frustrating for me.
posted by PussKillian at 8:32 AM on April 30, 2018
posted by PussKillian at 8:32 AM on April 30, 2018
Question for Avengers fans- is it possible to watch this movie and understand it without having seen any of the other previous Marvel/Avengers movies?
Like, none of them at all? My opinion is no. While you don't need to know the actual plots of the previous movies, and those are easy to find online summaries of, I think a lot of what's good about this is seeing interactions between strong characters we're familiar with but have never seen together before. And since there are so many characters, they really don't spend any time trying to "introduce" them. So you could figure out the plot pretty well, but I think you'd likely be thinking "who the heck are these people?"
posted by dnash at 8:51 AM on April 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
Like, none of them at all? My opinion is no. While you don't need to know the actual plots of the previous movies, and those are easy to find online summaries of, I think a lot of what's good about this is seeing interactions between strong characters we're familiar with but have never seen together before. And since there are so many characters, they really don't spend any time trying to "introduce" them. So you could figure out the plot pretty well, but I think you'd likely be thinking "who the heck are these people?"
posted by dnash at 8:51 AM on April 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
Question for Avengers fans- is it possible to watch this movie and understand it without having seen any of the other previous Marvel/Avengers movies?
Superficially, yes. "Bad guy wants all-powerful device, heroes team up to stop him" is the basic plot and it's easy enough to figure out. But anyone who hasn't seen most of the previous Marvel films is going to miss out on a good 90% of the film's emotional resonance and it's just going to be 2D heroes fighting loud meaningless battles because you won't have that shorthand to know why [reference to previous film] is funny/significant or [event] is particularly sad or [character reunion] is bittersweet or how [character's backstory] is influencing a particular scene, etc. The film has to cram in such a huge cast and so much action that they really don't spend any time filling in the audience with the "Previously On..." stuff. It would not be an entertaining way to spend 2 hours 40 minutes.
posted by castlebravo at 9:01 AM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Superficially, yes. "Bad guy wants all-powerful device, heroes team up to stop him" is the basic plot and it's easy enough to figure out. But anyone who hasn't seen most of the previous Marvel films is going to miss out on a good 90% of the film's emotional resonance and it's just going to be 2D heroes fighting loud meaningless battles because you won't have that shorthand to know why [reference to previous film] is funny/significant or [event] is particularly sad or [character reunion] is bittersweet or how [character's backstory] is influencing a particular scene, etc. The film has to cram in such a huge cast and so much action that they really don't spend any time filling in the audience with the "Previously On..." stuff. It would not be an entertaining way to spend 2 hours 40 minutes.
posted by castlebravo at 9:01 AM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
"I remember for Avengers, the Russo Brothers are like 'so you're just standing here, and you're fighting this guy and just do whatever' and I'm like, 'okay, who am I fighting?'" Holland recalled. "And they were like 'well, we can't tell you because it's a secret.' I'm like, 'okay so what does he look like?' And they're like 'well, we can't tell you because that would give it away, so I'm like 'how big is he?' 'Well, we can't tell you because that would give it away.' So, I'm just standing there punching the air for 15 minutes and when I took the job I didn't think that's what I'd be doing. I've gotten used to it now."Sounds like they really poured their hearts out into this one. Some real "made with love" shit right here. Just all of these top-dollar professionals at the top of their craft, doing scenes where they interact with an absent character and they don't even know who it is by "punching the air for 15 minutes."
posted by grobstein at 9:14 AM on April 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
A friend of my worked 12 hour days for months on “Audience Developement” leading up to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Apparently like 3 people out there didn’t know about Star Wars, and it was my pal’s job to tell them about the good news.
So, don’t believe for a second Disney doesn’t have buildings full of people trying to hype of Infinity War.
posted by sideshow at 9:16 AM on April 30, 2018
So, don’t believe for a second Disney doesn’t have buildings full of people trying to hype of Infinity War.
posted by sideshow at 9:16 AM on April 30, 2018
I'm just standing there punching the air for 15 minutes
Whoa, major spoilers. Nobody mentioned that Jai Courtney was in this movie.
posted by FJT at 9:20 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Whoa, major spoilers. Nobody mentioned that Jai Courtney was in this movie.
posted by FJT at 9:20 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I actually wanted the film to be spoiled for me as I am still in the running for being World's Best Dad to a small boy and I knew how things worked out in the comic so suspected the ending could have been problematic. Losing one's heroes needs a bit of context.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:22 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:22 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
am i a cynical and jaded fuck for assuming there is nothing accidental about this sort of thing and that it is actually carefully calculated viral marketing?
Weirdly, as someone who has worked in Hollywood, your comment actually seems uncynical — like, you believe Hollywood is full of competent people who do things for good reasons and can craft and carry off a clever marketing gimmick.
In my experience, it is full of children's tv show clowns repeatedly stepping on rakes.
posted by maxsparber at 9:39 AM on April 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
Weirdly, as someone who has worked in Hollywood, your comment actually seems uncynical — like, you believe Hollywood is full of competent people who do things for good reasons and can craft and carry off a clever marketing gimmick.
In my experience, it is full of children's tv show clowns repeatedly stepping on rakes.
posted by maxsparber at 9:39 AM on April 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
On the question of "can you see this without having seen any of the other films": I don't think you need to have seen all of them, but I think you can get away with having seen only a couple. The only ones I've seen were the first two Iron Man films and Guardians of the Galaxy II (which I was able to follow just fine without having seen the first one), and I did fine.
There's enough in-movie explanation of things for you to follow the basic gist of what's going on, and agreed that the previouis experience would be more of an emotion-enhancer than anything else (i.e., missing previous movies won't keep you from understanding that the big purple guy is a bad dude, but it will help you understand why other people around you are gasping at certain moments). My roommate is a huge comics/Marvel studios fan who's seen everything, and I walked out of there with only one question I intended to ask him about "so everyone freaked out when this particular dude showed up, what am I missing?"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:17 AM on April 30, 2018
There's enough in-movie explanation of things for you to follow the basic gist of what's going on, and agreed that the previouis experience would be more of an emotion-enhancer than anything else (i.e., missing previous movies won't keep you from understanding that the big purple guy is a bad dude, but it will help you understand why other people around you are gasping at certain moments). My roommate is a huge comics/Marvel studios fan who's seen everything, and I walked out of there with only one question I intended to ask him about "so everyone freaked out when this particular dude showed up, what am I missing?"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:17 AM on April 30, 2018
I am extremely online and pleasantly surprised that I managed to walk into Infinity War yesterday entirely unspoiled.
Yeah, same here. I saw it Saturday evening, and was only spoiled for a few superficial/vague things. I obviously had set up filters and blacklists for my assorted social media, but everyone tagged their spoilers appropriately and nothing slipped through. I thought that #ThanosDemandsYourSilence campaign was overblown, but fans have really done each other solids by not wildly spoiling everything.
posted by yasaman at 10:31 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah, same here. I saw it Saturday evening, and was only spoiled for a few superficial/vague things. I obviously had set up filters and blacklists for my assorted social media, but everyone tagged their spoilers appropriately and nothing slipped through. I thought that #ThanosDemandsYourSilence campaign was overblown, but fans have really done each other solids by not wildly spoiling everything.
posted by yasaman at 10:31 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Question for Avengers fans- is it possible to watch this movie and understand it without having seen any of the other previous Marvel/Avengers movies?
My mother saw it having only seen Doctor Strange and Black Panther. She whispered "Who's that?" to me a lot because she didn't know any of the characters' names, but otherwise seemed to follow the plot okay.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:40 AM on April 30, 2018
My mother saw it having only seen Doctor Strange and Black Panther. She whispered "Who's that?" to me a lot because she didn't know any of the characters' names, but otherwise seemed to follow the plot okay.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:40 AM on April 30, 2018
If you want to avoid a lot of "who's that?" and "why did they say THAT?" while watching Infinity War, you should watch/rewatch the first Avengers movie, Captain America: Civil War, either one of the Guardian of The Galaxy movies, and Thor: Ragnorak. Everything/everyone else you need to know is info dumped in character exposition during Infinity War.
posted by KingEdRa at 11:06 AM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by KingEdRa at 11:06 AM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
But anyone who hasn't seen most of the previous Marvel films is going to miss out on a good 90% of the film's emotional resonance
FWIW, this film follows Thor:Ragnarok in time, and I had rewatched THAT earlier on Friday before seeing the movie. That was good, and at a minimum gets you acquainted with Thor, Loki, Hulk, Puny Banner, etc...
EDIT: What KingEdRa said...
posted by mikelieman at 11:10 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
FWIW, this film follows Thor:Ragnarok in time, and I had rewatched THAT earlier on Friday before seeing the movie. That was good, and at a minimum gets you acquainted with Thor, Loki, Hulk, Puny Banner, etc...
EDIT: What KingEdRa said...
posted by mikelieman at 11:10 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Question for Avengers fans- is it possible to watch this movie and understand it without having seen any of the other previous Marvel/Avengers movies?
Understand? Absolutely. Appreciate? I guess? Enjoy? Not anywhere near like the kind of enjoyment those of us who have seen the other movies had, but it's your $12.50 or whatever it is where you live.
posted by tzikeh at 11:25 AM on April 30, 2018
Understand? Absolutely. Appreciate? I guess? Enjoy? Not anywhere near like the kind of enjoyment those of us who have seen the other movies had, but it's your $12.50 or whatever it is where you live.
posted by tzikeh at 11:25 AM on April 30, 2018
They should have a little Stan Lee head that pops up and lets you know whenever there's a reference to an earlier movie.
posted by ckape at 12:16 PM on April 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by ckape at 12:16 PM on April 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
I couldn't believe they killed that dog. And the baby!
Didn't see those coming.
i feel like there's a mandarin joke to be made here
posted by entropicamericana at 1:37 PM on April 30, 2018
Didn't see those coming.
i feel like there's a mandarin joke to be made here
posted by entropicamericana at 1:37 PM on April 30, 2018
mandarin orange walks into a bar, says:
I'm looking for a small Cantonese.
posted by pjmoy at 2:46 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm looking for a small Cantonese.
posted by pjmoy at 2:46 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
@ckape, I would LOVE "pop-up video" (a la VH1) thing with trivia and info while watching the film.
posted by alchemist at 12:12 AM on May 1, 2018
posted by alchemist at 12:12 AM on May 1, 2018
My wife has only watched Guardians of The Galaxy, Thor Ragnarok and Black Panther, and also enthusiastically consented to a one hour mansplain session as I summarized Iron Man, Captain America, and the first two Avengers films and she kept up with the movie with just a handful of whispered questions in the opening surge of adventure party forming.
The choicest blown guess: Bucky Barnes shows up and is presented with a new cybernetic arm.
"Is that ... Iron Fist?"
"No. I'm sorry. When we get home, we'll talk about Netflix MCU."
posted by bl1nk at 9:52 AM on May 1, 2018
The choicest blown guess: Bucky Barnes shows up and is presented with a new cybernetic arm.
"Is that ... Iron Fist?"
"No. I'm sorry. When we get home, we'll talk about Netflix MCU."
posted by bl1nk at 9:52 AM on May 1, 2018
/!\ (NEW) ANT-MAN AND THE WASP TRAILER /!\
posted by entropicamericana at 11:17 AM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 11:17 AM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
I will go see Infinity War soonish but I am genuinely more psyched for Ant-Man and the Wasp.
posted by PussKillian at 2:11 PM on May 1, 2018
posted by PussKillian at 2:11 PM on May 1, 2018
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