“Yes, I had done so many different things in my career before doing it is Always sunny. I was doing more dramas [before Always Sunny], and then some people wondered why a guy who was doing drama was now doing comedy, ”said Shakman The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve done shows with a lot of visual effects before War of Thrones, and many different things with acrobatics and action. I come from the theater and, in the theater, you are expected to be able to do anything. It’s all about finding the best way to tell that story. “
In retrospect, WandaVision it was tailor-made for Shakman, as he is able to combine his sitcom experience, as an actor and director, with his eye for ambitious action scenarios. And thanks to your time in Only ten of us, Shakman already knew the perfect location for Wanda and Vision’s home.
“We shot [Just the Ten of Us] at Warner Bros. Ranch. So I skated Blondie Street during my lunch break every day, and to this day, that’s where all of these amazing comedy houses are. Bewitched, I dream about jeannie, The partridge family”, Remembers Shakman. “So I wanted to put Wanda and Vision’s house there. I wanted him to be there among the ghosts of previous comedies. I wanted it to have that DNA and that strange kind of tension between the fake and the real, which is what that street really has. You can’t go to a real neighborhood and make it look like Rua das Loiras. “
In a recent conversation with THR, Shakman also discusses the importance of cooler programs like WandaVision, recapturing the aesthetics of classic sitcoms and directing their actors to a live audience in the studio.
I’m still recovering from yours Good morning Miss. Bliss curiosities. [Writer’s note: Shakman was “unceremoniously fired” from the pilot that would go on to become Saved by the Bell.]
(Laughs.) Yes, that was fun at that time. that was [Former President of NBC] Brandon Tartikoff’s dream project that was loosely based on a teacher who really inspired him when he was a child. So he brought Hayley Mills, and then he changed to something very different [Saved by the Bell].
Between Marvel and Game of Thrones, which production was more secret?
O my God. I think they are the same. Both are very careful with their secrets, and for the same reason. They love to surprise the audience and I love it about them. And I love the fact that WandaVision going to be weekly as well as Game of Thrones. We don’t have as many cold programs anymore and, therefore, with The Mandalorian and now WandaVision weekly, I find that exciting.
Since you have been immersed in modern cinema since the early 2000s, is it more difficult than you can imagine to recapture the appearance of the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc.?
We really wanted to be authentic. We wanted to make sure that it didn’t become a satire or parody. This was not a parody. Basically, we did everything we could. We recreated everything from vintage lenses, production and costume design, to the actors meeting with me and studying what those old shows were like. We tried to point out what comedy was like in the 50s compared to the 60s, because it really changed. We work with a dialect trainer [Courtney Young] about how they spoke at different times, and how they walked, talked and moved. It was very important because, ultimately, that is the reality of that episode, and we wanted people to buy it entirely.
After the world hung up, you started editing what you had already shot. Generally speaking, what you learned about WandaVision that you managed to apply to the rest of the production?
It’s a great question. We were closed at a very interesting time because we had just finished in Atlanta and moved to LA. So we were almost ready to start shooting the next part of our schedule, which was about shooting backlots. We were going to Warner Bros. Ranch, Blondie Street, which is an incredible street. I grew up there, in a way, too. I was in this program called Only ten of us, and we shot it at Warner Bros. Ranch. So, I skated Blondie Street during my lunch break every day, and to this day, that’s where all these amazing comedy houses are. Bewitched, I dream about jeannie, The partridge family. So I wanted to put Wanda and Vision’s house there. I wanted him to be there among the ghosts of previous comedies. I wanted it to have that DNA and that strange kind of tension between the fake and the real, which is what that street really has. You can’t go to a real neighborhood and make it look like Rua das Loiras. So, we were already moving towards that part of our shoot, and then the pandemic forced us to take a break. So it didn’t really change our plans or our narrative in any way. It just meant that we ended up doing what normally happens in the end, in the middle, and as we were up to date with our delivery date, our post-production in it is shot side was shorter than normal. So, everything is balanced in the end.
Since you had a live audience in the studio for the first episode, how did you direct your actors with respect to audience reactions?
It is very much like theater. I make a lot of moves; I run the Geffen Playhouse here in Los Angeles. There is always that discovery when you leave a rehearsal room and meet an audience for the first time about what they think is funny. Sometimes they find things hilarious that you never expected, and other times you pause for a laugh that just doesn’t exist because they don’t find it as funny as we found it in the rehearsal room. So there is always that and great actors have to play it like a musical instrument. You have to lean towards it, expect to move forward with the pace we rehearsed, but be able to respond to the moment. If a laugh interrupts you, it interrupts you. When we had this great lunch with Dick Van Dyke, he talked about some moments when the laughter continued indefinitely and they just had to hold, hold and hold. You can see the charm of that in some of those old episodes. So Paul Bettany, Lizzie [Elizabeth Olsen], Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris – they all have theater experience and are all very good at handling it.
For the laugh track that was not recorded live, did you have to take that sound into account that day? Or did the sound team simply adapt a track to the time of its editing, in the post?
That’s a great question. We were not super conscious of the laugh track. We didn’t try to introduce a ton of breaks there, but I think the obvious set-up / joke moment kind of creates that anyway, in the rhythm. We worked with an incredible soundtrack specialist who helped us understand how the soundtracks changed over time, and it helped us in our sound design as we built the shows.
WandaVisionMarketing informs us that the series is headed for the 80s and 90s, and Elizabeth Olsen is linked to a famous sitcom from that time [Full House], something Kevin Feige played during this morning’s press conference. Was she comfortable with you paying homage to the brothers’ program, since she potentially risks being a little meta?
Yes, we cover and refer to many different programs, and take care to never refer to a program exclusively at any time. So we look at The Dick Van Dyke exposure, I love Lucy, The Donna Reed Show, Bewitched, I dream of Jeannie and all kinds of different programs for each season. So, although we probably looked at Full house as a reference point, it is certainly not a cheap reference point at any point.
You watched two films in particular by Gary Ross and Peter Weir before making WandaVision?
(Laughs.) Right! Absolutely. My prop designer on this show, Russel Bobbit, did a lot of great things at Marvel. He made Thor’s hammer and Cap’s shield. But he also made Pleasantville, and we talked a lot about your experience in that. And certainly, The Truman Show. I love both. I think there is some spiritual connection between the two films, of course, but WandaVisionThe puzzle is a different kind of mystery.
Before WandaVision, have you ever played with aspect ratios in this degree?
No, never. I loved it. I loved that we could experience the form and that it could be directly related to the narrative. That was a great and exciting discovery as we built the show.
Once your work in Game of Thrones aired, I’m sure you’ve heard the common chorus: “Who knew what Ever Sunny guy could do that !? ”Did you have fun with those answers?
(Laughs.) Yes, I still remember one tweet from that day on. Someone published: “Critics: Matt Shakman’s It’s always sunny in Philadelphia is driving War of Thrones? ”And then, said Matt Shakman, colon, with a GIF of a dragon burning thousands of characters. Yes, I had done so many different things in my career before doing it is Always sunny. I was doing more dramas [before Always Sunny], and then some people wondered why a guy who used to do drama now did comedy. I’ve done shows with a lot of VFX before War of Thrones, and many different things with stunts and action. I come from the theater and, in the theater, you are expected to be able to do anything. You can get a show in a summer theater where you have to do Noel Coward Shakespeare, and a whole new play in a summer. And that’s okay, because everything is narrative. It’s all about finding the best way to tell that story.
How do you give grades to actors like Lizzie and Paul, who have played your characters several times?
Well, we were creating something very original and very different. We were going deep into nine episodes in a way that, although they were in all of these films, their screen time was relatively limited, given that there are so many characters in these films. They had a short time to really establish who they are, and also, they evolved with the films. One of the best things about the Marvel universe is that you get involved with these characters as they grow and change. Therefore, we have nine episodes to continue this evolution and to deepen this relationship. These are fabulous actors, and we had a lot of fun collaborating and building these worlds. They are incredibly hardworking, diligent, courageous and fearless. So, we had a lot of fun.
You are [head writer] Jac Schaeffer put together a supercut from Wanda and Vision so that you could find new ways to photograph them and use them in action sequences?
Yes, we look at everything that was shot before, even things that didn’t make it into the movies. Diaries and things like that. We studied everything that had been done before and saw how we wanted to build it.
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WandaVision first two episodes are now available on Disney +. This interview has been edited for clarity.