‘Thunderbolts' director Jake Schreier on why this Marvel film feels different

Tatler Asia

02-05-2025

Above Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick)
That tension—between isolation and belonging—runs through the entire film, from its sombre opening to a surreal, stylish finale. Unlike many Marvel entries that feel like they're juggling four subplots too many, Thunderbolts resists bloat. It doesn't try to impress you with endless cameos or lore; instead, it earns your attention with brisk pacing, dry wit, and emotional clarity.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Florence Pugh's performance. Her Yelena is devastatingly good—witty, sharp, emotionally raw. She delivers her lines with the confidence of someone who knows exactly when to undercut a tense moment with a perfectly timed quip, and when to let a silence hang heavy. Her banter with Harbour's Red Guardian recalls the best kind of familial bickering, but it's her quieter moments that leave the deepest mark.
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Above Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) on top of Merdeka 118 during the opening scene (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick)
It helps that Schreier brings a director's eye for texture, not just tempo. Many action sequences were done in-camera, not in code. 'We tried to do a ton of things practically,' he said. 'It wasn't just about blowing up cars in Utah, though we did that too. Sometimes, it was just a simple match cut instead of a big CG transition.'
That commitment to craft extends all the way to a vertigo-inducing stunt filmed on Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur—the second tallest building in the world. 'Um, it was very difficult,' he admitted, laughing.
'We wanted a sort of Bond-like opening for Yelena in our story, but Yelena in our story is a character who's in a kind of depressed place and going through something emotionally. We knew we needed a very tall jump that would work as a base jump. And so obviously, Tom Cruise already took the Burj in Dubai but we found Merdeka 118 and amazingly it really fit into the kind of sleek, darker aesthetic of our film. So our production designer was very excited about that. And then it was just a massive amount of conversations between our incredible line producer and Biscuit Films, our local production company in Malaysia, talking to the tower and getting them excited about it and getting them to agree,' Schreier explains.
Above Pugh behind the scenes on the set at Merdeka 118 (Photo: Steve Swisher)
He then goes on to detail how, when it came to actually filming the scene, they had to have three different engineering firms working on the steel deck on the roof to make sure that it was safe. 'On the day of filming, we're just waiting on the top floor that I don't think even has air conditioning yet. And just wait every time there's a lightning strike, which, as you know, is almost every 20 minutes given how high up we were. And we would have to come off the roof for half an hour. So it was this crazy dance of like, what window can we get like long enough to shoot it. We ended up shooting very, very early first thing in the morning,' says Schreier.
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The result is a rooftop sequence that opens the film and sets the tone. It definitely captured the Bond-level swagger the director intended but was also undercut by an emotional twist: Yelena isn't leaping into action out of confidence—she's doing it from a place of despair. This tonal balancing act continues throughout the film. Schreier cites everything from Reservoir Dogs to Toy Story 3 as tonal references, and somehow, it all works. 'I wanted Thunderbolts to take its emotional stakes seriously,' he explained, 'while still having the fun and humour people expect.'
And it does. The film may be about characters with blood on their hands, but it's not cynical. If anything, it's about redemption—earned, not assumed. The climax, while a touch rushed, still lands with surreal grace. And the post-post-credits scene (yes, stay for it) hints at bigger things to come—not with a roar, but with a whisper that feels both thrilling and earned.
Photo 1 of 7 Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick)
Photo 2 of 7 Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick)
Photo 3 of 7 John Walker (Wyatt Russell) (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick)
Photo 4 of 7 Bob (Lewis Pullman) (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick)
Photo 5 of 7 Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick)
Photo 6 of 7 John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) (Photo: Chuck Zlotnick)
Photo 7 of 7 Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Red Guardian/Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour)
Part of what makes Thunderbolts so satisfying is how deliberately un-slick it is. It's not relentlessly trying to expand on the world-building or the weight of a thousand intersecting plotlines. This is a story that knows what it wants to say and trusts the audience to follow. Schreier credits Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige for that freedom. 'He told me, 'Make it different. Make it work on its own.' You don't have to have seen the other movies, though if you have, there's a lot in there for you.'
Thunderbolts won't change the genre. But maybe that's the point. It isn't trying to. It's trying to remind us that there's still blood in the machine. That the MCU, at its best, isn't just about heroes—it's about people. Broken ones, funny ones, dangerous ones. People who, together, might be more than the sum of their pasts.
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