Thunderbolts Director Addresses the Internet's Obsession With Bob and Yelena's Relationship

There’s been no shortage of discourse surrounding Thunderbolts* — Marvel’s bold summer team-up that brought together some of the MCU’s most overlooked characters and gave them a spotlight and an existential crisis or two. In a wide-ranging conversation with Collider’s Maggie Lovitt, director Jake Schreier opened up about one of the most unexpected core themes of the movie: its unflinching focus on mental health. Asked directly whether there were ever nerves about approaching such delicate material, Schreier was candid in his thoughts. “I think the only fear was that if we were going to do something like that, it would be really bad that it felt reductive,” Schreier said. "You know what I mean? Just like if we're going to portray something like The Void, if we're going to try to portray something that people really feel and connect with, it would be bad if we were also then kind of saying that there was a simple solve to that — that it could be punched away.” Thunderbolts* stars Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Lewis Pullman as Bob Reynolds / Sentry, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Geraldine Viswanathan as Mel. It may not feature Marvel’s biggest-name heroes, but with characters carrying decades of emotional baggage and a filmmaker unafraid to let them process it onscreen, it’s one of the MCU’s most grounded entries in recent memory. That it managed to wrap it all up with an action-heavy third act and breakout performances (hello, Lewis Pullman) makes it all the more impressive. Thunderbolts* is available on Digital now and will be released on 4K and Blu-ray on July 29. #thunderbolts #jakeschreier #marvelstudios #marvel #newavengers For interviews, movie reviews, and more visit https://collider.com FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL   / collider     / collider     / collider