With the big-budget Amazon franchise Citadel poised to launch on Amazon Prime on April 28, AGBO producer Joe Russo says the model of an English-language ‘mothership’ expanding into local content could have limitless possibilities.
“Because we all consume so much content, and we all basically have a PhD in storytelling, it’s become predictive. I think it’s important to explore new ways to tell stories. It’s also important to create a global community of storytellers, where we can share stories with each other. This is an increasingly divided world and very few things are bringing people together and stories do that.”
The English-language spy thriller series Citadel stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Richard Madden, Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville. The Russo brothers serve as executive producers alongside AGBO’s Mike Larocca, Angela Russo-Otstot, and Scott Nemes, with David Weil as showrunner and executive producer. This six-episode English-language flagship series kickstarts what could become a large Citadel franchise, with local-language offshoots of the story recently shot in Italy (where Arnaldo Catinari directs, Alessandro Fabbri writes and Cattleya produces) and shooting now in India (led by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. at D2R Films).
A third local-language offshoot could be greenlit (in a yet-to-be-determined locale), depending on how the flagship series performs (a second season of the flagship is also up for grabs depending on the success of the first series).
Russo adds that creating six punchy episodes (instead of the eight longer episodes initially expected) felt right in terms of series pacing, “After having worked in TV for more than a decade, and being trapped by this fixed runtime, sometimes you didn’t have the compulsiveness that you want. With streaming, we can deliver whatever length we want. We wanted to create a show that would punch you in the gut, give you a hook and move you on to the next one the way that old serials worked. “
Russo paid tribute to Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke for brainstorming the initial idea of an English mothership and many local offshoots. “She’s putting her neck out to work on the diversification of storytelling. She gets full credit for the idea of this show. And I think it’s also really important that she created pay parity for Priyanka and Richard on this show. Jenn is leading by example.”
He added, “Jenn took a big swing her and now the audience has to support it. If they do that in a big way, we can keep expanding this experiment and include more and more countries around the world.” Amazon is reported to have made an initial $300m investment in the show.
Los Angeles-based AGBO, which itself is valued at more than $1bn, is open to more local-language production in future. “We made Mosul (an Iraq war drama from Matthew Michael Carnahan), which was the most expensive Arabic-language film backed out of Los Angeles, and we’re always looking for emerging filmmakers irrespective of where they come from.”
As a director alongside his brother Anthony, Russo has graphic novel adaptation The Electric State now in post after an Atlanta-based shoot with Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan and Tucci. “It’s a really compelling portrait of the dangers of technology,” he says – noting that the film should launch by the end of 2024.
Extraction 2 starring Chris Hemsworth, is in post for Netflix, and he says: “I think [director] Sam Hargrave who directed it did an exceptional job with it, I think he’s surpassed the first Extraction film, this one is certainly more emotional.”
Russo is currently working on the script for the Grey Man sequel for Netflix, which he also intends to direct
The brothers have recently speculated that it could be the end of the decade before schedules align for the them to reteam with Marvel (after the huge successes collaborating on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame). “We have such a strong emotional connection to Kevin Feige [Marvel’s president] and we loved working with Marvel. We had such a great experience. The focus, of course right now is everything that we’re doing at AGBO. But it was one of the better working experiences in our career we’d love to work with them again. The question always becomes about the right project and the schedule.”
Russo champions emerging talents at Sands in St Andrews
Russo was speaking to Screen at the second-annual Sands International Film Festival of St Andrews (April 14-16), where his company AGBO is the lead sponsor (Russo became enchanted with the town when two of his own children and several nieces and nephews attended the famed University of St Andrews).
The second-annual festival, which also partners with the University’s film department and Screen Scotland, focuses on first and second features.
That includes the first features of big names – Stanley Tucci was in town to do a talk after screening his directorial debut Big Night; Reinaldo Marcus Green who directed the King Richard and the forthcoming Bob Marley biopic, presented his debut Monsters And Men; other films in the programme included Maryna Er Gorbach’s Klondike; Signe Baumane’s My Love Affair With Marriage; Beth de Araujo’s Soft & Quiet and Raine Allen Miller’s Rye Lane.
Guests giving talks included casting director Margery Simkin (Top Gun, Erin Brockovich, Avatar); leading intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien, Fortnite creator Donald Mustard; Cinetic Media boss John Sloss; and Bridgerton and The Greatest Showman costume designer Ellen Mirojnick.
Russo said: “Sands is about championing emerging talents. Our story started with a discovery by another filmmaker – Steven Soderberg (who mentored the Russo Brothers after seeing their 1997 low-budget debut Pieces) – and we wouldn’t be here without him so we have to pay back our karmic debt by helping build this platform (of Sands) in a way that attracts the right audience and can help get emerging filmmakers more exposure.” (The Russos also have recently mentored The Daniels’ big leap up in scale with their third feature Everything Everywhere All At Once).
Russo says the festival could grow “but I think it would have to grow organically and over time.” The festival showed the first two episodes of Citadel on its opening night (as a surprise screening) and hosted a talk about the gaming industry, and Russo adds, “I’d like to expand the aspects of media that we include.”
“My brother and I are interested in what’s to come – and for the younger generation, content creators on TikTok or other platforms are more important to them than movie stars are, and I find that fascinating… I want to look at how does media interconnect and how can we celebrate new ideas, and celebrate a new generation and empower them? I’d love to expand the festival in that direction.”
Ania Trzebiatowska, current programmer for Sundance and former sales executive and former artistic director of Off Camera in Krakow, spearheads Sands as festival director.
She explains: “What works so well is the whole idea of bringing people who are very passionate about what they do – one guest told me that this festival felt like it was a curated dinner party – you invite people who will work together as a group and have something interesting to say to other people. It’s a festival that has meaning for the community and the film students, while also being friendly and accessible.”
Trzebiatowska adds: “I don’t think growth is always about getting bigger. We want to grow in meaning, not necessarily in size.”
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