Screenwriter Eric Pearson explains Thunderbolts*’ development, different versions of the script, what was cut or added, and how Being John Malkovich fits in.
Like most movies, Marvel Studios’ superhero team-up Thunderbolts* went through a lot of drafts and a lot of development on the road to the screen. Polygon recently had a chance to talk to original Thunderbolts* screenwriter Eric Pearson about one of the biggest changes to his final draft — a character who was an important part of his version of the story, but who dies early in the final film.
That’s far from the only change the movie went through in development: Pearson walked us through other early versions that leaned more on Die Hard than Little Miss Sunshine, with fewer characters, more vault shenanigans, and an explosive, weepy breakdown for John “U.S. Agent” Walker (Wyatt Russell). Here’s what we learned from Pearson about how the script evolved, why The Breakfast Club and Being John Malkovich were big touchstones for the movie, and how he decided the MCU needed a Thunderbolts movie, even though he hadn’t read many Thunderbolts comics.
This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.
Polygon: Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier has talked about the different iterations of this script and what different people added. Is it true that you had an early draft that was more like a bottle episode, with the protagonists mostly just trying to get out of the vault?
Eric Pearson: It was a lot more like that. The notes I got toward the beginning were like, “Let’s make this contained and very grounded.” And when you throw out Die Hard in your movie pitch, everybody just latches onto that. So yeah, they’re in this deathtrap, and I think they got out more toward the end of the second act, as opposed to the midpoint.
But that was maybe the first one or two drafts. And then as we folded in Bucky, as we folded in Bob, it pretty quickly became the midpoint. And then when Jake came on, he really wanted a little bit of road-trippiness in the second half of act two. At some points, we had way too much road trip stuff going on, when the movie really should be gaining momentum. But [with early drafts] you’re trying out new ideas, and some of them are ridiculous. But you try ‘em out and you’re able to scrap ‘em and move on.
You’re picking up these characters from all over the MCU, from at least four different previous movies or shows. Were you given a list of characters you could play with in this movie, or characters that were considered loose ends in need of a story?
Well, no. There was no movie before me. They didn’t plan to make a Thunderbolts movie. I came to Marvel and said, “We should make a Thunderbolts movie.” It was not on the MCU slate. I had been working on Black Widow, had been [to the set] to see Florence [Pugh] and David Harbour. And I started Brian Chapek, our producer, about — you just kind of bat around ideas when you’re sitting in video village.
