Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy On Ms. Marvel (Exclusive)
(L-R): Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan on the set of Marvel Studios' MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Last Thursday, we got to briefly chat with Ms. Marvel Episode 4 and 5 director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. We asked her about her journey from the Oscars to Marvel, and the experience of working on this project.
TWM: You've directed two Academy Award-winning films in the short documentary category. Both of them had a runtime similar to each episode of Ms. Marvel. What is the transition like from those projects to one like this, even though you're familiar with the timeframe, but not only have to switch from on location shooting to blue screens and soundstages, but also have to transition from nonfiction to a fictional episodic story?
(L-R): Zenobia Shroff as Muneeba, Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, and Samina Ahmed as Sana in Marvel Studios' MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Patrick Brown. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Sharmeen: Well, let me just say that it's not everyday that you direct for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that you're able to bring your vision to reality. But I took a lot from my documentary filmmaking into my two episodes. So my two episodes are - almost all of them are filmed outdoors - and not on a sound stage. And so I wanted to put Kamala Khan on this great big adventure, on the street and outdoors, and, and sort of really make it feel like she was taking in the sights and sounds of Karachi and Partition and sort of, you know, make my home city come alive. And so Marvel gave me the tools to make that happen and allowed me to create the world that I wanted to create. So I think I took with me from the documentary and the animation was sort of the quiet moments of family and, and, and then I, you know, decided that I also wanted to have this big chase, and I wanted there to be this big boom, the big moments, so that Kamala is able to unpack her history and who she is and where she comes from, that the audience discovers that along with her on this journey.
TWM: And your style of direction is clearly visible. Episode 4 utilizes a lot of quick cuts and fast-paced action, especially in the chase sequence. So what made you choose this specific style of direction? And was this intentional from the beginning? Like, this is how I'm going to do it? Or did you try different styles of cinematography along the way and decide how you'd film your shots on set?
(L-R): Ali Alsaleh as Aadam and Adaku Ononogbo as Fariha in Marvel Studios' MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Sharmeen: I worked very closely with my second unit and stunts director, Gary Powell, on like, sort of visualizing what I wanted the look and feel to be like, and we thought about playing with multiple cameras of different sizes. To be always on the move, you're inside the truck, you're running with Kamala, when she gets into the truck, the camera swings around and comes around. When Red Dagger and Waleed are sort of jumping, and parkouring, you sort of move with them as they're going through. I've always believed that the camera is sort of an extension. And it should be on the move. And Gary worked really well in sort of visualizing that and bringing that to life with me.
TWM: And these scenes set in Karachi were actually filmed in Thailand. So how did you go about this, and create these locations while using what you had already?
Sharmeen: So much of what we filmed was in Bangkok, and I worked with the art director, the production designer, the vehicles team, the sort of props people, and the costume designers to create that skyline and that sort of the streets and the look and feel but we did film a little bit in Karachi, so that we could sort of marry the two of them together. And I think that so many people cannot tell the difference between Bangkok and Karachi because of what a great job that the crew did in making that come alive that it says volumes about what we were able to achieve.
TWM: And due to this production occurring in the era of COVID, what post-production difficulties did you face and what portions of the editing and revisualizing / graphic design and computer effects processes were affected?
Sharmeen: Because of that, so I think that the pandemic has taught us that we can all work remotely. And so I worked on the edit remotely as much as possible. Parts of the pre-production were done remotely. And then when we got together, even though we were in the same city, we were often on Zoom having the meetings because it's just easier to put 20 people on a Zoom than to put 20 people in a room. It definitely teaches you about how important it is to have human interaction in person. But I think that we were able to achieve some of the biggest sort of scenes in the series. In the pandemic, I mean, shooting the Partition with hundreds of extras. And so many of the scenes that we that I directed were on the streets of Karachi, and so there were all of these strict protocols that we followed. But at the end of the day, we worked really, really hard in pre-production to make sure that the production would go smoothly.
TWM: Additionally, Ms. Marvel has shown higher viewership among Gen Z, Black, Hispanic, and Asian households. So what do you think are the contributing factors to this? And how should Marvel and Disney continue in this positive direction and keep raising viewership numbers?
Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios' MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Sharmeen: I think the younger demographics are more open to understanding that superheroes come in all shapes, forms, and sizes. For a very long time, we were made to believe that superheroes were just white men and now that definition is changing like with Black Panther and its journey with Marvel and so many other superheroes that are being introduced into the world, that younger audiences take delight in exploring other cultures and are more open to sort of seeing that their horizons could be expanded. And I think that if you read the comments of many of the viewers, they want to listen to this music, and they want to eat this food, and they want to go to Pakistani weddings. And they sort of, you know, delight in Kamala being an MCU nerd, just like the way they are. And they see her as a young sort of teenager first, and then they see her as Asian or an immigrant or Muslim. Sort of, you know, I think her MCU nerdiness plays out much more attractive to so many young fans.
TWM: And because of that, we've seen a lot of things like that in the first episode - the entire opening sequence is a YouTube video that she's created that’s similar to things that we've seen in the real world. And her having this computer setup with lights and a keyboard and posters. What future aspects of that can we expect to see in the final two episodes of the series utilizing that nerdiness that we love from Kamala Khan as she is going to create this superhero suit for herself and evolve into the persona of Ms. Marvel.
Sharmeen: I think, Kamala Khan, in my episodes is on an adventure to understand who she is and where her powers come from. And in, in going back to her grandmother and her mother's roots, she finds fragments of herself that she didn't know when she lived in Jersey, and she's almost piecing that together. You see that, you see that in her interaction with Red Dagger. You know, you see her sparring with him, you see that two teenagers sort of going at each other. You see the world that Red Dagger is opening up for Kamala. And what Kamala is telling Red Dagger about the world that she comes from, and you'll see more of that happening. Her adventure is not over. There is there is this great big adventure she's gonna continue on.
(L-R): Aramis Knight as Red Dagger/Kareem and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios' MS. MARVEL. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
TWM: Speaking of Kamala and Red Dagger, one thing that we noticed in the episode in their first interaction when Red dagger comments, “Do all masked Americans have superpowers?” And she responds by saying how do you know I'm not Canadian? Was that intentional as an easter egg to the actress for Kamala Khan, Iman Vellani, being from Canada?
Sharmeen: Absolutely. Absolutely.
TWM: Thank you so much. This has been incredible. We have gotten a lot of great information here and so thankful that you've had the time to answer a few of our questions.
Sharmeen: Thank you so much. Enjoy the show.
TWM: Thank you. We're looking forward to your next episode.
