What If on Disney+: "The series will be connected to the next Marvel films like Spider-Man or Doctor Strange"<

With: Gaëlle Banet (Production Director), Adrien L’Alexandre (animation supervisor), Jeffrey Wright (The Watcher), Bryan Andrews (director), AC Bradley (screenwriter), Brad Winderbaum (producer).

Allociné: How did you get to what if…?And what was your role?

Adrien L'Alexandre: I have been doing animation for over 15 years and since 2015 I have been supervisor.The What If… project?I really liked it, I therefore volunteered, knowing that I also had the necessary experience.I am therefore the animation supervisor of the first episode and on part of the second, on this new series.I supervised the animators and made the link with the producer client, Marvel Studios.

Gaëlle Banet: As for me I am a production manager on the first two episodes of the series.I have to pilot all the teams here in France and maintain contact with Marvel Studios, in the USA.I have to make sure that all the production is clear and fluid.That there is a total understanding of the intention of what Marvel expects from us and that we can perform it perfectly.I was not in animation before this experience, I worked for Warnermedia.

What were the various challenges you had to face with this series?

Adrien L'Alexandre: It was a little different experience from the previous ones to which I was used to.Before, I worked mainly with French customers.To work with Americans are other requirements.This is also another style of animation.We are dealing here with a very realistic animation.We had to understand the style and adapt to their vision.I think the result is rather successful.

Gaëlle Banet: On my side, it was an incredibly enriching experience.In two years of production I feel like I learned ten years of profession!I was really surrounded by people who allowed me to grow in my branch.This is a real challenge because it is a huge production to manage with a lot of different departments with a lot of information to process, analyze and transmit.You must therefore structure yourself well, as well as your team, for the smooth running of everything there is to accomplish.

To what extent is this series different from other series of animation?

Adrien L'Alexandre: animation is another level with this series and with a successful cinematographic dimension.That said, the result is that of all these people who have worked with Marvel for at least ten years.They applied the same recipes and used the same tools to pass movies at Marvel series.It is new to have the style and atmosphere of Marvel films now put in a series like What If ...?.This is really an ultra realistic style, as I explained and the narration is very dynamic as in the Marvel films that we have seen for a decade.

Gaëlle Banet: I join what Adrien just said.The challenge is to adapt the cinematic style of Marvel films to cartoon codes.We must find this in-between, as well at the level of the characters who resemble the actors and with an ultra realistic graphics.It is not easy to make cartoon which wants to be so realistic and so cinematographic.In any case, we are in a period when animation has a real boom with big companies, like Marvel, who want to bring the means to give life to an animation series ever seen.

Was there a particularly complicated scene or episode to produce?

Gaëlle Banet: Each sequence, each scene has a different approach.And so, each time, it's a real challenge.You have to renew yourself permanently and it is not easy.But that's what is also fascinating because you never fall into the routine when you work with Marvel Studios.

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For you what is this series about, what are the themes?

Gaëlle Banet: I think there is a certain feminist scope with Peggy Carter.This is the first super soldier.And at the same time the series remains very general public.I find it pleasant when a series like this brings so fluidly the fact that a woman can be a great soldier.It is great that she is a woman and that she saves the world.It is a strong message and, at the same time, not forced.

Adrien L'Alexandre: In general, this kind of character always has a little magical powers.While there, she just uses her fists and physical strength.She has muscles and we can see them.It’s a subtlety feminist message.

Why now produce a series on the multiverse?

Brad Winderbaum: In fact, this is the result of a conversation with Kevin Feige.I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do and he encouraged me to go for this series.From the start there was no doubt that it would be animation due to the number of characters and the different sets.There were so many Marvel universes to put forward, it would have been almost impossible in live action and far too expensive to finance.

Jeffrey, what was your character's approach?

Jeffrey Wright: I therefore play the role of the Watcher.I was inspired by the vision of Marvel of 1963 when they launched this character.It’s an ultra -dramatic and classic version.It is supposed to reign over the entire Marvel multifiverse.So he's a massive character.

Tell us about your vision of the staging of this series, Bryan.

Bryan Andrews: We really wanted to put in this series the cinematic style that we find in Marvel's films.Sometimes we fall into pure action, sometimes in science fiction or comedy or pure drama.It is a series ultra rich in style and ultra realistic in terms of staging.I treated it as if we produced a very long film.I also loved the freedom to write all kinds of stories through all the universes of Marvel using all the characters I wanted.We really wanted to explore everything with this series, go beyond the costume of these super heroes and understand the complexity of their existence, their universe.

AC Bradley: As a writer I really wanted to reveal who these characters were beyond what we know of them, their costumes, their powers, etc..I wanted the audience to connect with them on a more emotional level.

What can we expect with this series?

Brad Winderbaum: To be clear, this series begins, at the timeline, after the Loki series that you can see on Disney+.With everything we saw with the various series, the various Marvel films, we could go even further with What If…?And ask us what could happen if such hero encountered such another in such a universe.This is fascinating because there is no limit to what we can imagine and create.And of course the series will also be connected to the next Marvel films like the next Spiderman or Doctor Strange…