Marvel’s Victoria Alonso Shoots Over Argentina, 1985 – The Hollywood Reporter

Victoria Alonso

Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

Oscar nominated movie Argentina, 1985 The center of a surprise shootout last week was for longtime Marvel Studios CEO Victoria Alonso, Hollywood Reporter to learn.

Alonso was one of eight producers of an Argentine historical drama distributed by Amazon that was in the running for the Best International Film Oscar. However, by taking on the role, she broke her contract — multiple times — according to sources. After repeated warnings, the situation came to a head a week after the Oscars and eventually led to her termination. It was a seismic shake-up at Marvel, as for years Alonso was part of the holy trinity – along with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D’Esposito – that drove the Marvel Cinematic Universe to ever greater heights.

According to people familiar with the matter, Alonso breached an agreement in 2018 that contained the company’s Standards of Work Conduct, which stated that employees could not work for competing studios.

Sources say Alonso did not ask permission to work Argentina, 1985, and did not provide notice. (However, the IndieWire piece A post last month on the film stated that she had permission.) When Disney learned of the project and the breach, her long service and veteran status led to her being granted an exemption on the condition that she not work on the film any further. . Nor was it promoting or publishing it in any way. Placing a senior executive working on a film outside company boundaries was deemed serious enough to involve the management audit team and a new memorandum was signed, according to an insider.

A representative for Alonso declined to comment. A representative for Disney declined to comment.

Argentina, 1985 Premiering in September 2022 at the Venice International Film Festival, the drama was quickly on the awards track. Alonso then found herself front and center in the film’s campaign, attending screenings, sitting on panels and giving interviews.

According to the sources, she was reminded several times of her agreement and her breach, but the campaign continued. She even appeared on the Oscars arrival carpet and not as a Marvel executive attached to that studio’s multiple nominees Black Panther: Wakanda ForeverRather Argentina, 1985′Producer, walks in with the film’s director, Santiago Miter.

What infuriated Disney executives was that it was preoccupied with promotion Argentina, 1985her scope of work around Marvel visual effects—as head of physical and post-production, visual effects and animation production—was busier than ever.

Over the past year or so, as Marvel has pumped out an unprecedented number of series and movies, a general impression has emerged that VFX artists have not been treated well by Marvel, which they attribute to factors including long hours, tight deadlines, and a lack of a unique vision.

Film releases including feb Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania They fished on flak for doing sub-par visual effects while Alonso herself became more polarizing.

“You could just ask someone to stay up until 1 a.m. working on VFX shots for so long before things start to fall apart,” says one post-production source. Another post-production talent says she avoided working with Marvel because of Alonso’s reputation for being tough.

However, she had her supporters, incl eternal Superstar Salma Hayek, who called her the “best giva ever” in a December 2021 post.

Anyway, things came to a head after the Oscars, and Alonso was terminated for cause.

About Alonso, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1985 It was a personal story. The film stars Riccardo Darín as Julio Cesare Stracera, the prosecutor who leads the case against the country’s military junta whose military rule of terror has led to the disappearance of 30,000 people. “I wrote a lot of stories about superheroes,” Alonso said Tell IndieWire In the story published last month. “And I always wanted to tell a story about what happened in Argentina, because I had to be one of those 30,000 people.”

Alonso’s shooting shocked the town because of its sudden nature, and because its causes are unknown. Some have speculated that Alonso was silenced because she was outspoken about Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Like Me” bill, which Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law in March 2022. “As long as I’m at Marvel Studios, I’ll fight for representation,” Alonso, who is gay, said. At the time, Disney took a stand against the bill, leading to a clash with the state government and the eventual loss of special tax status, a move likely to cost the company millions.

But other sources say that speaking out only increased Alonso’s image within the company. She was asked to represent the company on GLAAD’s board of directors, joined Pride 365’s corporate leadership team and struck a deal with the company’s publishing division to write a memoir.

In any case, the visual effects industry will be keeping a close eye on the following. Marvel is one of the most lucrative clients of VFX houses due to the scope of their work – their support columns regularly have over 2,000 VFX shots, sometimes a whopping 3,000 per movie.

It’s unclear who will take over Alonso in the meantime (at least some vendors are working with VFX producer Jen Underdahl for now). But insiders acknowledge that whoever takes over officially will face similar challenges as Alonso, who helped direct the never-before-seen films, TV shows and specials that Marvel released in 2021-22.

“Whatever criticisms leveled against it,” says one sound effects professional, “it’s not an island. Part of the problem is the strict release schedules.”

That already tight schedule could be in the rearview mirror, as returning Disney CEO Bob Iger has stated his intent to slow down Marvel’s production.

Caroline Giardina and Aaron Koch contributed to this report.