While you all knowAnthonyandJoe Russoas the directors of some incredible Marvel movies (Avengers: Infinity War,Avengers: Endgame,Captain America: Civil WarandCaptain America: Winter Solider), what you might not know is they also run the independent studio AGBO and have the ability to greenlight movies likeExtraction,Relic, and21 Bridges. With their latest release,Mosul, now streaming on Netflix, I recently spoke to the busy filmmakers about producing writer-directorMatthew Michael Carnahan’s(the writer ofWorld WarZ,The Kingdom,Deepwater Horizon) fantastic feature debut.
If you’re not familiar with Mosul, the film is based on true events and follows a rogue SWAT team in the titular city in Iraq that is struggling to save their city from ISIS. As the film opens, we are quickly introduced to an inexperienced Iraqi cop, Kawa (Adam Bessa), who is rescued during an attack by a band of ten brothers-in-arms led by the wise Major Jasem (Suhail Dabbach). Under constant threat of attack, the unit embarks on a dangerous guerrilla operation, determined to wipe out an enemy base and restore order to the lawless territory. Loaded with incredible edge-of-your-seat action, fantastic performances from the entire international cast, and no American actors, I was absolutely blown away by what Carnahan and the Russo brothers pulled off in Mosul.
Trust me, if you have a subscription to Netflix, you want to watchMosulas soon as you can.
During the interview, the Russo brothers talked about why they wanted to make Mosul, how the film shows Arab people being heroes, how the film features an all Arabic cast speaking Arabic, the way digital distributors are allowing more international stories to be told, and so much more. In addition, we also talked aboutWonder Woman 1984premiering in America on HBO Max and what they’re looking forward to doing with Netflix in the future.
Check out what they had to say below and further down the page is an exact list of what we talked about.
Anthony and Joe Russo:
