The new MCU series “Echo” presents us with a deaf protagonist with indigenous roots. This has never happened before in the MCU (and is probably quite a novelty in Hollywood in general). And the spin-off “Hawkeye” also does many other things differently. The first series under the newly launched Spotlight banner, it focuses on more grounded conflict rather than saving the world, and is intended to function completely independently of the rest of the MCU. The focus is more reminiscent of Netflix’s previous Marvel series (like “Daredevil”) and, appropriately, ups the violence level a bit compared to conventional MCU fare.
Like us the native director Sydney Vrijland It is precisely this pioneering position of the Marvel series, for which she directed four of the five episodes, that is talking point number 1. But the aforementioned ‘Daredevil’ series and the ambivalent main character ‘Echo’, who has to deal with her own past after dealing with an underworld boss, also remain unmentioned…
Sydney Vrijland: I became aware of the project through “Hawkeye”. I know two of the directors who worked on “Hawkeye” and received an email from them in 2020 asking if I knew a Deaf Indigenous actress. During filming you were casting the role of Echo. And I was like, “No, good luck!”
That’s how I first got into it and when “Hawkeye” came out and it was announced [Echo-Darstellerin] I was definitely happy that Alaqua Cox got her own series. It was really exciting to have the opportunity to put your own stamp on a project like this. I really wanted to get involved with the character and the story because you can do so much with it.
Indigenous representation in Hollywood: “Just scratching the surface so far”
Sydney Vrijland: I especially have to praise Marvel here. They were incredibly supportive. Naturally, with a production like this you have more resources at your disposal than with other projects with similar topics. Nevertheless, representation always came first. So the first step when I came on board was to include the Choctaw Nation, to which the main character of our series belongs.
I am Navajo and grew up on a Navajo reservation in the southwestern US. And Choctaw and Navajo are as different as Portuguese and Poles. Different languages, different cultures, different traditions. That is why we entered into dialogue and exchanged ideas, because we wanted to portray everything as authentically as possible.
Sydney Vrijland: In Hollywood, we’ve only scratched the surface here. We’ve taken an important first step by now featuring some content led by people with Indigenous roots, including ‘Rutherford Falls’ and ‘Prey’. Films and series in which the indigenous peoples they portray are closely involved. So major steps forward have been made, but there is still so much more room to expand this.
The first Spotlight series
Sydney Vrijland: Developing the Spotlight banner is beyond my salary. So I can’t say exactly when and where this was made. It was something that came about organically through the process. ‘Echo’ was intended from the start to be a grounded series, fully immersing ourselves in the character’s brutal nature. And again, Marvel encouraged that and said the most interesting thing about her is that she was a villain in Hawkeye. And there are so many shades of gray with her. What drives her psychologically, what are her thoughts, what is her motivation? These are less explored areas, especially for someone who is Indigenous and deaf. For me personally that was very exciting.
Sydney Vrijland: The series itself and its tone mainly came from the story. As a director, I first look at what the story we want to tell looks like. And in this case it was just a down-to-earth, street-level approach. We are not concerned with the fate of the universe. The consequences here are not cosmic, but familial and human. This also determined our visual style and approach. That said, I am indeed a big fan of the Daredevil series. I’m probably not allowed to say this in the MCU, but I love the Netflix series, as does the MCU.
Sydney Vrijland: Yes, we have a very nice cameo in the first episode. And yes, it’s a one-shot scene, but we couldn’t actually shoot it as a real one-shot scene. We shot it in parts and then stitched them together digitally, so hopefully when you look at the result you can’t see exactly where the seams are. That was the goal. But again, the whole thing mostly made sense from a story perspective and where Maya is at this point. It contributed to their development.
We used to call the scene in question “the birth of a villain.” This is when Maya begins her villainous life. That dictated everything for us – from the way we shot it to everything we would and wouldn’t see. The concept behind it was: she goes in as a child and comes out as a murderer.