In a first In a video shared by MEGACON, Orlando “Daredevil” star Charlie Cox talks about his MCU comeback and reminisces about filming “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” where he appeared in a brief cameo scene. starred as attorney Matt Murdock. He reveals that the long pause after his performance was deliberately set to give the audience room for applause.
“They wanted me to put down the cane and wait for the camera to pan before I spoke. So I said to the director: That’s strange, why are we doing this? It feels like I have to say something.’ And he said, ‘No, the audience will be very excited.’
Cox in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” – not the best example of a pause in applause
Charlie Cox confirms what we’ve known for a long time: Marvel builds good applause breaks in its movies, moments when everything pauses for a moment so that the audience can react enthusiastically to what they have just seen. The scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home that Cox referenced isn’t even the best example. Because the actor and therefore his character does something during the “intermission”: he just sits on the phone having an insignificant conversation. It doesn’t feel so “weird” or “weird” here (because Cox had a problem with basically doing nothing?)
In Spider-Man: No Way Home itself, there are better examples with the appearances of the other two Spideys, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. But In other Marvel films, too, characters really stand still, waiting for the applause. As the portals open in Avengers: Endgame and a dejected Captain America (Chris Evans) finds new hope in the surprise return of his allies, the camera catches a long slow-motion moment on Black Panther’s (Chadwick Boseman) face. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Co. posing after their arrival, even briefly baring their faces (substantively totally unnecessary) for the audience to see, the actors behind them can also celebrate. The whole fight seems to pause (even Thanos pauses) to give the moviegoers enough time to celebrate the moment before Cap shouts the famous “Avengers…Assemble”!
The reveal of the Illuminati cameos in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness also celebrates the moment – taken to an extreme with the late and slow arrival of Patrick Stewart as Professor X. Is that correct in terms of content and story? No! Is such a spectacle cinema generally bad? No!
Opinion: Cinema can be pure spectacle!
I have the impression that in Germany we still think it’s funny when applause erupts in the middle of a movie, although in my experience that has changed in recent years – also thanks to the Marvel movies. In other cultures it’s different – in the US it’s part of the comedy scene, where one or the other appropriate (!) audience outburst is allowed.
In Indian cinema, the first appearances of lead actors and special guest stars in a film are celebrated. The camera only approaches from behind or the person is covered by an object. And then, as the anticipation slowly builds, everything pauses for a few seconds at the reveal of the face, causing the room to explode with excitement.
I think cinema films can and should do that if it fits well and, above all, is well executed. In “Avengers: Endgame” it fits the moment in my opinion, in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness” the Gravitas behind it is missing, it seems a bit crazy and unnecessarily long-winded in Professor X.
But is that – whether done well or badly – a bit strange if you later only watch the film on Blu-ray or as a stream at home? Yes! But that doesn’t matter, because it’s about the effect in the cinema. The cinema is a place of communal experience. As long as everyone behaves and it fits the movie, the audience’s reactions are part of the experience – whether it’s the cries of joy in the MCU spectacle cinema, the only moderately suppressed sobs in gripping drama, the shared laughter in good jokes or the audible shock in effective horror films.