Russo brothers praise Priyanka Chopra’s thirst for action in Amazon’s ‘Citadel’

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After releasing Avengers: Endgame in 2019, sibling directors Joe and Anthony Russo needed a break from superheroes.

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“We like to try different things each time out,” Joe, 51, tells Postmedia in an video interview from London. “That’s why we went from Marvel to Cherry (a crime drama they made for Apple) to The Gray Man (an action-thriller for Netflix) to The Electric State (an upcoming sci-fi fantasy for Netflix). We like to surprise ourselves with the choices that we make.”

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After directing four Marvel blockbusters (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and the two-part ending to the Infinity Saga — Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame), the Russos launched AGBO, an artist-friendly studio aimed at telling smaller-scale stories. The brothers also had a hand in helping launch this year’s best picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once.

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But they are fans of big franchises and storytelling on a grand scale. Last summer’s Netflix secret agent caper The Gray Man already has a sequel and a prequel on the way.

This week, the Russos will unveil Citadel, a globe-trotting spy series debuting on Prime Video.

The idea for the show, which casts Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden as former spies who have lost all memory of their past lives, came from Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke, who was looking to build a global franchise.

“She asked us: ‘Can you guys dream up a universe that everyone can play in the same sandbox together?’ We thought that was a very noble and clever idea, and a potential new model for storytelling,” Joe says. “Anthony and I love experimenting with story so this was a great fit for us.”

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Anthony, 53, says the series is in part the brothers’ answer to James Bond. “We are huge James Bond fans,” he says. “The whole spy genre has always been something that excited and motivated us as film fans. The opportunity to finally work in it as filmmakers is thrilling. But if you’re going to play in these waters, you have to work really hard to bring something to the table that you think is compelling and fresh and necessary. In many ways, I hope we were able to achieve that with Citadel.”

Written by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, part of the screenwriting collective known as Midnight Radio, and overseen by David Weil (Hunters), Citadel finds Madden’s Mason Kane and Chopra Jonas’ Nadia Sinh as survivors of a terror attack who are drawn back into action by an old colleague (Stanley Tucci) after the emergence of a terrifying group aiming to establish a new world order. But they don’t know anything about their past lives or the organization they once worked for.

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The series has already scored a second season order ahead of its streaming premiere April 28. Spinoffs set in India and Italy have also been greenlit.

With an $185 million price tag for original IP, it’s the kind of ambitious swing that has made the Russos want to partner with streamers in their post-Marvel filmmaking life.

“We’re platform-agnostic; we love all of it and we don’t care how people receive the stories as long as they receive them,” Joe says. “Because some of the companies that support streaming are successful in other areas, like Amazon and Apple, there’s a tendency to leave the artist alone because there isn’t this incredible pressure on every project that comes out. It’s not going to go bankrupt or get executives fired. So we have found it to be a pleasant work environment and a quality-of-life choice.”

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“There’s a massive commitment on the part of Amazon,” Anthony adds. “There are few studios that would take that kind of risk and gamble, and that’s unique to Amazon. We appreciate that as storytellers and as audience members.”

Convincing Chopra Jonas was a cinch since the actress is one of the biggest global stars with a “penchant for physical action.”

“She’s got incredible range,” Joe says. “When you’re playing these types of characters, that’s critically important.”

Madden was someone the brothers had wanted to work with after they binged his hit Netflix series The Bodyguard one Sunday afternoon.

“We called him up and told him how we felt very strongly he should be the next Bond,” Joe says laughing. “Then two months later when Citadel was conceived, we called him and said, ‘Forget Bond. We think we have the right character for you?’ ”

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Of course, this brings us back to their legendary work with Marvel and when — if ever — they can see themselves returning to the superhero fold that helped make them household names.

“We love our friends at Marvel, so when the right story comes along at the right time, it could make sense,” Joe says. “But right now, we’re completely focused on original stories and our company AGBO.”

Citadel launches Friday, April 28, on Prime Video

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